In this conversation between a questioner and Maharaj, the questioner asserts that without God’s power, nothing can be done, and even Maharaj would not be sitting there talking to them without God. Maharaj agrees that all is God’s doing but notes that he wants for nothing, and what is his was his even when God was not. Maharaj believes that God is his devotee and did all that he has for him, and there is no God apart from himself because “I am” is the root, and God is the tree.

The questioner wonders whether Maharaj is the devotee or the object of devotion, and Maharaj responds that he is neither but is devotion itself. The conversation continues with the questioner expressing concern about the lack of devotion in the world, and Maharaj advises the questioner to take care of themselves first before trying to improve the world.

The questioner suggests that the world cannot wait for them, but Maharaj responds that by not inquiring, the questioner is keeping the world waiting for somebody who can save it. The questioner asserts that God runs the world and will save it, but Maharaj challenges this by asking whether God told the questioner that the world is His creation and concern and not theirs.

Maharaj goes on to explain that in the world in which the questioner lives, who else knows about it? And when the questioner is free of the world, they can do something about it. As long as the questioner is a prisoner of the world, they are helpless to change it, and whatever they do will aggravate the situation.

The questioner suggests that righteousness will set them free, but Maharaj notes that righteousness will undoubtedly make the questioner and their world a comfortable, even happy place, but there is no reality in it, and it cannot last. The questioner suggests that God will help, but Maharaj explains that to help them, God must know their existence.

However, the questioner and their world are dream states, and in a dream, they may suffer agonies, but none knows them, and none can help them. The questioner wonders whether all their questions, their search, and study are of no use, and Maharaj responds that these are but the stirrings of a man who is tired of sleeping, and they are not the causes of awakening but early signs.

The conversation turns to the question of the person, the knower of the person, and the witness, and whether the knower and the witness are in the same or separate states. Maharaj explains that when the knower is seen as separate from the known, the witness stands alone, and when the known and the knower are seen as one, the witness becomes one with them. The questioner then asks who the gnani is, the witness or the supreme, and Maharaj responds that the gnani is the supreme and also the witness.

In relation to consciousness, the gnani is awareness, and in relation to the universe, the gnani is a pure being. Finally, the questioner wonders about the person and whether the person or the knower comes first, and Maharaj responds that the person is a very small thing, and actually, it is a composite that cannot exist by itself. Pure being is reflected in the mirror of the mind as knowing, and what is known takes the shape of the person.

Overall, this conversation explores the nature of God, the self, and the world. Maharaj believes that everything is God’s doing, but he does not see himself as a separate entity from God. He believes that he is devotion itself, and the world is a dream state that the questioner must awaken from to effect change.