Discoveries of The Vedic Rishis - Session 4

I want to talk to you about the first discovery of the Vedic Rishis. You understand the word Rishi, no? Rishi is a sage, who is a poet, who is capable of seeing the truth and expressing the truth in the most sublime manner. Rishi is the guide, the teacher, wise teacher, illumined teacher. That is the Rishi. So the first discovery of the Vedic Rishis was very simple: that life is a battle, but this battle is not merely among the physical living creatures as we know them, but also a battle between invisible forces. These invisible forces are divisible into two categories: one, benign forces, very kind forces, the forces that are for the divinity; the opposite forces are the forces of evil, Asuras, Rakshasas Pishachas, Panis, Vritras. I have given so many names, each one having a specific function or a role to play in the battle.

I was telling you about the second discovery and for that I began to tell you a story of a legend. A certain number of Rishis, let us say 9, were in search of the truth. Now how to seek the truth? I told you that they found out the means of finding the truth. What was the means? In one word, it is sacrifice. In Sanskrit it is called Yajna. In English we call it sacrifice, and I told you what a sacrifice means. Sacrifice implies fire. All sacrifice implies fire. Without fire there is no sacrifice. Therefore I spoke to you last time about Agni. Agni means fire. I told you that fire is not physical fire. There is an inner fire, and then I gave you the first verse of the Rig Veda when the fire is invited. So that one verse itself gives you a good indication of what sacrifice means. You have first of all to invoke the fire, the inner soul which is the fire in us, awake, ignite the fire. So the very first verse says: I worship the fire; Agnim ile. Ile means I am worshipping. You invoke the fire by saying I worship the fire. So the first step is invocation. Invocation of the fire, this is the first step of the sacrifice. Then we put it in the front, purohitam, it is that which is in the front. So put the fire into the front. Then once it takes up the front role, things become easier. It knows the rita, the fire knows what is right. So once he is your leader, you are in the hands of one who can guide you to the Right. It also knows what is not only right but also the right time of right action. In Sanskrit we have got the word ritu. Ritu is the season, it comes from the word rita. Ritu and rita are combined. The right season of the right action. So you know what is the right action and at what time the right action is to be performed. I told you that in India they developed the science of time. I spoke of astrology also to some extent. The entire astrology is based upon the science of time. And I told you that those who know Agni, those who know Fire, they don't need to go to astrology. Inwardly they know what is the right time for the right action. And then it is the one who knows how to sacrifice, the manner of sacrifice — the manner is very important. In the Vedic literature, the manner has been given a great importance: how you do it. The question is not only of doing something, but how you do it. This is a vidhi. Vidhi means rule. What is to be done first, what is to be done second, what is to be done at the end. So Agni, the fire, knows. Once you make him your leader, the sacrifice can be done. Now sacrifice implies a journey.

This is another truth they discovered regarding sacrifice. As you make sacrifice, that is to say, as you burn yourself, burn what you are and what you have, by invoking the truth that you want to discover, you simply speak the truth, invoke the truth, aspire for the truth, and as you go on aspiring, you go on burning yourself. Whatever you are and what you have is imperfect. So these imperfect things have to be offered. Whatever we are, we are imperfect. This imperfection is to be thrown into the fire where it is burnt. It is this burning which is of essence, and as you burn, you begin to get pushed. There is a motion that happens. You move from untruth to truth. There is a journey. That is why the sacrifice has been described in the Veda as a path of ascension, as a path of going upwards. As you go on burning yourself, you find that you are moved. There is a progress which is being made.

This progression of moving from untruth to truth, –– there is a famous sentence in the Vedic literature, asato ma sad gamaya, "from falsehood lead me to the truth". So this is the path of sacrifice and you go on making a sacrifice. As you go on making a sacrifice, you discover more and more of the truth. You become truthful, not only you discover truth, you become truthful, you become yourself, you become your true Self. The falsehood is shed as it were, it is burnt away, and you emerge out of the burning. Something that is golden in you emerges, which can't be burnt. It is inextinguishable.

