Spiritinlife’s Weblog

 It is 2.20 a. m of 12^th Oct. Last night, I completed my previous article after revising and editing it on how to make our mind firm and steady. I had to conclude the article so that I could go and spend some time in Pondicherry in meditation and reflection for reviewing my growth and come to a decision where to set off from there. And by the time I would return, the next article should be ready before 30th to make an entry of this month. I was contemplating upon all this and well, also on what should I write next. I kept in mind Swami Dayananda Shaligram of Ganeshpuri, whose nature is omnipresent and who is my constant spiritual companion,  to assist and guide me in this serious effort and continuing endeavour of mine. I also thought in the direction of this- That the next post should be related to practical life skills and it should not be very introspective in nature and full of gravity for the time being, at least. Thinking hard of all this, I fell asleep last night. These days my mind is most of the time engrossed in pondering, in keeping up with and updating  my blog and thereafter in practising what I write for all of us.

 My eyes opened at 2.20 a.m. sharp and I came to a wakeful state and found myself speaking these words clearly- ‘How to make your life extra-ordinary from ordinary’. I was bewildered and amazed to see what I was muttering to myself and wondered why. The next  moment I became fully aware that I just got over with seeing a vivid, meaningful dream. Or rather I was being told telepathically through the medium of a dream, in which I was guided by Swami Shaligram what  to write  in my blog and that was what I had just uttered. And then, it took me a few moments to walk in the past and recall what was the last thing that I thought about before I slept, as this incident must be a continuation of that deliberation. I had become fully awake by this time and decided that once I get up at 6 in the morning I will bring together and compile what I had experienced. But revered Shaligram Swami did not allow me to sleep, instead he told me to start penning down what he was about to make me write right there and then!! He clarified that this article is for your daughter, Mandira who is blooming beautifully in every manner but needs some special guidance at the moment. So I heeded his well timed advice and obeyed him and took out my pen and register in the dark and then got up to put on the light. I sat up and opened a fresh page. The flow of words and sentences trickled and flowed on its own, effortlessly from 2.20 to 4 a.m. in the morning as I allowed his thoughts of practical wisdom and judicious advice flow through me. I did not tire neither did he, until this post was composed in one go. When I was over and done with it, I saw the time. It was exactly 4 a.m in the morning and before I left for Pondicherry, the draft of this particular entry which you are reading at this moment was ready. I was thankful and relieved at the unexpected turn of events of that morning .

 After a little while, at 4.20 am when I saw the time, I remembered that it is this time at Ganeshpuri when the first kaakad ( very early morning) aarti is sung at the temple in honour of Swami Sri Nityananda, Swami Shaligram’s guru(To know more about Swami Nitynanda of Ganeshpuri, read article- Ignite the flame of illumination -post no-27 of seg-A)  Believing myself to be there in the hall before sunrise at wee hours and invoking Him silently and harbouring a wish in my heart that this article should benefit in abundance and do good to many, many people and readers so that their lives with the grace of Swami Nityananda and Swami Dayananda Shaligram should also become extra-ordinary. To fulfil this wish of mine, I began chanting this Holy name- Hare Nityananda, Paavan Nityananda, Hare Nityananda Paavan Nityananda ……

 This means:-

{Hare  (Ishwar, Lord)  Nityananda ( Nitya means always ananda means bliss}.,   Paavan  (Pure)  Nityananda  

Swami Shaligram composed this mantra when he was alive for his Param Guru Swami Nityananda and it was seen by people then that He would be immersed in this mantra chanting for hours and would be totally lost in Divine union during that time. Mantras have prolific impact on our mind, body and soul. They can lead us first from concentration to meditation and then to God union. Try and see for yourself,  mantras have their own latent powers hidden inside them.

 For your  sake, I would like to inform you that Swami Shaligram, Swami Nityananda’s recluse, yet foremost disciple who shunned public gaze, set an example for all the devotees when he was alive by dedicating his life by setting an example of an ideal disciple to his guru, Swami Nityananda. He was an epitome of devotion, surrender and self- giving. He took birth with only one mission- helping the poor and needy people and to show the sadhaks or aspiring seekers what an ideal disciple should be like. He was  like what Arjun was to Lord Krishna, a perfect disciple. No wonder Mahavatar Babaji has said these words about Swami Shaligram- “Voh mera laadla beta hai”.  He is my very dear son!!

 So dear readers, this article has come as a gift for all of us just before the festival of Diwali, the festival of lights and a season of celebration. May the light of the lamps of this festival light up your minds and cheer your hearts. May your life glitter with sparklers of joy and enlightenment !! With these bright and enriching thoughts, let me now proceed to reveal and talk about what Holy Swami Shaligram has told us in order to make our lives extra ordinary in  many ways. He said-

 Believe in your destiny Don’t doubt your destiny which is a very big force which we carry in an embryonic state within us. Whatever we are supposed to have or get in life in future, we will definitely get and acquire in a fixed course of time. So why lose hope and have doubts in our power, abilities, or capacity to do something? Instead put all your energy and focus on achieving what you desire for.

Now why do all genuine saints ask us to believe in our destiny, one may ask or at least the atheists may ask me?

 Confidence in your destiny gives you sense of satisfaction and contentment or else feelings of discontentment, jealousy and hopelessness are nursed. If you have a firm belief that whatever life has pre-decided to bestow on me, I will surely get one day, no one can take that away from me, you will have no fears or concerns and will never be overwhelmed by mental worries and anxiety. On the contrary we are sure to stay calm and we will move towards our set goals. Lord Krishna was destined to become the king of Mathura, no matter how many attempts were made by his annihilator Kansa to kill Him but he was unsuccessful in his wicked attempts.

When your time comes to get bestowed what is due to you, circumstances automatically become favourable. Try to see at present whether the forces are against you or in your favour. If they are unfavourabl try harder, intensify your efforts leave no stone unturned, you are will achieve your goals. Knock every door until the opportunity arrives and knocks your door. And even if after trying nothing works then-

 Have patience Cultivate patience, not little but a lot of it. Extra ordinary people are blessed with this great quality. Believe in yourself that you will be able to achieve what you have set your goals for but that will take time. Until that manifests, you must put up with every effort and that too very consistently. We tend to forget that when we do not achieve results after making many attempts at something , only patience helps.

In normal circumstances, what we do is try to do a bit of something  then lose hope and eventually give up. For some results we have to work harder as it takes longer than normal to get desired results. So be it!! Achieve your set goals with untiring patience .

Lord Rama never gave up and had unending patience when he set out to find his abducted wife, his beloved consort, Seeta. He searched for her everywhere in the forest and in plains. And being the king of Ayodhya, he did not hesitate to ask for help from anyone whether they were animate or inanimate, high or low, rich or poor, known or unknown. He worshipped the sands of seashore of Indian Ocean and also to Lord Shiva after the battle in Lanka until he achieved what he had set for!! So

 Be persistent Whenever I think of persistence, I think of ants. Ants never give up and they carry such big loads on their head and to me they never seem to be getting tired of doing the same job all their lives. When they walk up, they fall umpteen times. They never say that it’s not possible to reach my destination because I keep falling. Instead, they create their own path and walk on it. You try stopping an ant who is carrying a grain of sugar up the hill you will understand what I am saying. It will never stop and instead it moves in another direction and keeps moving up. If there are people who are blocking your path, don’t complain, cry or sulk, just carve out a new path and walk in a new direction. Carve out your  new destiny by being very persistent in your efforts. Persistence really pays. No matter how long it takes to get the results, months or years, put in your efforts on a regular basis until you get what you want in life, it could be physical, material or spiritual in nature. To make our lives better and progressive, material gains are also needed.

 Be determined By being determined, we remain focused in our endeavours. If you are determined, you will become fearless. Determined people are afraid of nothing, not even death. They face everything that comes in front of them, they address it and move on. There are going to be problems in between, there will be short periods of darkness, you may sometimes feel hopeless but it does not  matter. Be determined and rise once more and do not rest until you have achieved what you had set out for. There are many people out there who have set up their big business houses, companies, ventures and other establishments who had no help whatsoever but they were determined to pursue to follow and chase their dreams and goals. Great athletes and sportsmen, mountaineers, climbers, freedom fighters are also people with extra ordinary determination and therefore achieve extra ordinary feats.

Control your mind and speech People who have regulated speech can control their mind easily. Our speech should be full of meaning and worth. Senseless words, senseless talking and senseless thinking depletes our energy and stops us from exploring our optimum potential. Learn to conserve energy by talking less and thinking more. A lot of energy is wasted in worthless conversation for the heck of it. Limited talking will give us more time to contemplate and meditate.

A  scattered and restless mind can never achieve anything big and extra-ordinary. Try to meditate to make the mind calm, strong , powerful and dynamic to achieve whatever you want to achieve and pursue an enriching, enhanced and superior life. To extrapolate and break all limitations of mind and body, be conservative in talking and do not spend your precious energy in fruitless interactions with people. Save time for yourself to nurture, conserve and mould your life in extraordinary ways. People who speak less and meaningfully have the power to have an impact and can change other people’s life in many areas. So control your mind and control your speech. They both are interrelated.

Be courageous  If you look at the life of Panchali, she was one woman who was very courageous. She did not fear anything and always spoke the truth without any hesitation. She was bold enough to tell Bhishmapitamaha, the seniormost member and head of the entire lineage, that he had no business to be called Pitamaha and the caretaker of Hastinapur if he did not have the courage to stop the Kauravas from insulting and disrobing her in public. She had the courage to go bemoaning to Dhritrashtra and tell him that as he had kept mum during such an ill-omened hour, ominous fate would fall on the next generations of Kauravas. She feared nobody in the huge hall where there were only men and no woman to be at her side at such a critical time.

