Question:
Maharaj says, ‘Pleasure and pain do not sway me. I am free from desire and fear. I am full. I need nothing.” I understand that he is speaking as Pure Consciousness. Is it correct to assume that thoughts/desires like this can still come to a sage?: “I want to eat samosas”, or “I wish I had a bigger house so all disciples could gather here” But these are the first thoughts arising as per the program code. Since he only witnesses them, they disappear. To summarize: Desires arise for a sage, but he is free from them? is this interpretation correct?

Answer:
Yes, that may be correct at the beginning where residues of the personality are remanent. But a point arrives when there is hardly any residue to evoke any such desires like ‘I want to eat samosas’. Personality residues start fading on their own proportionately to the intensity of attachments to samsara.

After a particular juncture, only basic need-based desires arise propelled naturally by the flow of the universe like:

• • The stomach needs food, it doesn’t matter whether it is samosas or karela [bitter gourd].

• • The body needs to get some exercise as it’s stiff, it doesn’t matter if it is a gym or sweeping the floor/hand washing dishes.

• • The spiritual seeker has asked a question that needs to be addressed irrespective of whether there is acclaim or censure in return.

At this level, the void reigns supreme.

What does the void mean? Is it a dead void? Does the sage not have a mind? 

The mind is no more an individual self-centered mind. It has transformed into a no-mind. It is a quiet void that is alive. Thoughts are no more the master but actually slaves. Thoughts are used as tools when required only. Seldom do stray thoughts arise and even if they do, they are no more treated like a life-death threat that needs to be addressed urgently. In fact, they are simply strangers that are seldom acknowledged, mostly ignored like soda pop bubbles arising and falling away unrecognized.

A sage needs nothing and wants nothing! If something comes his way, he embraces it. If nothing comes his way, he embraces it. Thus a sage is free from desire and fear. He is full. 

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