Now the story is that nine Rishis began to make sacrifice in search of the truth and went on and on and on, and for a certain period they went on making sacrifice. And always they reached almost the right point of achieving the truth but could not, this is the legend. Wise people, in Sanskrit, are called navagwas. These nine sages were in search of the truth, and they went on making sacrifice, they burnt themselves to find out the truth. For a certain period, they went on and on. They reached a certain point when the truth was about to be discovered but they could not find it, then they started again. Again burning, burning, burning, again they reached the same point, but they could not enter into the truth. Again they started. Several times they did this, they were failing, then came a great help. A tenth sage came to accompany them. They were nine themselves but the tenth sage came to help. His name was Ayasya. Ayasya is a very famous name in the Veda, he was himself a great sage. The Navagwas became Dashagwas. This is a famous legend of the Veda. The nine sages became ten sages. And then they increased the period of their sacrifice. Up till now they were only making sacrifice for a certain period. With the coming of Ayasya there was a new advice given, that the period for which you are making sacrifice is not enough. The period was increased and that brought about a certain discovery. We are now coming to the third discovery. The second discovery was only the secret of sacrifice, burn yourself, move forward, make a progression, then you take the help of another one, this also is a part of the discovery. And then, with Ayasya, when the period of sacrifice was increased, what happened? Ayasya became universal, this was the discovery that the truth cannot be discovered unless you become universal. This was the discovery made. They were failing all the time because this point of becoming universal was missing. So he became universal. Having become universal there was a rise in universality. There are planes and planes of universality.

And then they discovered Turiyam swid. This is the Sanskrit word, a very important Sanskrit expression for the Vedic discovery. They discovered turiyam swid. Swid means that one which is turiyam, the fourth. They discovered that one which is the fourth. As I told you, the language of the Veda is algebraic. So "that fourth" is an algebraic expression. What is this fourth they discovered? The fourth is something above the three, three principles, matter, life and mind. These three were already known, but here there is no truth, it is a mixture of truth and falsehood. In matter, life and mind, there is a mixture of truth and falsehood. It keeps you divided, narrow. Unless you become universal you cannot rise beyond these three elements, physical, vital, mental. In Sanskrit, there are names for all the three, the physical is prithvi, ... those who find Sanskrit words difficult don't worry, but those who know Sanskrit a little they will enjoy it, therefore I am speaking of this. The physical is prithvi, the vital is antariksha and the mental is dyau. The physical is the ground which you see, that is prithvi, antariksha is the wide space that you see around and dyau is the sky. These three words are often used in the Veda. Even to climb from prithvi to dyau is a big climb. It is not easy to climb, therefore Veda speaks very often even of the journey from prithvi to dyau. From earth to the sky. But the sky actually represents the mind. To rise from the physical to the mental, that is an ordinary climbing, although that also is quite a climb. But still it is ordinary climbing, and as long as you continue to climb only to that extent, you fail, you don't get the truth. You need the help, a further help, Ayasya must come and then you increase the period of your sacrifice and then you become universal and you discover "that fourth". You go beyond prithwi, antariksha and dyau, you go beyond the physical, vital and mental. And this was the great discovery that is celebrated in the Veda. This fourth is the greatest discovery of the Veda, you might say, one of the greatest — there is still greater, which I'll come to, –– but a supreme discovery as it were, because they found that in "that fourth" there is no mixture of falsehood at all. In the body, life and mind there is a mixture of truth and falsehood, but when you go to the fourth one, in "that fourth", there is no mixture, there is only truth and truth and truth alone, ‘satyameva’, nothing but the truth, widest, most universal, no narrowness at all, no crookedness at all. In the lower physical, vital and mental there is all crookedness. When we criticise each other and we say, "Oh! he is crooked", don't eliminate yourself. As long as we live in the physical, vital and mental, all of us live in a crooked world, and our consciousness is crooked, and we live in a crooked manner, we think in a crooked manner, there is always a kind of a strategy, we want to escape from here, escape from that, make a profit here, drag this here, allow that, we are generous, we are miserly, all mixtures all the time, in this we are all equal, nothing to choose. And then you come to the real thing that has to be chosen, where there is nothing but the truth. This was the great discovery, –– ‘Mahaspanthah’. The great path was now opened up when they discovered this fourth one. This is the third discovery of the Veda. Sri Aurobindo has called this third discovery, this discovery of that fourth, the discovery of the Supermind. This discovery of the Supermind, that there is above the mind Supermind and that one can ascend into it, one can go into it, one can live in it, where one can be absolutely straight. Rijuta, straightforwardness. It is also concerned with rita. Rijuta and rita are all connected. There is nothing but the right. Everything, all the rays of light are straight. Nothing crooked. You have seen the flower which Mother has called the flower of Supramental action? You have seen that flower? Flower of Supramental action. A kind of a globe in which so many... Yes, there are so many... all straight. That is a symbolic presentation of the supramental, you might say. Everything is straight. You can go into it, you can live in it. All knowledge is manifest there. You don't have to make an effort to know. Whatever is to be known is known immediately, spontaneously. It is almost like magic. You want to know this, immediately it is known. Nothing is hidden, nothing is concealed. It is all blazing light. This is, as I am describing to you, the third discovery.