She also decided to be on the battle field for those long 18 days at Kurukshetra till the war was over to see to it that no Kaurava survives the wrath that they had called upon themselves by their own misdeeds. In the camp, she would nurse the soldiers and falling kings to the ground. She saw the gory of death and destruction and waited for Pandavas to bring the war  to an end.

After the war, like Pandavas, she too  relinquished Hastinapur and chose the cold and arduous Himalayas to bring the chapter of her life to a close. All along, she chose to be with the Pandavas uptil Swarag Rohini peak, near Alaknanda river in the mighty Himalayas, next to today’s Badrinath temple where one by one, the Pandavas laid down their lives willingly as repentence and penance for the war they had fought so unwillingly!!  History pays tribute to that bold and courageous woman even today.

Women can achieve and accomplish anything and make their lives extra ordinary if they want to,  provided they possess or cultivate  boldness, courage, forthrightness and fortitude. So cultivate that and fear nothing in life.

 Judge your life by its quality It is in our nature to judge ourselves by comparing ourselves with someone else who has ‘become something’ or seems to have achieved much more than us in terms of success and material gains.

But my dear child, I do not view and judge myself on this criteria. This is not the bench mark for me to judge people. I agree that there are many people whom I know are much more successful and are wealthier than I am in terms of career, success and wealth. Good for them!!I am not missing out on anything, I am very positive about it. On the contrary, I consider myself to be more fortunate than all others because I am able to connect to God anytime I wish to, I have my own contacts and connections!!! Do they have that?

  I have peace in my life. Do they have peace of mind?

I have joy in my life. Do those people have joy in their life or are they in delusion and misery of some kind?

I have contentment and satisfaction. Do the very rich and visibly famous have contentment or do they crave for more?

I have unshakeable faith in God. Faith that has helped me to navigate in the darkest hours of my life. Do you have sufficient faith and believe in God and his mercy and Grace?

And if yes, then you are a blessed one and a chosen one!!

 Judge yourself and your life by the ‘quality of life’ that you are leading and not by the amount of material you are consuming, not by accumulating heaps and heaps of notes, gold and silver, owning estates, or if you have 200 people working under you. Think!!! Change your definition of rich, beautiful and successful.

Only a true spiritual man is happy and successful in life. Someone who has understood the mystery of life, someone who has solved his complex human mind problems with the help of deep connection with the Almighty God, who has understood that this world is a temporary residence where we are supposed to give more than we take, who never looks back and does not even count his innumerable good karmas. Someone who is always rejoicing without getting any gain or success, someone who forgives all in spite of their ill temper and behaviour and someone who loves to pray and talk to god is a blessed soul. Such a person is extra ordinary, he is special, his life becomes extra ordinary.

 So judge your life and yourself on this criteria and now make your life extra ordinary. It is not the number of years that we live, but the quality of life that we spend here. At this moment while explaining, I remember Abhimanyu, the star of Mahabharat. He was barely 16 years old when he died an unfortunate and tragic death in the hands of capricious and  wicked Kauravas. But he did a spectacular job by tilting the fate of the war. He helped the Pandavas in the war by not allowing Dronacharya, who had vowed to kill Yudhisthir after the death of Bhishmapitamah, either by  capturing or killing him and hence bringing the war to an end in their favour. Though Abhimanyu was such a young lad, but his contribution towards Pandavas and the human society at large was huge. He took on the responsibility of changing the course of the war and has created a place for himself in history for heroic, dauntless courage. So who lives better and how?

 People who have a sense of awareness and consciousness or people who are awake all their lives and live each day in awareness, wakefulness and gratitude are the ones who live their lives truly well.

(Bhishmapitamaha, Panchali or Draupadi, Dronacharya, Dhritrashtra and Abhimanyu are characters from Mahabharat epic. I have picked these characters as Mahabaharat is a very fascinating epic of Indian history. Lord Ram’s character is from another great epic Ramayana)

In the last article I had quoted 3 verses from Bhagwat Geeta and had also said that the essence and practice is the key to its learning and living this great scripture.

‘Practice what you preach’ came true in my life. There was a mild storm on the domestic front last week. I was cautious and watchful all the time of this fact and told myself never mind what happens I will bring back my mind on thoughts and wisdom of God by maintaining full faith in Him and I was also convinced that I am under his unfaltering protection and tutelage so everything is going to be alright in the end. So during the turbulence, I made sure that I make conversation with God inside me and seek his advice and help so that my mind does not go astray. I was unable to practice meditation during this period because of too much physical activity and mental turbulence. But towards the end of the week, as it happened on last occasion (Refer last post please) once again in the afternoon after completion of my domestic chores, the house that I live in began to vibrate soothing and recuperating vibes which I felt were moving towards and entering my heart centre specifically. Deep sense of relaxation and peace overcame me and I went inside my room to rest and to be away from worldly entanglements for some time at least.  

 While resting, I remembered Mahavatar Babaji and was thinking how he came to my rescue just a few days ago by giving me very good counsel. As I remembered Him with overwhelming faith and devotion at that moment, He appeared again in a subtle form to give me further timely spiritual guidance for coming days. By now, I am accustomed to His extra ordinary presence in the form of sheer Divinity and recognize His speechless, serene arrival. My atmosphere for some time becomes very peaceful, pure and gentle, so different from the normal one that we experience every day. I thanked Him for giving me those benevolent peaceful, balmy vibrations and I expressed a desire to Him that I wish to follow those 3 verses of Geeta in practical terms more so in times of turbulence. All He said was “Go to attend group meditation” which is held on weekends.

As Sunday arrived, in spite of no possibility of me making it to the meditation hall because of freaky stormy weather and heavy rainfall I did go, though I reached late. It was obviously seen by me very clearly that God’s Grace was with me because of those Babaji’s blessed words of instructions.

 Even that one hour session was very beneficial and fruitful. The cleansing of my mind and body was done there. I had accumulated the karmic dust of someone to whom I was helping overcome the excess baggage of fruits of actions of previous lives. The dirt and its fatigue was washed off so effortlessly in that sitting as if there was no trouble at all!!

 If you please recall post no 6 -What is the purpose of my life? of segment A,  there is a very important paragraph highlighted by me which is the essence of that whole article. Babaji had explained to me in the dream sequence in  very early hour that- “The main aim of meditation is to be able to concentrate and focus on God in depth and duration while the other benefits of spiritual meditation are just its by-products”

 Now since the past many weeks as I feel very cheerful and energetic again, I have a desire of stepping up and advancing in meditation practice by increasing its depth and duration but I do not know how. I have been praying silently in my heart and asking Guruji, Sri Paramhansa Yogananda, my mentor, who initiated me in Yoga and Dhyana and also to Sri Mahavatar Babaji, my Param Guru who is responsible of giving me a new lease of life, figuratively and literally. I have always believed and lived by a strong conviction and belief that if you quietly pray to God and address your heartfelt desires for positive development , they are always answered. God really listens and responds to all our innocent and selfless askance.

 Today morning, while in dhayana or concentration on God, in those quiet hours of early morning when only one little bird was twittering in gaiety and the sun was still resting, I again recalled the dialogue between Bhagwan Krishna and his foremost disciple Arjuna as mentioned in the verses of Bhagwat Geeta in the last article. Arjuna expresses dissatisfaction and complains that his mind is uncontrollable like the wind and is never at ease and steady. So Krishna gives him a yukti, a strategy to fight and control the agitating mind. He advises Arjuna to meditate on God to control his frittering mind and also to be dispassionate about the earthly and materialistic affairs. When my mind was completely focussed in the mid space between the two eye brows, Sri Mahavatar Babaji explained explicitly to me that-

“Now your body has become fit enough to take the load of intensive physical exercise and intensive meditation practices. So increase your intensity of meditation”

I used to wonder many times before how can one get depth in meditation for which Babaji threw some light and gave me insight by saying, “Depth in meditation comes by increasing the duration. If you meditate on  God continually for a long period, you will achieve depth. When you attain depth gradually, the duration will increase simultaneously because the mind will be completely dissolved in God communion little by little”

 What Krishna elucidates in those verses, Mahavatar Babaji  clarified the shlokas for me.

He said, “Whenever you have time in between hectic activities,  release your mind from those capturing thoughts, that’s Vairagya or dispassion. Vairagya is not sannyas or relinquishing of duties. Vairagya or dispassion is releasing and purging the mind of the redundant and repetitive thoughts of the past and future. Empty out your mind from thoughts about people and of people to avoid cluttering, storing so that the space in the mind can be filled up with constructive positive thoughts. Save and conserve positive energies for that big task for a great cause, a noble mission.

Frittering of mind is the nature of mind. Meditation helps in developing and composing composure, tranquillity and poise even during turbulence. It is only with regular practice of meditation that the mind is developed to become a vessel, a receptor and a receiving station to receive higher powers as well as supernatural powers to discover Nature and its functioning. And for the development of Super- Mind, it is developed by receiving very powerful potent vibrations of supernatural powers from higher space in the cosmic universe.”

 For the first time I understood that meditation is such a good activity or positive karma, so full of vitality and benefits and why don’t I devote more time to it in spite of the overactive days. Then I understood that to be able to meditate frequently and in intensity I need more subtle energy which will come once I close my mind from its wandering or frittering habits during the day which is going unnoticed. I also observed when there was excessive futile mental actions, the strength in the body declines as was visible to me because I could not do my daily physical exercises so well during this time period. Most of the energy from my total energy was being used up in those repetitive wandering thoughts was clear to me now.  Therefore I decided to plug in those holes so that the mind could function optimally and no brain energy was being wasted. And I did exactly that and it is applicable not only for today.

 In the next following days also, I have decided to follow this great piece of advice and knowledge given to me by Babaji which I am sharing with you now. I can strengthen and improve the power of my mind to achieve what I wish to achieve in future. To make my mind steady, composed and powerful and also peaceful I will repeatedly practice bringing  my mind back again and again to the centre to focus and concentrate on God. But before the mind is brought back, it has to be cut off from the external source thereby also practising vairagya or dispassion.

