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has not happened.
When sleep is transformed into meditation, this is the miracle that happens: there is no content in the mind, yet the consciousness is there. There is no occupation, no object, yet one is fully alert, aware -- aware, not of something, but simply aware. Or we can say aware of awareness, attentive to attentiveness, conscious of being conscious -- that's all. This is the fourth stage.
In Christian mythology, Raphael represents the fourth state. All the three meanings are beautiful: healed by god -- healing is a process of becoming whole. Not to be whole is to be ill. To be part is to be sick, to be whole is to be healthy. The moment the ego disappears and one joins the whole, healing happens of its own accord. It has nothing to do with physical illness; I am talking about metaphysical sickness, the sickness of the soul -- that we have become uprooted, that we are feeling undernourished, that we are shrinking, that we are feeling very alone, meaningless, that there is great anguish inside. This is the sickness unto death. That's exactly what Soren Kierkegaard calls it: sickness unto death. But if we can relax into the whole, the healing happens.
Prem means love, and love is my whole teaching. If love is understood, then all is understood -- god and all. If love is not understood, then everything is simply gibberish, with no meaning, with no significance. People can use very high-sounding words, theological jargon, and they can go on fabricating beautiful systems of thought, but they are made of dream-stuff and nothing else. Only love is substantial; all else is dream.
Love is the stuff that the existence is made of. Hence, whenever we are in love we are close to existence. A great intimacy arises, not only between two lovers; when love is there, a great intimacy arises between you and the whole existence -- with stars, with trees, with birds. Suddenly there is communion. Even with mountains, rocks and oceans, you start feeling a kind of dialogue, an 'I-thou' relationship. Love is magical, miraculous.
Learn to be loving. And finally, learn to be love! The day your whole being has bloomed in love, that is the real day
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