It is not that the Veda has written in it: first discovery, second discovery. I am describing the discoveries made by the Vedic Rishis and I am saying they made five basic discoveries. There are many discoveries but I am trying to tell you in brief five main discoveries, among the five discoveries, this is the third discovery. The first is the discovery of the battle, battle between the good and the evil, Gods and Asuras. The second is the discovery of sacrifice, the means by which you can make an ascension from the lower levels to the higher levels. The third discovery is the discovery of the supermind. It is a great discovery of the Vedas. In fact in the Vedas what is very often celebrated constantly with great joy is the discovery of the supermind. All darkness is destroyed, –– Tamah neshate. All the darkness is finished. You can definitely say that all darkness is finished. The everlasting sun has arisen, which is never going to set. In the beginning there is only Ushas, –– Usha the dawn. When you are about to enter into the supermind, the first steps are the steps which are like entering into the dawn. Therefore in the Veda you sometimes find very beautiful descriptions of the dawn, Usha. Nisha has gone, the night has gone, and Usha has come, the dawn has come and then gradually you rise, and you enter into the supermind, where the sun never sets, everlasting sun. Now all knowledge is available.

As a result we come to the fourth discovery. They found that "this fourth one", what we call now the supermind in the light of Sri Aurobindo, this supermind is the universal action of reality, –– Ultimate reality. This world that we see is not the ultimate reality. It is not ultimate, it is not the original. It is not the cause of itself. It is caused by something else. Whatever is caused by something else is not ultimate. It is a result of a cause and if that cause again is a result of another cause, you go behind it too. And if that is also a result of another cause, you go behind it. You must have seen in many conversations between a mother and a child, the child goes on asking the question: why? Then you give the answer, then he says why, then you say, this is the reason, then the child says why, then the mother says alright this is the answer, then the child says why, and very often mothers are tired and say; now I won't answer you. This happens very often because we have not gone ourselves to the ultimate. So we cannot say why, then we say, it is like that. And there ends the conversation. But if you are a real seeker of the truth, you really find out why, the ultimate why, the final why, beyond which there is no question arising at all. Why, because it is the cause of itself. What you find if it is the cause of itself. In Latin it is called sui generis. ‘Sui generis’. Generis means the result, what is the cause which produces a result, and sui is oneself. If the result is produced by oneself, then it is the end of the query. It is final. So having reached this point, having seen the supermind, they discovered that there is still something behind it. It is still not the end. Behind the supermind there is still a further why, because supermind itself is preceded as it were by an ultimate reality. Now that discovery of the ultimate reality is what may be called the greatest victory of the Vedic Rishis. Sri Aurobindo has said the Vedic Rishis arrived at the loftiest realisation, this is Sri Aurobindo's own words, loftiest realisation which cannot be surpassed. If you have really reached the ultimate, how can the ultimate be surpassed? Therefore they reached the ultimate, Ultimate reality in all its splendour. It is the highest discovery they made. That discovery is one in which you find the explanation of everything else, you find the explanation of the supermind, of the mind, of life, of matter, and that which is below matter, inconscience. You find all explanations by realising that reality. That was the discovery made, –– Loftiest realisation. Now what is the description of that reality given in the Veda? It is ekam, it is one, ekam sat.