 Dear readers, to understand the subject matter very well, please read these two posts of part I and II together and  if possible, make notes in your diary for future reference and then compare your improvement from time to time and judge yourself. I am aware that what I have written here is little difficult to understand and tougher to practice still. But it is better to safeguard the wandering mind and stop it from so many future errors and suffering from futile actions of the wandering mind. It is for our own good that we practise curbing and focussing the thoughts by bringing it back again and again on God and self realizations by thinking of faith, devotion, hope and aspiration. We should also pursue some type of meditation techniques so that the mind becomes stronger, powerful yet peaceful in nature. There will be storms, turbulence and difficulties that we will have to encounter in future, life does not stop here. Our efforts of interiorizing the mind will help us to give us peace, composure and tranquillity of mind. I pray to my dear Divine Father and Gurus to bless us all who are striving in their efforts to control their minds to give them the will power and mental strength to meditate deeply in depth and duration on Thee!!

Holy Bhagwat Geeta is a song divine, the nectar of God churned after the torrid war of Mahabharat fought at Kurukshetra millenniums ago in India. It is gift of God to humanity to find the path leading to self control, mind and body discipline, devotion and self- realization. It is an ocean of wisdom for it is a book containing the highest esoteric principles. It is the essence of all Vedas, the sea of knowledge. Rishi Ved Vyasa has composed this timeless jewel.

 Bhagwat Geeta’s language oh! so sweet and lucid yet the thoughts so profound that they exhibit and reveal new facets of Truth every time one attempts to read or listen to it. Therefore it remains ever-fresh, young and ever new! The Geeta scripture should be intently studied. After reading the text, its meaning, ideas, concepts, ideals and precepts should be gathered and held in mind till it percolates and is absorbed fully and engrained in the psyche.

 There was a time when my interest in this exclusive scripture was aroused and I read it many times in the past. Each verse is so full of education that is becomes imperative to be brought into practice in our daily life. Out of so many, for us some verses are favourites whose essence should be remembered throughout as they will serve as a beacon or torch of light in normal as well as difficult days in our lives. The essence and its daily practice is the key.

 I have recently started to read this book once again to understand it better. During the last week although I was reading a few verses of Bhagwad Geeta carefully and trying to follow its principles, one fine evening unsuspectingly I was overwhelmed by a spate of gloomy and lonely thoughts. When I was at work, my mind would want to finish that task quickly so that I could go on to next frantically. I was also thinking of some relatives in the family more than usual. Whenever I was alone, a shooting pain would jolt me unbidden and a few drops of tears would fill up my eyes. This happened many times and I continued to hold myself back from further sliding. I was unable to retain my joyful nature and equanimity and slowly my mind nose-dived into a whirl pool of gloomy waters! My heart became heavy with some kind of unknown, unbearable weight and I could tolerate it no more. All this lingered for a few days and when I knew on one late evening that it was time for me to get out of that kind of pitiable frame of mind and salvage myself as soon as possible, I went in my room and sat in a comfortable posture on my bed, cross legged and closed my eyes.

 I tried to uplift and alleviate myself by the process of prayerful meditation and tried very hard to know and stop what was troubling me so much. I pacified myself with counter positive thoughts and self-enquiry but to no avail. When my self-help techniques failed me, I opened my drawer and took out my rudraksh mala, my rosary, and began to repeat the mantra ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ with dedication. Chanting of this powerful mantra had its own effect as was visible to me in just a few moments. The uneasiness and anxiety began to dissipate and fritter away and I regained some of my calm and comfort. The heaviness began to recede and my mind got connected to Sri Mahavatar Babaji, the immortal divine being and my Param Guru. He is extremely receptive to his disciples’ bidding, cry or call and is very prompt to respond to their earnest needs. Immediately his imperceptible presence surfaced in my mind as he responded to my silent request to God for mitigating the unbearable suffering that I was undergoing. A quick interlocking of our minds and his magic began to cast a spell on me! I became very light and felt absolutely free from all mental troubles.  And in no time, as unbidden, a curious sense of tranquillity and relief came to replace the pain.

 The omniscient Guru instinctively comprehended my problem and the complex issues involved with it completely. He is possessed with so many unusual incomprehensible yogic powers that we can never even imagine leave alone understand them. As he is able to peep into our many previous lives as well many lives of future with great ease, his counsel and advice is always perfect. Obviously, it never misses the point. The Master’s vision is so very far- sighted and extremely subtle and awe inspiring in nature. He pinpointed out to me that since the past 3 to 4 days my subconscious mind was ruffled because it is engaged primarily with the minds of some people who are remembering me. Although they are benefitting from it as they are receiving very healthy and beneficial vibrations while I am being depleted in energy and wellness because of their low levels of consciousness. No wonder I was feeling exhausted and out of focus, I just realized. He asked me to disconnect my mind immediately from them and fix it on Him. After doing what was asked of me, I was resurrected and instantly re-vitalized.

 He made me understand a commendable piece of knowledge when He said this to me, “It is good to think of bygone happy times of your life  but if you repeatedly remember it thereby creating sadness and melancholy for yourself, why think of it at all? What is the purpose of it? If your mind is not constructive in either planning for future activities or on thoughts of God realization, then you are sure to afflict yourself. A yogi neither thinks too much about his past nor does he worry and anticipate about tomorrow. This is wondering of mind. Put your mind into joyful, constructive activities and re-join your mind on God thoughts. The mind must have enough courage in itself to break the flow of redundant and repetitive thoughts so that it can receive and harvest uninterrupted flow of soul-realization and thoughts of Divine, your true companion and soul-mate!”

 I was further counselled by my revered Guru,  “A yogi should always keep his mind intact on God alone, even though he does not retain people in his mind, yet the other people do attune their minds to yours sturdily and compel you to think of them with compulsion. The yogi must be clever enough to know and become conscious regarding this subtle invasion from outside and become vigil for future. Or else losing of liveliness and vigour is inevitable.”

At this juncture, I made up my mind that in future I will restrain and be in charge of my mind and not be a victim of some outside invasions by unknown factors. I then implored and asked Him what should I write in my article as I had no creative ideas or imagination whatsoever nowadays because of mental fatigue. I could no longer push myself forward and required a helping hand. So He told me to read Bhagwad Geeta. I accepted his advice humbly without any drop of doubt or reluctance.

 And just then, in a flash I recollected a dream that I saw in the early hours of morning about a year ago, when I and Babaji were walking up the stairs in a white house and my mind would get distracted again and once again and how Babaji would give me a helping hand( Read post-6 What is the purpose of my life? in segment-A). Everything started falling in place in my translucent  mind after it became sparky again by His Grace. In all humility I knelt down in my heart as a token of gratitude, reverence and thanksgiving. My mind was like a bright sunny morning  and there was brightness everywhere. I sat in the same posture for quite long until I don’t know when. After that I read the Geeta and I was able to understand it so much better. I read chapter 6 with full attention and wish to quote just 3 verses out of them. I used to read them with great curiosity and interest in the past also and I still get very inspired by them.

 Arjunauvach

Yoyam  yogastvaya  proktah  samyen  madhusudan  I

Atsyaaham  n a  pashyami chanchaltwastithim  sthirim  II33

Arjuna said, Krishna, owing to restlessness of mind, I do not perceive the stability of this Yoga in the form of equanimity which you have just spoken of.

 Chanchalam  hi  manah  Krishna  pramathi  balvaddridham I

Tasyaham  nigraham  manye  vayoriv  sudushkaram  II 34

For Krishna, the mind is very unsteady, turbulent, tenacious and powerful; I consider it as difficult to control as the wind.

 SriBhagwanuvach

Asanshaya  mahabhaho  mano durnigraham  chalam  I

Abhyasen  tu  Kaunteya  vairagyen  ch  grihute II 35

Sri Bhagwan said: The mind is restless no doubt, and difficult to curb, Arjuna; but it can be brought under control by repeated practice of meditation for mind control and by the exercise of act of dispassion, O son of Kunti.

The following day when I was resting in the afternoon when the house and the whole surrounding was very still and quiet, very deep peace entered me. My whole house  was radiating Divine Peace and for some time I was completely immersed in illuminating thoughts and peaceful vibrations. I was resting in my bed with complete sense of relaxation when a flash of Light struck me in the space between my eyebrows which then gently spread all over my eyes and head and I uttered,“ I am Light, I am Joy, I am Ananda”

(To be continued)

 Dear ones, as you know by now, that the new segment of this blog is of higher level of spiritual knowledge. The following articles need repeated dipping into because it cannot be comprehended easily. After reading the post several times, the thoughts and  content need to be contemplated upon, imbibed and then brought into life-practice. It is only after practising that we understand something thoroughly. For example, when we want to mine diamonds, first of all we have to search for the right place . We then have to dig the earth, after which layer after layer of mud, stones and pebbles are removed. Likewise our mind is a compact, tightly packed mountain of mud. It needs to be loosened, separated, sieved and unwanted elements are to be thrown out until the time the desired aim is met.

  Knowledge is of two types- Worldly and spiritual knowledge. Or Paroksha and aparoksha  gyan.  Paroksha in Sanskrit means something which is tangible and seen with eyes and by aparoksha is meant something seen without eyes  and which is intangible. Paroksha gyan is worldly knowledge, seen and manifested, while Aparoksha Gyan is that knowledge which is  seen without eyes. God is seen without eyes and the world with our eyes. If you want to seek God, have knowledge about God, want to know and have  Him, want to sense and feel Him then we need aparoksha gyan.

