difficult, for, if the mind tries to stop thinking, it goes (in) to the sound sleep state, i.e., Unconscious. Even great yogis are unable to attain to this 'stopped state of mind'—for good. They can, at the most, stop thinking (vichar) temporarily during meditations, concentration or samadhi state, and that creates new sanskaras. But no sooner do they come down from the samadhi state, at that very moment their minds begin to work again, and the huge store of past undestroyed sanskaras is increased, due to this transi­tory stopping of the mind.

"Hafiz has compared the body with a pot, the soul with smoke, and the sanskaras, with a huge stone lying on top of the pot. For all its attempts, how can the smoke ever succeed in removing and throwing off the stone? For this, a sage must come and lift it away. Similarly, a bird may go on trying to open a cage which is closed from the outside, but it will never succeed until help is received from outside. In short, those who desire to gain something—even a little benefit in the spiritual line—must have a chest as strong as iron (that is, be very brave and patient, like iron)—so as to withstand severe blows."

On the same subject we find these notes in The Meher Message of July and August, 1929:

. . . “Any Sadguru can, even after His 'Circle' duty has been performed, make a fit person God-Realized, but he cannot bring him back to the consciousness of the universe. In other words, he can make a person who is outside of His inner Circle only a Majzoob or Paramhamsa, and never a Salik or Jivanmukta, a Qutub or Sadguru. But there is an exception to this rule. In the Avataric period, an Avatar can not only make persons who have no connection with His inner Circle God-Realized, but can also restore to them their gross and subtle consciousness. Besides the twelve members of His inner Circle, Shri Krishna, as He was the Avatar of the age in which He lived, made no less than seventeen persons (one a boy of scarcely eleven summers) God-Realized, and brought them back to the consciousness of the universe.

. . . “Of the twelve members of His Circle, the Sadguru is bound not to restore the subtle and gross consciousness of one member, after making him realize the Self. In other words, he is bound to make one member a Majzoob. He is equally bound to restore the consciousness of the remaining eleven members. The chief member of the Circle is called the 'Chargeman,' and he is made to realize God some time before the other members. To His Chargeman the Sadguru is bound to impart His special or extra powers of working