It is One that exists, that can never been rubbed out. It exists. Many of the things that we see exist for some time and then they vanish. Most of the things that we see in the world are of this kind. We see this flower here, after some time it will wither away. And then it will turn into dust in due course. It will no more remain a flower. Most of the things that we see in the world, even if they remain for years and years, hundred years, two hundred years, five hundred years, thousand years, like big mountains, even they can be wiped out, but That Ultimate Reality can never, never, never be wiped out. Therefore they described it as shashwatam, it is eternal. Ekam sat shashwatam. It is one reality which is eternal.

I told you last time a story of Indra and Agastya. There is a story between Agastya and Indra. Agastya is the name of a great Rishi, great sage. He was in search of the truth. He wanted to know what is the ultimate reality. He wanted to become that reality. He was making sacrifice and he found that he was being obstructed. Now normally it is Vritrawho obstructs. But here he found that no; it was not Vritrawho was obstructing. Indra was obstructing, the God, the benign god was obstructing. And I told you last time what Indra means. Indra is illumined intelligence, one who has got thousand eyes. So one who was having thousand eyes, he was obstructing the path of Agastya. So Agastya complains and says, "Oh Indra, I am your brother, I am your friend, why do you obstruct me?" So Indra now replies — this is a dialogue between Indra and Agastya — Sri Aurobindo has described this dialogue (it is a very short dialogue, five verses) and then Sri Aurobindo has also given an illuminating commentary on it, one day you should read it. So Indra, first of all, to show that he is not obstructing, immediately discusses the ultimate reality. He says, "Look, you are complaining, but what you are looking for, I know. You want the ultimate reality, and I am telling you now what is the ultimate reality". Right from the beginning, the very first verse, is a description of the ultimate reality: I am revealing to you what is the ultimate reality. And he says: "It is neither yesterday, nor today". This is the first description of that reality. It will be neither tomorrow, neither yesterday nor today, nor tomorrow. That is the first expression of that ultimate reality. Meaning thereby that it is not something which is yesterday and which will not be today. It is something that is na nunamasti na shwah, neither today nor tomorrow. It is eternal. This is the first description. It is eternal. And then he says, "Who knows That reality, that reality which is wonderful?" Kastadveda yadadbhutam. Who knows that reality which is wonderful? Then with the very next sentence he gives the description, why it is wonderful. How to describe the wonderful? It is one and yet it has a motion in another. It is one. There is beside it no other one. And yet it is such a reality that has a motion in the other one. It is a very difficult sentence to understand, one reality which has a motion in the other, –– Anyasya chittamabhi samcharenyam. It is one which has a motion abhisamcharenyam, which has a motion, that which has samchar, which moves in what? Anyasya chittam: that other one is consciousness. It is itself existence. But that other one is consciousness. There is a distinction between existence and consciousness, which are both one. And yet you can distinguish between existence and consciousness. That is why it is adbhutam, it is wonderful, something that you cannot grasp, that which is one and yet different from itself, such is the reality. Reality is really that. It is itself and yet different from itself. It exists, it is existence, it is also consciousness, and there is a difference between existence and consciousness. It is in consciousness that it has a movement. In existence it has no motion. It moves, it does not move, therefore adbhutam, it is strange, –– ‘That which does not move and yet it moves’. Therefore it is very strange. Very often you ask the question, what is this statement? In fact some of the people, who don't understand the profundities of reality, will dismiss it away, saying that this is written by somebody who does not understand, primitive, barbaric man. One which is different from itself; one which is static and yet dynamic; that which moves and moves not — what is this?