Insight and deeper understanding of Aparoksha Gyan is arrived at when we ponder over a thought or the words of wisdom of men of great stature who have had a grand vision and exemplary mission in their life. Spiritual wisdom can be achieved by the layperson also, provided he makes many repeated attempts and persists in trying to understand, ruminates and mulls over a thought many times until the under wraps and relevant meaning is revealed to him and eventually becomes his own knowledge. It depends on the devotion of time and attention given by us and the vehement zeal we possess. Great preserved knowledge shrouded in scriptures can be understood by us by repeated efforts of reading and studying it diligently. And along with that, one must also have God’s grace to make things easy. If the grace of God has not been bestowed on the sadhak yet and if the sadhak perseveres, makes many sincere attempts, then God is pleased and bestows his blessing in the form of insight, refined understanding and correct meaning of shlokas and mantras.  Therefore the foremost requirement is  effort.

 Adi Shankracharya was a man of great wisdom, yet he worshipped Devi or Divine Mother and Lord Shiva to please them to get additional knowledge and greater depth of understanding of the ancient scriptures written by sages like Ved Vyas and Rishi Markandeya or for that matter even Rishi Narada. And after reading the scriptures, he churned and churned the knowledge, imbibed it until it became his own.

 The mind of man is covered with ignorance, lethargy and obscurity because of which the rays of illumination are unable to penetrate.  Divine Illuminations are sparks of light which destroy ignorance. Although we identify ourselves with only the physical body out of  unfamiliarity, in reality we are composed of many other bodies or sheaths as well. And eventually what are we? Thought or idea or in Sanskrit it is termed sankalp!. Sankalp is also resolution of mind but here it only means a thought. As our  sankalp so our actions. As we go on creating new karmas each new karma or action in turn creates a thin layer or sheath around us. If we do unmeritorious karmas or deeds, the layers that are formed in our aura or energy field, are dark, cloudy and heavy. On the contrary, when we begin to do more and more glorious, meritorious and worthy actions, the prevailing dark and thick layers begin to thin out and disintegrate slowly allowing the positive illuminating cosmic rays of Golden Light to penetrate inside our mind and give illumination and correspondingly better knowing and clarity to our choked and unlit mind.

 Sri Raman Maharishi used to often say that our mind is like a well. Go on taking out bucket after bucket of water until nothing is left inside it. The buckets of water, he hinted at, were the worldly thoughts and ‘nothing left’ means silence, a state of thoughtlessness, quietude and peace. (Refer post no.4  Awareness-the art of right living in segment-A)  Over a considerable passage of time, with continuous practice of concentration and various suitable meditation techniques and methods and simultaneously performing good actions, a resultant very positive state of mind is arrived at by the yogi when only the effects of our good karmas are being carrying out and the effects of bad or negative karmas are wiped out. At this point, the soul is freed from the heavy, unbearable load of its own wrong doings and ignominy out of sheer ignorance, mental lethargy and lack of interest. Age old unconsciousness of presence of God within is wiped out and knowledge of God in  us is slowly re-established.

 This whole long procedure of change in our mind can be compared to this simple example. Suppose I hide a brilliant diamond under a pile of clothes on my bed. Obviously, the shine and brilliance of the diamond cannot be seen. But if one wants to retrieve the diamond and look at its glitter, one will have to make efforts to achieve that. And what is that effort? The effort is to start removing each cloth one by one until only the diamond remains lying still on the bed. We have drawn parallels here to understand that the diamond is our spirit and the layers of clothes are the layers of ignorance and darkness created by the individual himself.

 When we deliberately put our mind on words of spiritual wisdom,  it produces wondrous results. It begins to affect us and continuous repeated thoughts begin to make a dent on our thinking mind. Good thoughts compel us to do good actions and vice versa. Good actions save us from the misery of unimaginable pain, agony and sorrow. So let’s make sure that we distinguish between the two.

 The mind is by nature frivolous and restless. It cannot stay still even for a few minutes. Our mind is like a sponge. (refer post no-12- Learning a pleasure, seg-A) It absorbs a multitude of thoughts floating in the atmosphere around us. Each mind in the universe is like a radiating or emitting machine. It sends out waves of good or bad thoughts which float and are suspended in the atmosphere for a long, long time. The suspended thoughts can either be harmonious or inharmonious. Many a times we accept, absorb and assimilate undesired thoughts of doubt, fear, greed, uneasiness, unholy deeds, ingenuity and so on. But a trained and seasoned mind can distinguish between his own thoughts and unwanted thoughts that have entered the mind from outside. With silencing of mind during meditation, the alien thoughts should be rejected and holy thoughts of peace, goodness, compassion, knowledge and wisdom should be procured and assimilated.  During periods of isolation and meditation we must train our mind to join and connect with the illumined and God-realized souls and the wisdom which is theirs can be ours.

In Bhagwat Geeta, Bhagwan Sri Krishna explains to Arjun that

 Shreyandravya mayadhygya gyan yagya  paramtap I

Sarvam karmakhilam Partha gyane parismapyate II 33 chapter 4

 Arjuna, sacrifice through Knowledge is superior to sacrifice performed with material things. For all actions without exception culminate in Knowledge, O son of Kunti.

 Tadwidhi  pranipaaten  pariprashnen sevaya I

Updekshyanti  te  gyanam gyaninstatwadarshinaha II 34

 Understand the true nature of that Knowledge by approaching illumined souls. If you prostrate at their feet, render them service, and question them with an open and guileless heart, those wise seers of truth will instruct you in that Knowledge.

Yagyagyatva  na punarmohammevam  yasayasi pandava I

Yena  bhutanyasheshena  drakshyasyatmanyatho mayi II 35

 Arjuna, when you have reached enlightenment, ignorance will delude you no more. In the light of that Knowledge you will see the entire creation first within your own self, and then in Me.

Dear readers, since there are no comments or questions asked by you on my previous post, I understand that the post’s subject was not very easy to comprehend. I am aware that such topics are surreal and definitely sound a little strange, and at the same time, even if someone does get a glimpse into the inner chambers of the mind, one wants to know more and more and wishes to quench the spirit’s thirst. Both are true here. So instead of moving on to a new subject, I have  decided to expand and explain this particular topic further and wait in anticipation for your feedback, which will be a way to know for me that I am moving in the right direction.

In the last few days, many of us might have been  immersed in the festive season but I was unable to work on and compose my post with full attention span and ease because of the blaring, boisterous noise of the Ganesh Utsav celebrations, a festival getting bigger and louder by each year in my neighbourhood. However, my namaskar and pranam to the Lord of buddhi, riddhi and siddhi to eliminate and remove all the obstacles and hurdles on our way to spiritual uprising and awakening for all of us.

The relentless  noise and crowd has not deterred me but has made me recognize the fact that we have two types of sadhana- the inner and the outer sadhana. Or antarmukhi sadhana and bahirmukhi sadhana respectively. The outer sadhana consists of rituals, ceremonies and many possible visible actions to appease and please the deities and God. Such a pooja, aradhana  or vandana is fine, it is so much better than doing any detrimental and immoral acts but the doer always has some wish, craving or fancy to fulfil, some type of yearning from the Lord and they in most cases are rewarded. (Read post no.6 What is the purpose of my life? in segment -A)  The outer sadhana is easy to perform but the results and gains are diminutive, short term and perishable with no alteration in the person’s present level of wakefulness and consciousness. Years and years may pass by but the admirer or devotee of God and deities shows no signs of alertness, progress and transformation. On the contrary, the requests and wants multiply with each year.

On the other hand there is inner sadhana in which we cast, shape, train and discipline the wandering nomadic mind to be hushed, silenced and become desire-free. Instead of asking, one thanks and is appreciative and grateful to God for whatever one has. The aspirant by now knows that asking tangible material objects and fulfilling gratifying wishes are in no way an answer to his lingering complex life problems. Even though the inner sadhana is tougher but has very enduring, influential effects and then asking God to make us desire less is a difficult thing to ask conversely and it is no mean task by any standards. It is easier said than done I must agree. Praying to God for contentment and peace is a very wise, sane and a prudent thing to do as the wisdom of the sages goes.

Have you read the title of this post carefully? If not, then read it once again and note that I have written how to have lasting peace in the heart and not in the mind.

Peace in the mind is sought after and achieved by the aspirant at the preliminary stage. Before he really embarks on the extensive, stretched and challenging spiritual journey, he is like any other regular person, one in the faceless millions. The average, worldly wise man wishes to possess, hoard, amass and consume tangible objects and they could be things, articles, objets d’art or money, wealth, fame, power, success etc.

Man has been given many incarnations to live by Mother Nature in order to develop and advance his soul to the state of higher perceptions, realizations and progressive living. (Read article-37 The process of liberation in segment-A to know how the soul gradually evolves on the ladder of human evolution) Because he resides in a physical body for too long during this process, he becomes accustomed to living in the physical encasement for a very long duration, his consciousness becomes gross and undivine. And contamination, corruption and other impurities are harboured in his mind during his physical tenement. All the time his mind is engaged in worldly pursuits and it is not joined and tied with divine awareness and its untarnished realizations. Hence his mind knows no peace at all and is perpetually active in gain-loss, joy-sorrow, fortune-misfortune, birth-death etc activities .

In fact, all humans are looking for pleasure and delight in some enterprise, adventure and endeavour, not realising that his soul wants peace and not some other acquisitions as the primary requisite for his earthly survival. And if, by probing and introspection, one day when we do come to an understanding that it is not worldly happiness after all but stability and equanimity of mind that should be acquired first.  We soon figure out that out of stability and equanimity is born peace. And the sensory world is full of dualities, happiness and sorrow are two sides of the same coin and one has to undergo and experience both the feelings and emotions. Unfortunately, almost all of us do not ever realize it even once in our long life the importance of inculcating peace in our lives consciously like other efforts that we undertake.

