I told you, or I have been telling you, that a man takes the form of his psychic object; that is, your very existence will be converted into your psychic object. You should select your psychic object very carefully,

There is a small animal of the lizard group. It can change its colour according to the necessity, that is, it knows the art of natural camouflage. And what is done by that lizard-like animal? When it wants to be of a red colour, it takes up red colour, and automatically its skin becomes red.⁽¹⁾ You’ll find that small animal in equatorial and lower temperate areas.

Similarly, a man takes the form of his object and this changing of the form is of two kinds. One is intro-subjective[[, another is extro-objective]]. One is external projection of your thought, another is internal projection of your thought. [[In one case the pinnacled mind goes outward, and in another case the pinnacled mind goes inward.]] In the case of [[extro-objective]] change, what happens?

Suppose in daytime you are in a lonely place. It may or may not be a lonely place. Suppose in daytime you are alone in a big house, and some people told you that there is a ghost – “Ghost… ghost… ghost.” You heard it. The acoustic wave touched your mind, touched the subconscious portion of your mind, and after that you are told, “You know, Mr. X, there is a ghost in this house.” And you are Mr. X. “There is a ghost in this house.” All the nerve fibres fail to function. What will happen then? [[It just touches]] the conscious level of your mind, and as an extro-objective creation, as an external reflection of your very ectoplasmic stuff, you will see a ghost. And what sort of ghost will you see? The description of a ghost that you read in your books or you heard from your granny, “A ghost is like this.” In broad daylight you will see the ghost.

But in this case your very existence has not been converted into a ghost. You are the witnessing entity, you are the seer of the ghost, and a certain compartment of your mind went outside as an external projection and took the form of the ghost; that is, the very structure of the ghost is ectoplasmic in nature and that ectoplasm came from your source. You are the creator of that ghost. Actually there is no ghost. But you will see many a respectable man who will say, “Yes, I have seen it! Yes, I have seen it!” He is not incorrect in saying this. He saw it, but the ghost was of his creation. It was an outer or external objective reflection, or external objective projection, or external positive hallucination.

And sometimes it may so happen that people say to a gentleman, “Here there is a ghost, and the ghost may enter your body. You may be caught by the ghost, and then only an experienced exorcist can save you.”

“I may be caught by the ghost and only an experienced exorcist can save me!” This is called “soliloquy” – “talking to one’s own self”. “Ghost, a big ghost. Big, black, big nails, reddish-like teeth, with a black bag in his hand and with a rope. Sometimes visible, sometimes invisible. I may be caught by the ghost… ghost.” There will be an internal psychic projection and a certain portion of the man’s mind will be converted into the ghost and more than ninety percent of his ectoplasmic structure will become a ghost.

Perhaps the people said, “There was once a witch and she died here and her name was Henriette. She has become a ghost.”

Now, “Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?” the people are asking.

“I am Henriette, I am Henriette, I am Henriette,” the man replies. His very existence has been converted into a ghost, and unless and until the exorcist comes, that Henriette won’t leave his body; and when the exorcist says, “Who are you?” although he’s a gentleman, he’ll say, “I’m Henriette.” (French pronunciation is “Áṋ-ri-et”.)

“Won’t you leave this body?”

“No, I won’t leave this body.”

“You have to leave this body.”

“No, I won’t leave this body.”

“What do you want? Say what you want.”

“I want mutton curry.”

“Supply her with mutton curry.” Although the person is a gentleman, the exorcist says, “Supply her with mutton curry.” Then, “Are you still Henriette?”

“I’m leaving this body.”

“What is your name?”

“I’m Joseph.”

“Ah, what! where is Henriette?”

“Henriette has left this body.”

But Henriette was a psychic creation of Joseph. As you think, so you become. Have you followed the entire process?

So now, if a man always thinks, “I am a sinner, I am a sinner, I am a sinner, I am a sinner,” then in a weak moment that will happen? [whispering] “I am a sinner, I am a sinner. I will have to go to hell. The priest said he won’t grant me a gate-pass to heaven. I don’t know who will issue a gate-pass to heaven to that priest! If he won’t issue a gate-pass to heaven, certainly for this hypocrisy he should also be served with a gate pass to hell!”

So you should not develop the sinning complex or sinner’s complex in your mind. Rather, yours should be a positive ideation. “I am the son of Parama Puruśa. I am never alone. I am an inseparable portion of that Supreme Entity.” What will happen? Your mind will be strengthened. You will get immense psychic power, and that psychic force will get affixed by dint of your meditation, japa and dhyána. This is the positive approach and this you must do. You must not develop the complex of sinning, You must not develop the complex of inferiority – “I am illiterate. I am a fool.” A complex like this also makes a man weak, mentally weak.

Suppose you want to do something and you say, “I will try to do it.” If you grant this slackness to yourself, you will never be successful. Don’t say, “I’ll try;” say “I will do!” If you say, “I will try” it may take more than a thousand years to develop the psychology properly – to reach the required standard. So there is no question of trying. The question is of being. To be, not to try.

There was a drunkard. Everybody said, “Your liver has been badly damaged. You should stop drinking.”

First he got a thought-wave, “Yes, I should give up drinking. But it should not be done starting today. After two months – that is, New Year’s Day, and it is a very auspicious day, I will give up drinking on that day.”

What is the inner psychology? He gets another two months’ license to drink.

He thought, “At six o’clock on New Year’s Day, I’ll stop drinking.” Then at 5:30 what did he do? He drank several bottles, because at six o’clock he would be giving up. Then he thought, “Let us go to the church, and standing just in front of the church I’ll say, ‘I have given up drinking.’” But at 5:30, with a bellyful of liquor, he went in front of the church and said, “I have given up drinking.” Then he went ten or twenty steps forward. Then the sinner psychology, his psychology, said, “Oh my God, are you brave! Oh my mind, are you brave! You have given up drinking! You took wine at 5:30 and now it is after six – say 6:10 or 6:15. You are brave. O mind, you are a hero, and I should give some prize to this hero mind. O mind, I’ll give [[you]] another bellyful of liquor.”

You see, this is a psychology of drinking. Don’t be guided by this psychology, “I will try.”

“No, I won’t try, I will be. I will do starting at this very moment.” For a man, for a perfect man, each and every moment is an auspicious moment. Do you follow me? What you want to do, do starting at this very moment. Don’t give any prizes to your mind for doing something bad or good. Your very action is your prize. You must not require any more prize or any further prize or any additional prize. The sole action that you did is itself your prize. Do you follow me? The action itself is the prize.

Footnotes

(1) [[Bábá in Fiesch, which was published in December, 1979, and Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 12, which was published in 1980, each contained a version of this discourse. The two versions may have resulted from two independent transcriptions of the same tape when the tape was available. This sentence was identical in both versions. However, it is possible that if the tape quality was indifferent, the words heard by the transcribers as “it takes up red colour” were really “it thinks of red colour.” – Eds.]]