Only now in recent physics — you know now physicists have found out that when you go, not to the ultimate reality, but when you go down into the matter, which is so much visible, you find that this visible becomes invisible. If you go down into matter, go down and down and down, you come to atom. An atom is not physically visible. But an atom exists. Not only, they went further down into matter, and they found in an atom that this matter... there is a huge structure, there is a nucleus, there is a proton, there is electron, in that small atom. And then there is a kind of a systematic motion. Electrons are constantly moving round and round and round. And then they found that there are two hundred and fifty other and many more elements there. Then they came to the conclusion (now this is the latest), what is the nature of it, is it a particle or is it a wave? You know the difference between a particle and a wave? What is a particle? A particle is... if you take a little sand, a granule, a little sand, you still feel it, something solid, somewhere some solidity is found. Now you see the wave. You have seen the waves of the ocean. Wave is something which you cannot hold. That is a speciality of it. A particle you can hold, it is something solid. Wave is something that is not solid. It moves out. You try to catch water in your hand, it cannot be caught, it passes away. It is a wave. Now the question is: this particle, which is the smallest particle in an atom is it a particle or is it a wave? It is a question which was raised a few decades ago. And now the answer of the scientists is: it is both; it is both particle and wave. It is something like it is itself and yet it is something different from itself. So with regard to the reality of matter, modern physicists are now speaking the language of the Vedic Rishis. Vedic Rishis had said: it is itself, yet it has a motion in the other one. Particle stands immobile. Wave moves. It has a motion in the other one. But it is said, it is this very particle which is a wave. It is not that there are two things, there is a wave and there is a particle. No, that thing which is a particle is itself a wave. Such is the discovery of the modern physicists.

In the light of this, now we can think and understand that the Vedic Rishis were very, very, very wise, so illumined that they had the courage to say — They knew that what they were saying, people will not easily understand and even accept. Therefore Indra says: it is adbhutam, it is strange. It is very wonderful. What I am going to tell you, you will not even easily understand. It is something which itself has a motion in another, where there is no other one. There is only one. Reality is only one. It is That which has a motion into another. And then finally it says: utadhitam vinashyati. If you try to think it out, it will vanish. It can't be thought out. It is not by thinking that you can grasp it. So Indra was telling Agastya: look, you are trying to find out the Reality by your mind. You are making a great effort, to think, to think, but that Reality cannot be thought of. You cannot grasp by thought, because it is adbhutam, it is strange, it is wonderful. It is something which is, which is not, it is that which is different from itself. It is itself, but yet different from itself. It is static, and yet it has a motion into another consciousness. Such is the Reality. If you think, he says, now you are only trying to have power of the mind, by which you try to understand. I am illumined mind. With my thousand eyes, I have seen, because I have gone beyond the mind. Therefore you should come to me. You are trying to surpass me, to overpass me, you don't care for me. Therefore I am obstructing. Not that I want to obstruct you. I am standing before you. I am obstructing, why? Because you are trying to reach that reality by your mind. But you must come to me. I am not the mind. I have gone beyond the mind. Not that I am supermind. I am not that Reality. I am not turiyam swid. But I have thousand eyes. And I know therefore that Reality very well. So I want you to come to me. (It may look egoistic) He says, you worship me. That means: you offer yourself to me, you come to me, I am like a guide to you, I am a helper to you. You will never get that reality if you don't come to me, because I am the gate. You have to pass through me. Without me how can you reach there? So he says to Agastya: You claim that you are my friend and my brother, but you don't look at me. So look at me. Make sacrifice to me, that is to say, burn yourself, throw away your mind and everything. Burn it, make an ascension, make a journey. You cannot reach that reality unless you make a sacrifice. And to make a sacrifice means you distribute yourself. You cannot make a sacrifice without distributing yourself. You want to go straight without distributing, without pouring yourself out; you don't know how to make a sacrifice. (When I am speaking to you, I am distributing myself, I am diffusing as it were, I am pouring myself, I am telling whatever I have read, whatever I have studied. Distributing myself, it is a sacrifice. It is a burning, an effort which is made, which is an upward journey). So Agastya is told: you just want to go to reality without distributing yourself. Distribute yourself, expand yourself, give yourself, make a sacrifice. I am there, and then come to me, and I will take you to that reality. This is the path that is given in the Veda for anyone who wants to know that Ultimate Reality.