But those seekers of peace and self- realization, on their way at a mature stage of advancement, do realize and it dawns on them that I must now  not seek and run after impermanent outside happiness and gratifications but must attain permanent peace which comes from within. Hence the mind slowly quietens down and the old desires begin to fade away and die a slow death on its own. The mind seeks happiness and joy in pursuits of inward journey primarily. After which it becomes passive, reflective, and introspective and finds solace in gaining knowledge of self, deeper realisations, devotion, compassion and other such understated activities. And controlling one’s senses and the mind are the seeker’s favourite activities and likings now. The past wandering and restless mind is no longer asking or demanding things of the world as he is satisfied with his fate and is a content soul by now. On the contrary, he carries out actions which bring him relief from its non-stop agitation and restless activities of worldly pre-occupation, attachments and acquisitions. The mind becomes peaceful and is at rest with oneself. Hence we say “peace of mind”.

The ordinary person transforms into a sadhak as he seeks lasting peace. He turns his mind inwards and questions, seeks and finds his answers of self enquiry and dives to find inner peace within himself. But please know this, that at such a stage, the seeker is not yet above the dualities and pairs of opposites of this ever-changing momentary and brief- natured world. The ever-changing quality of the world, the duality of opposites, create agitation and disturbs his mind. The disturbance is also caused by the inevitable sanchit karmas (the previous lives’ accumulated, unmanifested karmas ) They are still manifesting in the ongoing life-stage and negative results of past karmas crop up again and again at set phases, thereby disturbing the equilibrium of his newly found peace. But with the grace and help of the Spiritual Masters and blessings of heavenly deities, he is able to conquer and prevail over to reap the fruit of the backlog of his past sanchit karmas with considerable ease. As and as the unmanifested karmas begin to bear fruit, he becomes lighter and the mind becomes calmer and composed, because of the lessening of the weight of the load and deeper revelations. When all the sins and misgivings of all the previous lives are burnt to dead ashes, the soul involuntarily  comes to a stable, restful and relaxing state. To substantiate this, now let’s read the shlokas from Bhagwad Geeta chapter7/27&28

Icchadweshsabuthen dwandmohen bharat  1

Sarvabhutani sammoham sarge yanti parantap 11

Oh valiant Arjuna, through delusion in the shape of pairs of opposites (such as pleasure and pain etc), born of desire and hatred, all living creatures in this world are falling a prey to infatuation.

Yesham twantgatam papam jananam punyakarmanam 1

Te dwandmohanirmukta bhajante maam  dradhvrta 11

But those men of virtuous deeds, whose sins have come to an end, being freed from delusion in the shape of pairs of opposites (born of attraction and repulsion) worship Me with a firm resolve in every way.

Progresssively, at one point, the mind becomes completely captivated and entrenched in God thoughts by the process of sublimation and gets finer and refined in its taste, likes and sensibilities. Nevertheless, at this last crucial stage also, there are a few left over vasanas (refer this post- How to have lasting peace within our hearts-I) of desires and egotism or self-centredness. As a kind gesture of grace, God permits and facilitates the fulfilment of all the remaining desires so that the soul is completely freed of all its bondages of previous actions. And after the blazing of all the desires, the last remaining remnants and impact of the severest enemy called ‘ego” in us is taken to task. The ego is the last enemy on the battle field to leave the jeeva or embodied soul after a prolonged battle of many, many lives. The delusion that “I am”, “I can”, “I will” , “I”, is very thin and the very fine thin subtle layers of “ego thought particles” sticking and covering one’s soul at last drops off  with considerable passage of time. To give you an example, let’s consider this.

If you have ever pealed a pod of garlic, you must have noticed that after peeling the thicker outer skin there is a very thin inner membrane which sticks to the single garlic piece. It is sticky, transparent and light  yet it doesn’t peel off easily and is of the same colour as the garlic. Similarly, the last remaining  egotism  is so well engrained and entangled in our consciousness and nature, also called vasana that we are not sensitive towards it and aren’t aware of its presence at all. All the same, it exists and has to be separated to isolate the soul from its pervading blemishes and patchy and itchy impurities. Once this task is achieved, the soul eventually begins to glitter in its own radiance!

After the ego is shed, the duality of you and I, sorrow-happiness, bad-good, pure-impure etc evaporates as the mind is purified and cleaned by the seeker’s meritorious karmas and guru kripa. At this particular stage it is mandatory for the sadhak or spiritual aspirant to perform good meritorious karmas and selfless acts, deliberately and consciously, so that we do not sow and reap any ill effects or ill results at all in future. We must ensure that we perform only positive karmas to have a happy and harmonious life ahead. If we do so, nature is in our favour and there is no more suffering, hurdles, sickness  perpetuating and invading us constantly. Even if some people wrong us, cheat us, or act with mean manipulations, we must not react and retaliate-this is the advice of the Gurus to us, please remember it forever. After sometime those people suffer in many ways- in terms of physical, mental and emotional illness and deprivation, while our life is good in every sense. Good luck and nature will always side with people who are good at heart and pure in actions.

At such a higher stage of spiritual level of consciousness and vast knowing,  peace flows very gently and reaches us from very high subtle planes in the ether directly in our heart and is sublime and mellifluous to sense,  feel and touch. It is very soothing, genteel and endearing in nature and cannot be exchanged with anything of this world, and  it is very, very precious.  It is awe-inspiring and it needs to be experienced to know what I am saying at this moment!

Dear friend, please understand that the quality and duration of peace at the mental level and the heart’s level is different in every sense. Peace is enduring and is received directly in the heart centre at this advanced and evolved stage because  by this time the heart of the sadhak is completely purified by a long period of practice of saatvik pure karmas, meditation, chanting, japa, charity, love, compassion and service to mankind. There is no malice, grudge, revenge, envy, greed, pride or  materialistic desires remaining in him any longer. In place of all these unwanted things, there is a priceless gift of God presented to us in our heart and that gift is of permanent and lasting nature –It is lasting peace in our heart!.

It’s because the heart centre is purified and energised and it is the seat of the Lord- the giver of bountiful peace. Such a wonderful person is called a yogi, a person whose mind is always connected to and remains one with God. The yogi has peace at all times whether he is asleep or awake, working or resting although there may be a brief  period of ripples of mild perturbation from unexpected quarters, but he soon brings his attention where the Lord resides, i.e. in his heart and God talks to him and soothes his soul for all the abrasions caused by external agencies ! The vibration of the aura of such a yogi is of deep calming peace which has a positive impact on other people’s mind and heart. He can convert people with his good conduct, behaviour, speech and selflessness. His speech is full of love and kindness and he is good to  everybody. He never retaliates in spite of someone being harsh, self-centred or hurtful. Instead he prays unselfishly for the wellbeing and happiness for all. The yogi is generous and pious and ever willing to help others in times of distress, any need and agony. And God always blesses such pious and devout souls. Saints, yogis and mahatmas fall in this category.

From the fountain of peace of the blissful yogi flows the  gushing  cool waters of  serenity, tranquillity and joy.

Om shanti,shanti, om.

It has been quite some time since I wrote something new on my blog. As mentioned right in the beginning, the previous collection  of articles titled ‘Celebrate Life’  (segment A) was composed and published at the  behest and directive of Sri Sri Mahavatar Babaji, the immortal Guru residing in the vicinity of the great Himalayan range of mountains. (For beginners, read post no-5 in segment-A, The Light of the world Sri Mahavatar Babaji to know about the immortal Guru) After wrapping up those posts, I took some time off to take mental rest and rejuvenation in a sabbatical quiet retreat. I went on a long and arduous pilgrimage and trek to the Himalayas and paid my homage and reverence  to Lord Vishnu, the giver of liberation and salvation in Badrinath, Lord Shiva, the redeemer and atoner of our sins at Kedarnath and at the source and temples of the  most holy rivers of India, the Ganga and Yamuna at Gangotri and Yamnotri  respectively.

It was a great and a lasting experience of my life and a test of endurance and patience  for me. The pilgrimage or teerth yatra proved to be  an even  greater source of replenishing  and  recharging of spiritual energies within. It was a period of peace, quietude and advance learning as well.

As it was earlier, this time too, I was asked to express myself and write something about my beautiful inward journey by revered and holy Master Mahavatar Babaji. It is because of Him that I have resumed writing on my blog with the same zeal, conviction and self-belief. It is their prasad that is being distributed  to all readers, seekers, devotees, pilgrims and aspiring souls through the medium of this blog. But unlike last time, the posts are not addressed to my daughter but are for all the readers who visit my blog, those who are interested in uplifting their dormant souls, for those who are treading on the path of self discovery and also for those who are about to realize God in this very life.

And let me also tell you that all the readers of this blog are my companions, my co-travellers or yatris and I wish to build a relation of friendship and mutual respect. Therefore, express yourself without hesitation, talk to me, ask questions so that we can tread on this path with feelings of  mutual support, help, admiration and brotherhood.

There will be 2 posts publishing every month on Ist and I5th and they will be addressed to you starting on this very auspicious day of Sri Krishna Jayanti or Janamashtami, the special day on which we celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna. The upcoming posts are going to be a  little advanced in nature  and substance so it is requested that you please go over each post many times. Although there will be only 2 posts every month, please do read books and study material on similar topics for comprehensive understanding by other thinkers, saints, philosphers and writers on such topics.

The series of the following posts have been named  ‘The door to Heaven’ (segment B )and the articles should be read accordingly keeping the theme of the  title in mind. So come, let’s begin our yatra or spiritual journey within together…

The door to heaven opens when you have peace, profound peace,  peace that comes from deep within yourself. There is a place, a spot in the centre, at the heart centre which is the receptacle and fountain of sustainable peace. Become aware of that!

Now imagine this. When there is a rainfall, if  the rain drops fall in a deep vessel little by little the vessel fills up.  That is possible only if we allow the water  to  collect, that it does  get accumulated. Once accumulated it can be stored or else the rain water goes to waste if we do not keep the deep vessel in the open area for water to stand. Similarly, peace when procured with deep connection with your inner self stays with you. Collect and store godly peace within you in your heart and make it last!

