Only the Formless is the Permanent Aspect of the Lord

When you come to hear Baba give a spiritual discourse, you will be with about a thousand others seated in the temple. This will be happening in the physical domain, and may last for one to two hours. Associated with this experience is a given time and activity. But this very same experience can be re-experienced even after you go home. Whenever you want to think of it, it will be there in your mind... one thousand people seated in the temple and Sai Baba giving the discourse. In the external vision and in your experience in the waking state, you can see that all of you are sitting in the temple. What happens when you are back in your home? You find this temple will be in your heart and can be recalled to your mind at any time.

You were there for one hour, but this can become a permanent experience for you forever, even after you leave the ashram. Having initially had the physical experience in the phenomenal world, it becomes a permanent record in the subtle universe of the mind, which can then be recalled at some later time. As you repeatedly recollect this experience and ruminate on Baba's teachings, its message becomes permanently embedded in your heart.

Without first having had the actual experience in the hall, there would have been no permanent impression in your heart which you could later re-experience in your mind. Once the impression has been made in the mind, there is no need for actually being physically present in the temple or seeing Baba's physical form. In the same way, once you have experienced God in form, you will certainly be able to get the experience of the formless God later on. The form is momentary whereas the formless is eternal; but the formless will live on as a permanent entity for you only after first having experienced the divine form and imprinted it on your heart through worship and devotion.

Consider another example. Suppose you want to teach the word 'chair' to a small child. If you merely utter the word 'chair' it does not become clear to him what its form is. However, you can show him a chair like this and ask him to look it over carefully. While he is doing this you repeat the word 'chair'. Then later on, whenever he sees a chair he will remember the word associated with the form you have shown him and he will repeat to himself 'chair'. The form of the particular chair you used to teach him the meaning of the word may be impermanent. That chair will change, but the word 'chair' and the type of objects it represents will remain. Unless he sees the impermanent form he will not learn the permanent word 'chair'. The permanent element is understood through the impermanent one. Therefore, though divinity is formless, you first have to associate it with a particular form to understand it.