Now let us come to that Ultimate Reality. This is only a story I told you. But now let us see that Ultimate Reality.. So to repeat, the first discovery was the discovery of the battle, battle not only between visible creatures but also between invisible. The second discovery was the discovery of the sacrifice. The third discovery was the discovery of "that fourth one", turiyam swid, of the supermind. The fourth discovery was the discovery of the Ultimate Reality, beyond beyond, that which is beyond beyond, –– Ultimate, Final, –– now that final reality is one without a second, –– Ekam Sat. And yet it is not simple. It is simple-complex. This is Sri Aurobindo's words. That reality is not simple, it is simple-complex. It is at once itself and other than itself. In the Veda we get therefore two names, the name of "that one" and the name of that which is different from that one. "That One" is called in algebraic language the bull. If you read the Veda, you will often find the bull. Bull always means "that One". The other one which is also itself is dhenu, –– the cow. This is one description of it. The other description is: it is he, the Supreme. There are many names of it given in the Veda. He is the hiranyagarbha, he is the golden egg, from where everything comes out. The whole world, everything that we see, is originated from it. He is Prajapati. He is the father of all the creatures. But apart from that Prajapati, there is another which is known as Aditi. Aditi, this is the one name which I would like you to remember. Aditi is the first original Mother. That is to say, the original reality is the father, and mother is not different from the father, father and mother are one, and yet mother is different from father. That Aditi is the supreme mother, the original mother, and although the original reality is the same as Aditi, there is a relationship between the two. That is why it is simple-complex. Simple means that which has no relationship in it. That is the meaning of simple. Whenever you say it is simple, it means there is no relationship in it. When you say it is complex, it means there are internal relationships. That is the meaning of complex. It is simple-complex. It has no relationship, yet it has relationships. It is simple-complex. Aditi is the one from whom everything originates. That is to say, the Supreme can exist without any creation. And yet when there is creation, that creation can come out only from him as Aditi. He himself is Aditi. He, without creation, is He. He, with creation, is Aditi. That is how you can understand this relationship. Without the knowledge of Aditi, you cannot understand how the whole world has manifested. This is the fourth discovery and I will not burden your mind with so many other details, but this is simple. What I have told you is very simple and something that is not very difficult to understand.

I come to the last discovery, but that we shall do next time. Is it alright? The last discovery I shall tell you because it is a long discovery, –– the fifth discovery. It will take a long time. But if you have any questions so far, you are free to ask questions. Not adults, only children. Adults are not allowed to ask questions. It is because I am only... The questions are only to be asked by you.

Question — There is a question. They are doing a play which is from the Puranic stories. Vishwamitra is a great sage and a writer of the Veda. Why does he play a role equal to humans? This is the story between Vishwamitra and Vasishtha.

Answer: Oh really? There is a question here. Vishwamitra is a great sage. And the whole third chapter of the Rig Veda is attributed to Vishwamitra. It seems that there is a story on which a play is being rehearsed among you, in which there is a conflict between Vasishtha and Vishwamitra. Right? So the question is that if Vishwamitra is so great, why was he quarrelling with Vasishtha. That is the question.