And please know and realize  that  peace generated with a  shallow and impure mind is artificial and does not sustain for long. So hold on to your enduring peace!

Now aren’t the temples of deities and Gods kept clean and very neat? And so should be our minds.

But what if there exists  impurity of mind? And what is this  impurity of mind? Where does it come from? How to get rid of our impure thoughts?

Impure thoughts come from ‘vasanas’. Vasanas are the fixed tendencies of past performed karmas whose impact is still lingering and they make our mind cloudy. Vasanas are like the glass shield around us, although things are transparent and visible to us from our side  but we are cut off from the outer world. They shield the mind from the thought and glory of God. So in spite of our meritorious karmas, God is still  far away from us. We have sanskaras of many past  lives and in our near last or last life, the main aim of spirituality is to tear away the very thin film, the jelly like transparent film over our mind to break free and experience God without any obstruction. This is possible only when we take refuge in God after surrendering the remaining traces of existing egoism or false self fully.

Vasanas are the chains of  bondage for salvation of our true Self or Spirit. They give us rebirth and delusion and the soul may again get lost in the mire and web of cycles of recurring life and death  because of them.

Vasanas are desires, very subtle egoism, so subtle that one can never see them present in oneself, leave alone discard  them consciously. It can manifest as stubbornness, considering one self to be absolutely right and intelligent, rejecting other people’s views and ideas, their will and wish, suppressing others and overlooking other people’s feelings and emotional needs. Or desires of material objects like money, fame, land, house, clothes, food and other such sensory objects.

Proper guidance is required to re-mould the whole thought process  for removal of lingering vasanas with only love and supreme devotion  towards the Almighty, which give us detachment from worldly cravings and not by wilful exertion or pressure of any type. The mind should be re-trained gradually to seek joy and satisfaction in peace prevailing within, which is the real source of happiness. Lasting peace is obtained from the source within. The vasanas buried very deep within are the last remaining seeds of very subtle ego of the ‘jeeva’ or the individual self which separates it from ‘Brahma’ our strotra or origin of existence. Pray to God for their extinction immediately. Pray now!

When self-realization dawns on the seeker or ‘shishya’, the layers of the vasanas automatically dry up one by one with the kripa or grace of the holy spiritual masters because of our faith in them. New karmas of egoless nature should be constructed and the joy of liberation should be sought now and here.

There are many munis, rishis and maharishis in the past who could not realize God in its full glory and magnificence as they had erred because of their vasanas or very sublime ego which went unacknowledged. Sometimes their shishyas or disciples have succeeded while their  masters have erred. Unless complete  mastery over the mind is not attained by containing oneself with God’s peace and bliss, the mind is tied to the sensory world, one cannot attain ‘Brahma Gyan’ or the sacred knowledge of the true Self. The rishis and others may have been able to describe Brahma very beautifully in verse, rhyme or metre stoically,  but the very subtle realization of atman did not dawn 0n them sadly!

Brahma chetna- Consciousness of the Supreme cannot come even if one writes books after books on Brahma. It comes with the enlightenment and illumination of the Spirit when the Divine Light falls on us with Guru Kripa, only then are we blessed with Brahma darshan. God realization is different from explanation and description of God in theory and words verbally.

Finally, one has to submit and surrender one’s egoism completely at God’s pious feet  without which  salvation is virtually impossible.

Till the end, purification of our mind has to be done and that too on a regular basis for all the conscious sadhaks because of the pervading impurities in our environment. Impurities of thoughts are like the unseen dust particles that float around us which we inhale. Likewise, the people around us have impure minds, their ignorance is contagious and very infectious. The vibrations of unholy people enter us and stick to us like a thick layer of fine dust and dirt. It needs washing and cleaning regularly by  means of good and holy company or satsanga, introspection, reading spiritual books, keeping positive environment and remembrance of god in thoughts and deeds through meditation and service to others.

What should the disciple do when he realizes and acknowledges the existing vasanas or very old patterns of habits? How can he get rid of them now?

By helping himself with his own efforts, he should change himself by giving up those vasanas and surrender his ego. The journey starts when you want to begin or initiate the effort, no one else can do it for us, so let’s do it now.

What should the disciple do when he loses his enduring peace?

He should immediately disconnect himself from the source of agitation which is in his mind or outer environment, focus on his breathe to quieten his mind and plunge inside in the deep ocean of infinite peace!!!

Conclusion-Disconnect your mind from the ever changing, ever fleeting world from time to time and take a journey inside to attain lasting peace by freeing your soul from the restlessness of the transitory world. There is a very deep reservoir of never- ending joyful, rejuvenating and recharging peace within all of us. That kind of peace comes from only God. And God is peace!!!

Hari Om tatsat!                                                                                                                        (To be concluded)

(It is suggested that the reader should first read the 3 posts written previously ‘Our lives are in our hands’ prior to reading this article to have a good grasp over this onerous and mystifying topic. Being the concluding post (Read ‘About the author’) it is very comprehensive and long. So please read  with deep attention and patience to understand it fully. This is the longest post that I written so far because I believe that such a serious topic should not be broken into parts to have a firm grip over the subject)

What is meant by liberation?

A series of actions taken towards achieving a particular end is known as a process. And by liberation here is meant setting free of the human soul from ignorance, bondage and incessant suffering from repetitive cycles of life and death helplessly. After which is finally lived a Life Divine of pure  joy, peace and calmness and happiness.

To start with, please know that the whole process of human evolution is climbing up the steps of the ladder one by one. The soul climbs each step little by little and unfolds by itself,  sometimes falling and sometimes taking double steps on it. In some exceptional cases, by leaps. Literally and figuratively, the ladder is our spinal chord which is the extension of the human brain if you may say so. Look at the structure and formation of the spinal chord bones carefully. It looks like a ladder. The human soul starts from the base of the spine at the ‘muladhar’ or coccyx centre and slowly, over thousands of centuries moves up the  upper chakras or energy centres until it reaches the top crown centre, the ’sahasrar’, the central place  at which Divine Illumination takes place. So the climb is from the base to the summit, to the peak of the evolution ladder. Lord Krishna’s peacock feather in the forehead is a symbol of the opened and charged ‘crown centre’ and not just a myth of history. Interesting, isn’t it?

So my dear one, let me now please make an attempt to  explain in very simple terms the complete process of human awakening, ascending and liberation of the soul to freedom of life in Spirit. Now consider this and try to follow what I plan to narrate…

The process-Souls at the very base of the ladder

People who are in a deep slumber of ignorance and unawareness are at the base. They generate and earn very bad karmas and  have negative energy collected at the base of the spinal chord in the coccyx centre. The seeds of bad fruits of past performed actions are  deposited there slowly. These seeds someday will have consequences as ill- effects at their  favourable time and space.  And those who have performed humungous unpardonable actions will take a very long time to correct their mistakes. It will take them thousands of lives to rise and evolve from sub human consciousness of existence to higher knowing. At present their consciousness, intelligence and acts are those of animals because they afflict pain and suffering to others, are insensitive and lack human tenderness and understanding. They are unable to differentiate and discriminate between good and bad, moral and immoral tendencies. All their thoughts and actions are carried out without any remorse, guilt and regret and their tendencies of  bad karmas drive them to do further bad karmas. Such wretched people are unstoppable and the punishment from the Universal Law is a troubled mind, anxiety, fear, pain of all sorts, sorrow and deprivation in material, physical and emotional condition. Their end is also very pathetic, ungracious and painful. People of this class are at the very base of the ladder and  the pyramid of human evolution. They repeat their mistakes so often that it takes them aeons to purify their souls through the medium of pious actions and as is understood,  enlightenment is much, much far away from them. They die and are re-born many, many times in pitiable living conditions because Nature gives them repeated chances to realize their follies and improve and better their lives. So forgive them for they know not!

This goes on for many, many lives when at the turning point of some favourable life, man realises that he must mend his ways after carping and living through tribulation, affliction and agony of all sorts. Thenceforth  begins the upward journey of atonement, purification, cleansing as well as redemption. The soul hurriedly improves his life by being good and kind to others and begins to develop faith in God and goes out of his way to create righteous and praiseworthy actions. His mind and heart is cleansed and he is prompted and propelled more and more towards God and religious activities. He no longer wants to sin  and err and he arrives at a  stage when he is at the  brink of salvaging himself completely from sinning. This all takes a very long time if you translate the transformation in terms of time. Nevertheless, a desire to realize the sacred nature of God is born in him eventually. Then begins the…

The ascent of the soul

There comes one particular birth which is very crucial because the soul cries, pleads and begs to God to release him from erring and suffering anymore and it wishes to have a perfect life by perfecting himself by leading a pious and pure  life. In that particular life in which he is redeemed and liberated is a very hard and trying one for him because of his huge backlog of karmas or ’sanchit karmas’.

Sanchit karmas  are the unmanifestated, accumulated karmas of many previous births or incarnations which we carry in a dormant state in every life with us. This backlog has to be cleared now and  more and new meritorious actions have to be re-created side by side, in spite of there already existing innumerable virtuous karmas  in our ‘purse’ of karmas to create a new Divine life. To free oneself from sufferring for once and all and attain everlasting bliss, the pre-condition is that the soul must have a large reservoir of good deeds and not a single sin in his personal account of karmas!! That is the pre-condition of mukti or salvation..

