Spiritually Laid Back

One of our correspondents, Justforkix, writes in saying:

A Kalki Bhagavan parallel may be found in Vitalstatistix!

Vitalstatistix, the chief of the tribe has only one fear: he is afraid the sky will fall on his head tomorrow। But as he says, tomorrow never comes! (Ed: he hasn’t seen guruphiliac yet. The sky fell yesterday!).

Deep down Vitalstatistix is very insecure, constantly worrying that his "Little Piggywiggy" (Amma) would desert him and go back to her brother Homeopathix (whom Vitalstatistix hates) in Lutetia.

It almost appears that he and his wife have a love-hate relationship although it is apparent they love each other very much.

From wikipedia:
Impedimenta (Amma) is the matriarchal wife of Chief Vitalstatistix, leader of the village wives and the best cook in the village. She is often disappointed with the other villagers (calling them barbarians) and wishes Vitalstatistix was more ambitious. Consequently she zealously defends and flaunts every privilege due her as first lady of the village such as skipping the queue at the fishmongers. She frequently says she wants to go back to Lutetia and live with her successful merchant brother, Homeopathix - the one part of the family her husband is openly not fond of.

She nicknamed Vitalstatistix "Piggywiggy" (Ed: Ah, i love this) when they were courting, and starts doing this again in Asterix and the Soothsayer as a plan to make Asterix and Obelix erupt in hysterical laughter when she calls him with that name in front of them, thus irritating him and making him punish them by forcing them to stay in the village, away from the soothsayer.

Ed: "Piggywiggy": doesn’t that sound just apt for our Kalki and Amma.

Q: There comes a point in a person’s life when it becomes the witness.

Maharaj: Oh, no. The person by itself will not become the witness. It is like expecting a cold candle to start burning in the course of time. The person can stay in the darkness of ignorance forever, unless the flame of awareness touches it.

Q: Who lights the candle?

M: The Guru. His words, his presence. In India it is very often the mantra. Once the candle is lit, the flame will consume the candle.

Q: Why is the mantra so effective?

M: Constant repetition of the mantra is something the person does not do for one’s own sake. The beneficiary is not the person. Just like the candle which does not increase by burning.

Q: Can the person become aware of itself by itself?

M: Yes, it happens sometimes as a result of much suffering. The Guru wants to save you the endless pain. Such is his grace.

Even when there is no discoverable outer Guru, there is always the sad guru, the inner Guru, who directs and helps from within. The words ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ are relative to the body only; in reality all is one, the outer being merely a projection of the inner.

Awareness comes as if from a higher dimension.

Q: Before the spark is lit and after, what is the difference?

M: Before the spark is lit there is no witness to perceive the difference. The person may be conscious, but is not aware of being conscious. It is completely identified with what it thinks and feels and experiences. The darkness that is in it is of its own creation. When the darkness is questioned, it dissolves. The desire to question is planted by the Guru. In other words, the difference between the person and the witness is as between not knowing and knowing oneself. The world seen in consciousness is to be of the nature of consciousness, when there is harmony (sattva); but when activity and passivity (rajas and tamas) appear, they obscure and distort and you see the false as real.

Q: What can the person do to prepare itself for the coming of the Guru.

M: The very desire to be ready means that the Guru had come and the flame is lit. It may be a stray word, or a page in a book; the Guru’s grace works mysteriously.

(From I Am That - Sri Nisargatta Maharaj, p 341)