The story that you are now confronting, the story which you are rehearsing is a story of Vishwamitra before he became such a great sage. He became a great sage, but before he became a great sage, he was not such a great sage. So that is why. And Vasishtha was already a great sage. So he was quarrelling with a great sage actually. He was great but not a very great sage. You know, in India, there are many levels of development. The highest level of development is called Brahmarshi, Rishi who is Brahma, who is in possession of the highest knowledge. There is a lower grade which is a grade of Rajarshi. What is Rajarshi? He is also Rishi, he is also aspiring, he is also a kind of a sage, but not Brahmarshi, he is Rajarshi. What is Rajarshi? Rajarshi is a king who wants to become a sage. And the king is according to India lower than the man of knowledge. One who knows is the highest. One who is only a king can rule, he can demand order, he can fight, he can protect people, but the knowledge of ultimate reality, the knowledge of the creation, the knowledge of Brahman and Aditi, all that knowledge, he does not possess. And very often Rajarshi is marked by a temperament of anger, what is called a great impetuousness, –– subject to impulses. You act on impulses, not upon thought, not upon knowledge. A wise man is one who sits quietly in spite of the big storm, he remains steady. He is not like one who moves and one who does not move. That is the mark of a real Brahmarshi. He can act, act marvelously, powerfully and yet he is always quiet. The stillness and the power, both of them are combined in a Brahmarshi. But in a Rajarshi, they are not combined. When he is quiet, there is no force. When there is force, there is no quietude. There is a division between the two. So Vishwamitra, before he became the highest sage, was like that. And that is why he was opposed to Vasishtha, because he wanted Vasishtha to call him Brahmarshi, when he was not. He wanted to be called the highest while yet he was Rajarshi actually, not a Brahmarshi. Vasishtha was a man of true wisdom. He said, "I will not call you by a wrong name. When you are not a Brahmarshi, I won't call you a Brahmarshi. I'll call you Rajarshi." And Vishwamitra was getting angry. Why don't you call me Brahmarshi? That was his main question. And he was very angry. So that was the reason of the conflict and fight between Vishwamitra and Vasishtha. Now Vasishtha knew that although Vishwamitra is Rajarshi now, he has a great potential in him. He can become Brahmarshi one day provided he becomes very humble. At present he is very proud, egoistic, vain, he wants falsehood to be pronounced as truth. When he is Rajarshi, he wants to be called Brahmarshi. But Vashista knew that one day he had the possibility of becoming Brahmarshi.

If you have heard that whole story, you will find that one day Vishwamitra came — I wanted Deepti to tell you the story, but you are now stealing away that opportunity, what can I do? — One day Vishwamitra came to the house of Vasishtha with a decision to destroy him. That was his intention, that he would now kill him, because Vasishtha was not responding to his demand. He wanted to be Brahmarshi and he was not being called so by Vasishtha. So he stood at the gate and was about to enter, when he heard a conversation between Vasishtha and his wife. And Vasishtha was praising Vishwamitra and telling his wife: “He is actually very great. I am very kind to him actually.” So the wife was surprised. She said, "Even though he has destroyed so much of your progeny, everything, still why do you praise him?" He said, "No, he is absolutely on the threshold. He is about to become Brahmarshi. And I don't want that he should be harmed. The moment he becomes free from pride and egoism, he will be Brahmarshi." So when Vishvamitra heard — he was outside, he heard Vasishtha, all his anger went away. He realised that Vasishtha had really no prejudice against him. So he went straight in. Instead of killing him, he went straight in and fell at the feet of Vasishtha, when he fell at the feet of Vasishtha, Vasishtha said, "O Brahmarshi, rise!" Vishwamitra pride had gone! He had become Brahmarshi. He became Brahmarshi at that stage. He gave up his pride and egoism. All his anger passed away and thus he became Brahmarshi. From that time onwards, he became a great sage. And the third chapter written by him is what he wrote after that.

You have any other question?