Now what are the prominenet characterisctic of a soul which is being liberated? Such a ‘about to be liberated’-soul charts out and scripts its own destiny. All its vitality is used up from the very start to resist the bad people with whom he is unable to get along because of contrary views and ideologies. So there is always a conflict and clash of ideas going on. The good soul is criticized for being the odd one out but he gradually distances himself from the bad souls around him without caring about public opinion and intensifies his sadhana and refuses to mingle with  evil minds. The sadhana for perfection takes many years to bear fruit as a lot of time is expended in exhausting the past karmas because one has to pay his debts of negative karmas first and also create new positive karmas alongside. So do not worry or get frustrated when on your path of sadhana, you find that you are not making any progress because of a lull or that life is very harsh and difficult to bear. Just carry on by walking on the ascending steps enthusiatically. Don’t stop..go on…

This is also reflected in the sadhak’s  life as he may have  a long, stagnant phase, encounter lack of opportunities, ill luck and sometimes lack of material success also and he is  isolated from the society for being the maverick in the madding crowd. For him situations do not change for a long time and he has to wait patiently, may be a few years, for times to turn around for a change favourably.. Such a courageous person does not like to complain as he has the capacity to endure everything because he knows that the wheel of time, though not visible, is still moving and one day good times will favour him and he will be victorious in his mighty endeavours.

And such a determined and dauntless soul is unstoppable as he rises and soars higher and higher to reach the summit, his chosen destination  when all the unborn seeds and ripened fruits of the past sins and misgivings are finally burnt to ashes. With God’s Grace and Guru’s blessings as well as with the tapas of his sadhana,  one day all the seeds of the misdeeds performed knowingly and unknowingly, of many, many previous lives and of the present life also are burnt and exhausted. He  now flies up and soars like the phoenix in the open, clear, blue, and vast sky!! So stay motivated, and keep on going my dear one…

Slowly the total impact of bad karmas begin to fade away gradually. There are good signs seen as  life begins to be  kind to him now. The obstacles and  difficulties begin to dwindle and slowly luck favours him. Happy developments initiate and replace stagnant, irritating and difficult situations. His sadhana also gives rich results and culminates into a peaceful and smooth life. The ego is completely destroyed, his senses are in control, he exercises self-control and his mind is cleansed of all egocentric desires completely.  He forgives everybody whom he had blamed for his bad luck and rough times. He also comes to terms with life and is at peace with himself once and for all. He accepts God as the Supreme Power in the Universe, the real maker and doer of all things seen and unseen.

The door to the third eye is flung open for him because of the force of his accumulated and present life very good  karmas and guru’s kripa. The Lord is very pleased with his lovable  child and showers his mercy on him. He is liberated of all the mental, physical and emotional pain and sufferings finally. Divine uninterrupted Peace which comes after realizing God is his best companion now and he is  afraid of nothing in this world. Boldness and fearlessness are his features and characteristics henceforth.

The dormant spiritual energy, called the Kundalini Shakti in Yoga is awakened by Guru’s kripa. The lower chakras are purified by cleansing and the upper chakras opened and energized gradually with the help of Naam jaap  and recitation of God’s Holy Name. The inert extremely fine nerves near the third eye are activated by the electric current passed through dormant nerves from the ‘muladhar’ to ’sahasrar’ in the process of awakening by ‘Shakti Paat’ or transmission of Godly electrical currents by his guru’s mere thought or touch. And subsequently his spinal chord is repeatedly recharged and energized by Divine Light by performing and practicing meditational techniques, pranayam and mantras given by Guru. New cells in the brain are activated by which development and refinement of skills is observed in the life of the sadhak. (Read posts nos.8, 9 and 10 titled-Mental prosperity, A Fine Vessel and Rays of Light respectively for more details on this)

 Subtle understanding and Divine perceptions is only possible when these dormant nerves and energy centres are opened and charged as the Light Rays in the form of electric currents travel through these nerve channels called nadis. Meditation is the tool which connects the soul to the Supreme Soul and thereby to Super Cosmic  Consciousness, the transcedental state of Divine  Perceptions and Enlightenment.

The secret, priceless knowledge of God and  Mother Nature  is bestowed on him as  sheer Grace. Such a braveheart is flooded with God’s  Light and Illumination and he is freed from all deficiencies, mental entrapment and delusion atlast. His spine is bleached and purified by compassionate, chaste and ethical actions performed regularly for a very long period of time. And also actions like- meditation on God, pranayam, praying, peaceful and loving thoughts, compassion, friendship, mutual co-existence and charity. Such a refined soul does not err and falter anymore because by now all his actions are performed merely with the will of God alone. His actions are always offered to God as he surrenders willingly at his holy feet. His actions only reap calmness, goodness, love, joy and peace for himself and to others certainly. The Spirit shines forth and the quality of omnipresence is revived as he visits the abode of God within himself many times in a day with the grace of God and Gurus. He is always protected by being under the shade and cover of his Guru’s armoured guardianship and shield.

His mind is calm and and nature serene and he is always attuned to God’s will as he is at higher levels of awareness, subtle learning and wider understanding and knowing. He is able to  see what is going to happen in future and can also peep in his and other people’s previous lives at God’s will. Such a person is empowered and brings about concrete changes in his environment and in people but very silently. He can also liberate others if it is the will of God with his unbreakable attuning and link with Divine Gurus. Such a soul is blessed by both- God and the Gurus. The obligation and debt of his body towards God and nature is atlast paid up. The rest of his life is dedicated solely for God’s work, humanitarian acts of peaceful purposes. Blessed are such souls who on being liberated do not live and spend the remaining  life in isolation in caves and mountains for bliss and ecstacy but dedicate their lives for the upliftment of other suffering souls in this crazy and chaotic world!!..Found all this  interesting and worth trying? Should we walk along a bit more.? Because…

The liberated Ones

We cannot stop at this juncture my sweet child, please be a little more patient and try to know a bit more on this subject full of mystery and intruiging secrecy. Please let me  reveal this to you as it is the will of God that I must tell you something also about the still higher evolved souls whom we call ‘Avatars’.

Who are Avatars?  What do they do? What are their characteristics? Where do they reside? Want to know? Come, let’s begin…

Divine beings or Avatars are emancipated souls and are at the pinnacle of evolution process. Divine Souls are those souls who are already liberated ages back and do not have a physical body at the moment.  They subsist on pure light and mere thought or ideational thought or sankalp and exist on seraphic planes  far, far away  from the earth. They are sometimes sent to the physical world for specific purposes from time to time by God or because of  an intense prayer of a devotee or because of the  call of crying souls who wish to be atoned and redeemed and released from the chain of ceaseless births. Avatars are still present there in the celestial world in the highest spheres as mere Cosmic White Light and very subtle vibration of thought. They travel in the outer space at the speed of light and communicate with their commarades by thoughts only via intuition. Though so far away from the earthly plane, their perceptions are very, very intense and they can hear the feeble whimpering voice of despondents or needy souls. They are capable of travelling from one plane to another with ease, though they prefer the celestial sphere for their meditative, peaceful and blissful state of existence.

They are always  totally committed to world peace, uplifting of humanity at large, preservation of the planet and its environment  and also preserving the sacred knowledge of God-realization and our sacred scriptures. And stopping the evil forces from annihilating, stopping them from thwarting the peace processes initiated by countries in conflict and zonal wars, punishing the terrorists, mercenaries and the mass killers. (Read the post Peace- the quality of our soul  no. 26) Apart from liberating the suffering souls individually from their centuries old ignorance and somnambulism  existence, they work either alone or in a group quietly and still wish to remain in shrouded secrecy from public gaze. Though they do not reside in their physical encasement, they operate from the outer world and communicate with others in the physical world via telepathic communion, intuition, and very subtle yet powerful thought power. They also show the way, direct, guide and take them by hand by mysteriously hinting  the scientists by planting ideas, suggestions and answers in their minds  in the field of aero and space, science and agricultural researches and developments for humanitarian and world welfare causes. Their silent and unknown work goes on continually for reforms and evolutionary progress of our planet.

Such personages are very thoughtful, caring  and loving in nature. The Divine souls love to meditate deeply for long hours on God, yet consider love and peace to be the highest attributes and qualities of man. They preach love which is the essence of all religions. They pray for peace for the world as well for our Cosmic Universe. They come forward immediately and operate from their plane to meet exigencies like natural disasters and catastrophes on the Earth. They all very much rejoice on their celestial plane when a soul is finally liberated on earth. In the astral world such an event is celebrated with joy and much gaiety. When the liberated soul reaches the astral world after dropping his physical case, he is given a warm and hearty welcome because of vigorous and determined attempts and onslaughts endured by the individual to redeem itself. Isn’t it incredible to know so much about the other existing subtle worlds in our Universe and the liberated souls living out there and also to learn that we are not struggling alone in our mighty endeavours?? Someone is there to take away some of our heavy baggage  hanging on our shoulders and give us some respite atleast?

So, my dear child, do not wonder why are there so many weird people?  And why should I be nice to others while what we receive from them is not good at all. No, dear. Be good to all because we all are the children of one God. When we do good to others, we do good to ourselves. When we perform unbiased, unselfish and loving acts, we redeem our souls. When we think of God and his blissful nature, we are only trying to emulate Him and thereby changing our destiny by transforming our ordinary consciousness to Divine Consciousness!!!!  So love God, bring Him very, very close to your heart and always remember that He is there with you forever, watching over you silently and hearing every tiny little whisper of your tender heart and its agony!! He has the ear to hear even the feeble crying whisper of an ant climbing on the wall striving hard to reach the top!! You just have to call out his Holy Name with all your soul and pure heart and you shall be liberated!! One has to really wish for oneself , have a very, very deep and earnest desire to liberate itself only then salvation is possible!

Today is 20th of May,2009 and it is your birthday. A very, very happy and auspicious birthday to you, my beloved child. I pray to God this day that on every birthday you find yourself standing on higher and higher steps of spiritual progress and advancement and joyful awakening. May God bless you, Mandira. May we not only celebrate your birthday, may we CELEBRATE LIFE!!