You remember now these four truths that have been discovered? Battle, Sacrifice, Supermind, Ultimate Reality. Right? Four discoveries. I will ask you at the end all the five discoveries. Then you will tell me all the five discoveries. So remember now. I am repeating again and again: Battle, Sacrifice, Supermind, Ultimate Reality. The fifth one, I have not told you yet.

Question — This was about the year 2000. They wanted to know if there was something significant. The whole world seems to be focused on the year 2000. Is there something in this idea?

Answer:You know, there is a science of time, and from the Vedic point of view you can't say it is not significant. There is a significance. Not only 2000 but every year has a significance. Every year has a meaning. But when the whole of humanity is seized by a moment, it has a very wide significance. There are significance which are local, which are personal, which are regional. But when the whole world is seized by a certain moment, it has a very wide significance, –– universal significance. It marks something very definitive. What is that definitive? The whole world today has become very conscious. It has begun to visualise the future. There are so many articles, you must have seen, the third millennium. What is going to happen in the third millennium? We also ask the question: what have we done in the second millennium? If you take account of the whole second millennium, that also is very significant. If you compare with the first 1000 what was achieved by mankind in 1000 years and compare it with what we are now in the second 2000 years, we have seen tremendous change. In 1972, in the month of November, Mother had given me a message. She had written it down, and when I went to her she gave me this piece of paper and told me, "Read it". In the Mother's Agenda of 1972, you will find there is a foot-note of this message, the exact terms I will not be able to tell you but if we want word by word you see the conversation that is between me and the Mother when the Dalai Lama came to the Mother. He came on the 18th of January 1973. So if you see the conversation, there is an addendum to this conversation of 18 January 1973. An addendum in which there is an account of questions put by the Dalai Lama to the Mother, and I had put the questions of the Dalai Lama to the Mother and Mother was answering those questions to me. And then one of the questions the Dalai Lama had asked was: There is today a good deal of good will and sincerity in the world, but it is not enough. So his question was: is there some hope in this world? Because goodwill and sincerity are there, but they are not enough. So with that little goodwill and sincerity, can we really have a real hope for the future? That was the meaning of the question. I am again not telling you word by word the questions and answers. For that you have to read the text itself. I am only giving the gist of that question. So Mother said: "There will be". That is to say, The Victory is certainly going to happen. This is one absolute assurance given by the Mother, but if more and more people are sincere, more and more people have good will, it will come quicker. But that it will be, there is no question. It will be. And Mother said, “If the Supermind begins to work more and more powerfully, then it will be quicker.” Then I told the Mother: “But Mother, Supermind is working now powerfully, isn't it?” That was my question to the Mother. So she said, "Yes, it is, but I had given you the message already". She had given me the message in the month of November towards the end of November, and the text of that message is given at that stage in the Agenda. If you read the Agenda of that date, the questions of the Dalai Lama to the Mother, you will find that message in the foot-note. The message said, "Before dying falsehood rises in full swing." That is to say, she had given the exact stage where we had reached in the world movement, the world progression. That falsehood is about to die. That was the stage, but before dying it is rising in full swing. So today, Mother said, there is not a stage in the history of the world where falsehood was so intense as it is today. That was January 1973. She said, "People are telling lies automatically." As if by habit, not even intentionally, just to tell a lie is just automatically happening to the people. Such is the situation today. So it was in 1973.

Now you are asking the question about 2000. My own view is that between 1973 and 2000, falsehood has risen in full swing, and has done its very best to destroy all that is truthful and good in the world. And that battle has now turned towards a stage where truth is overpowering. So to my mind, 2000 represents that moment where falsehood is now down, as it were. In wrestling, up till now Truth was down and falsehood was on the top, trying its best to throttle the Truth. Now a stage has been reached (this is my personal view), and I think the year 2000 marks a point when Truth is overpowering falsehood. So it is very significant. We can expect that now whoever tries to cling to the truth will have greater chances of victory and of survival. This is my view about 2000. This is the significance of 2000 to my mind. All right? Thank you.