Once again, let me from deep within my heart and innermost soul thank the source, origin and inspiration of this beautiful collection of reminiscence to the Divine Guru, our Param Guru, His Holiness  Sri Sri Mahavatar Babaji, the immortal Soul, the ever youthful and everlasting Spirit residing secretly in the mountains of mighty Himalayas, far away from the eyes of the world and its gaze, seen and visible only to a few. Mandira, you are a gift to me from Him because He saved my life and brought me back from the clutches of untimely death before you were born years ago. In a vision in the hospital bed while I was about to die, He revived me by infusing life-force  back into me. Though I did not recognize who this Mahatama in orange clothes and flowing hair was then, I did have the opportunity of the fortunate beginning of a long spiritual journey with Him and good luck of his Divine Darshan while recuperating. He foretold me in a very  mysterious way in a dreamlike state of subtle vision, about your arrival in future. So if you really see we both are alive because of His Grace and mercy!! We owe our lives to the Holy Master! How can we ever thank Him enough for everything that He has done for all  His ashirwad  and Kripa on us? Words can never suffice.

This blog , with the theme ‘Celebrate Life’ is offered at His Lotus Feet as a remembrance and devotion to our beloved Mahavatar Babaji. My sincere heartfelt prayer to Him on this special day and hour that  his kripa and blessings  be always there on me and all of us and the whole world family, now and always.

May God bless us all.!! May God give us peace, joy, health, mental happiness and spiritual progress too.

Om Namo Bhagwate! Om Namo Bhagwate! Om Namo Bhagwate!!

(Chant this mantra repeatedly silently or aloud for a long time for releasing your soul from all the chains and bondages of the mind and its long, lingering ignorance)..

( ‘Shreyas karmas’  are the ones which are difficult to perform and  not very pleasant in the initial stages but are highly beneficial for us in future. While ‘Preyas karmas’ are those karmas which are very pleasing and enjoyable in the beginning but produce ill effects in future in long term. Please refer the last post for more description and explanation)

The beneficial or ‘Shreyas karmas’ are advantageous, benign, health giving and have positive and wholesome effect in our lives. They give peace, longevity and abundance. So perform only positive actions. But this path of selective good actions is sometimes long and arduous. Our feet get tired, we lose hope and courage, we find ourselves alone with no companion, people ridicule us as majority of them do not validate our views, and finally we see that there is no energy left in us to walk up the steep hill.

But do you know my lovable child, that you should never give up  your ambition because our aim is very blessed and unselfish. Our motives very pure and therefore God provides us help in accomplishing our benign goals. Although the greedy and selfish man also works hard to achieve his goals and selfish intentions, but God never provides him any encouragement or support. God provides help only to his sweet children by giving them ’shakti’ or force in their minds by planting  thoughts of determination, fortitude, discrimination, goodness and self-belief to continue walking on the rocky path of God-realization. Whoever makes attempts to redeem, purify and wants benediction, God promotes and backs up every little effort of ours so that we  make consistent and considerable progress for atonement, self discovery and God realization.

God is non-doer, a silent spectator and is responsible for nothing that we do. We are responsible for whatever actions we take whether  physical or mental or otherwise. But when you invoke God by the perfume of your virtuous acts, He blesses you like a Father to a son for your good acts and supplants fatigue with good energies, high spirit, a fine intellect and extraordinary physical and mental energies to cover up the gaps when we take giant strides to make our spirit blossom.

And those people who harbour evil thoughts, jealousy, anger and  cunningness  they all live in hell. They emit a foul smell as they have a very small heart. Such people slowly become lazy in nature, they do not get success in their goals and their mind gets constricted. They fall and regress and further regress on the ladder of human evolution.

Now there is one question which may crop up in our mind in the process of salvaging ourselves. Which actions should we chose from so many possiblities as sometimes our mind gets blurred? There is always a choice that we have to make and we do not know what is right for us? What is the criteria of selection?

The answer to this is that we should only choose to do those karmas which will raise our soul higher, which will produce enthusiasm and zest in our lives and which will make our life a blissful paradise.

What sort of life should we lead to enable us to do the right actions?

Our life must be simple, it should have sweetness. It should have love in abundance. Our life should be brimming with devotion, love and goodness for all!!

A few lines in Hindi are flowing spontaneously at this point in my mind summarising the topic of all the 3 posts. I hope you will appreciate my small effort in expressing myself what I wish to say. It goes something like this..

Agar atma prakash karna chhate ho to shubh, hitkari, swarthheen karam karo.

Nishkam karam mukti ka dwar hai, rasta hai.

Nishkam karam man ko shanti deta hai.

Nishkam karam-bandhan se mukti deta hai.

Nishkam karam do dilo ko jodta hai. Raag, bhaye ko door bhagata hai.

Nishkam karam punyai ka ambar lagata.

Nishkam karam se Arjun ko Krishna mil jata hai.

The translation in English.

If you wish to have Divine Illumination, then perform beneficial, selfless actions.

Selfless acts are the door to salvation, is the path of salvation.

Selfless acts give peace of mind.

Selfless acts free us from the bondage of results of our actions.

Selfless acts join two hearts. It eliminates anger and fear.

Selfless acts add to your treasure trove of virtuous acts.

With selfless acts, Arjuna (devotee) finds his beloved Lord Krishna (God)

(Concluded)

In a secluded place in Hrishikesh, quite some years ago, a man named Shivendra used to worship Lord Shiva. He liked to wonder in the forests sometimes and he used to also meditate there. One evening while walking in deep thoughts, he lost his way in a thick forest.

As it became dark and the forest was dense, he was unable to find his way back. He became nervous and worried. With an intense prayer in his heart, he began to call Lord Shiva. After about half an hour or so, in that quiet and peaceful environment, he heard some footsteps. After which  he saw a sannyasi in ochre clothes standing next to him.  He was carrying a bowl and was holding a staff and  wearing wooden sandals. The sannyasi was fair and tall, his body emitted  golden glow. Furthermore, his face beamed extraordinary peace and serenity and he had a kind of magnetic pull inducing attraction towards him.

Presuming him to be a realised yogi, he knelt down humbly at his feet. The sannyasi glanced at him with a questioning gesture. Shivendra understood this and spoke, “Maharaj, I have lost my way. Since the past three hours, I am searching my way. Can you please show me the path?”

Hearing this, the sannyasi began to laugh loudly scaring Shivendra profusely.

“My son, which path have you lost? I only know one path and that path leads man to progress. Do you want that path of life?”

Shivendra nodded his head in affirmation. The sannyasi made Shivendra sit beside him on a huge  rock. For three to four hours, he had a fruitful conversation with Shivendra. During this period, his mind and body were at complete rest and he became very attentive. He perceived and understood what was the underlying  existing cause behind this entire universe.  He was given the sacred knowledge of liberation. The ‘beej’ (seed) of the ’sansara’ (sensory world)  is Brahma(Atman) he was told. The sannyasi also explained to Shivendra the difference between a good and an evil man, a friend and a foe and how to discriminate between the two.

They spent a considerable time in mutual company and he was a recipient of a great treasure of knowledge and Shivendra got profound joy and satisfaction in it. With a lot of love, the sannyasi said, “My dear son, whatever I have told you never forget it. Whenever a good man comes to you show him the path of brotherhood and mankind. Give love to all. Instil their lives with peace, faith, happiness and progress and make their lives abundant. The more people you reach out, the better it will be.”

He further added, “Do not discriminate between people on the basis of country, religion, caste or creed. Follow only the religion of brotherhood of mankind.” After saying this he again repeated, “Will you lose your way now?” Lovingly he patted his back and before he asked for his leave, Shivendra asked his name. He replied, “Kandhari.”

So what do we gather from the real life incident of a devotee who lived at the foothills of Himalayas and had the great fortune of the blessed company of the Mahayogi Mahavatar Babaji?  This incident can also be viewed as an allegory as we  find so many cryptic meanings in this incident when we draw parallels. What are the shrouded  realisations? Can you stop and think for a moment, please?….

Now not only was Shivendra lost, we too are lost in the world’s maze of illusion or Maya. The dark and dense forest here can be compared to Maya. We also have to revoke and retract our steps and find our way back home. If you are a pathfinder, you will need a guide and a path illuminator in the form of a Divine Guru. The Guru asks us to retrace our steps from the materialistic and illusory world to the Divine world and teaches us to be good by serving God through human beings.

And how can all this be attained?

We can start by first taking a firm resolution and setting our goal to achieve the Divine Abode. Once our aim is laid down and set firm, the next thing the aspirant has to do is to perform suitable actions in synchronization to it. If a student has the ambition to top the class, he brings his whole mind and full attention to perform only those actions which will fulfil his ambition. He does not perform contrary actions obviously. So we too should perform only those actions by which we will surely progress and move upwards.

God has given us intellect and discrimination power to sift. With intellect, we must discriminate what is good and what is not good for us. Which actions will help me to push me up on the hill of ascent?  Ask yourself…Think.. What is good for me on long term basis? Perform only those actions. Sometimes it so happens that we choose to do actions which are beneficial for us on short term basis. But the impact after some years is miserable. For example, acquiring the habit of spending more than your means is a wrong action. For sometime we may enjoy being spendthrift, but the impending results will be difficult to bear. Such actions are called “Preyas” (Pleasant ones) On the contrary if you decide to save your money wisely you may feel the pinch today. But after a few years, there will be peace of mind and relief. Such actions are called “Shreyas.” (Beneficial Ones)

The same thing goes for man. He comes in the world, gets entangled in the jungle of sensory world and loses his way. Initially there is enjoyment but the later stage is of untold misery, sickness, suffering and unhappiness. But a wise man comes to the world and finds out first the path to God by disciplining his senses and mind through self-control and contemplation on God, devotion, service, charity, kindness,  good behaviour and many such virtuous acts. Such a person is a Yogi. And once he realises God, there is no entrapment.  His soul is free and he is a happy man for the rest of the life.

(To be continued)