Mookambika Satsang 1 with Mohanji in 2019
Question and Answers on Consciousness, Mind, Self-realisation and many others
So I would like to start with the basics – some fundamentals – so that we know what we are addressing. This is for the sake of those people who are meeting me for the first time. I am not underestimating you or thinking you don’t know any of this – I’m just trying to brush your memory.
UNDERSTANDING HUMAN EXISTENCE
The very reason for our birth on Earth is to experience Earth.
What do you experience from Earth?
What you came for. It’s different from person to person. Everybody is not here to experience the same thing.
We all have our flavours, our needs, our requirements, our likes, our dislikes; all of these things are there. There are millions and millions of things on Earth – earth, sky, water. On every plane, there are things to experience. And we have been given five senses to see these or to collect the information from the Earth around us.
But we don’t collect everything.
There are so many things around here, but our eyes fall on some things only – only that we see. We don’t see everything, right?
When you are travelling or moving around, did you see the whole thing in that place? You saw some things.
These things, which we collect through our senses (eyes, ears, nose etc.), go through three processors: put together, we call it mind-matter. The mind processes emotions, the intellect processes information- matter (analysis) and the ego process things connected to personality. So the five senses are collecting data and giving it to the three processors – intellect, ego and mind. And they process different things. That is why we call it different names- otherwise, they are all one: it’s called mind matter.
What do these things process? If you make it into two divisions, it is literally happiness and sorrow. The sum total of this processing is either happiness or sorrow. Some things we call happiness, and some things we call sorrow. This processing is happening all the time when we are awake: that is how we experience this world.
So we are experiencing this world through five senses and three processors. And one processor is processing emotions: the mind.
The intellect processes analysis – that is why some people are analysing everything- their nature is like that.
Some people are connected to personality matters or ego matters.
So, this is how it is. And these things that we process is our experience: whatever we process becomes our experience. And experience – when it is stored, we call that memory.
So, whatever the mind, intellect and ego have processed, it is stored as memory. Not everything becomes a memory. Not everything is stored; we store some things, not all things.
Like I said: you don’t see all things, you don’t store all things- you store only some things. And these things which we store become our impressions. And these impressions become part of our character and part of our constitution.
This is our story – this is what we are. That’s why I am telling you the fundamentals so that we know what we are talking about.
So these stored impressions (which is basically memory, stored as impressions) can become our character, can become our constitution.
HOW WE CREATE OUR FUTURE
How can an impression become our constitution?
Imagine one person is hating so many things and says, “I don’t want to see this, I don’t want to see this”, and keeps his eyes closed. Eventually, at the next birth, he becomes blind. Because what was the impression that was stored? It was: “I don’t want to see.” Not: “I don’t want to see what?” That level of clarity will not be there.
The basic essence is stored; the basic essence is the repetition of “I hate this, I hate this, I don’t want to see this.” That gets stored, and then that person can become blind. Like that, so many things become part of our character, constitution etc. Now one more thing we store is the desire for more: “I like this particular food.”. “I like to have more.”
What do we normally do in life? We’ll go to the same restaurant. If we are in that area, we will say, “Oh, that was nice food. I like to go there.” So we tend to go to the same place. This is how desires are kept. So stored impressions become the character, become constitution and become desires. This is what is triggering a new birth. Understood?
That is what we are – we are a bundle of impressions sitting here – in a body. So this fundamental I would like you to know – that this is what we call awareness—being aware. Being aware of who you are, what you are, and what your constitution is. Then from there, you can come out of it. That means you can witness it, watch it. You become aware of it.
Then you will increase your detachment from the whole drama of all these things – eventually to the level where you witness everything. Where you do not connect to them, then you are detached from these things. You are detached; you are free. Freedom starts there.
Freedom is not running away – you are not running away from anything. You are being everything. At the same time, you are not bound by anything. That is freedom.
So this is the minimum level of what you are trying to understand with your existence. In this bargain, while you are experiencing, you are also expressing yourself. We are all unique characters.
Why are you unique? Because your likes and dislikes are all unique to yourself – they are definitely not borrowed. You would have probably liked something from somebody and imitated it, but basically, you are unique. You are inimitable. There could be similarities with others, but not the same (not identical).
THE NATURE OF GOD
Q: Why did God make the Universe?
Mohanji: Why did the Lord make the Universe? God did not make the Universe. That is the main, fundamental question. You know, it was not made that way. It happened that way. So what was the original nature of God?
Pure consciousness, pure brightness. Non-matter, not matter.
Why should you decrease yourself from full expansion to limitedness?
To know full expansion. (We have our set of happiness and sorrows, right? One is complementary to the other. One is complementing the other. You know, when we only have happiness, we can’t say what the depth of happiness is. So when we have a little bit of some sorrow, we understand that happiness is nice!)
So, pure consciousness had nothing to do with the matter that way. But that separation was needed to know itself!! To know what brightness is, it needed matter. But the matter is a conglomeration of pure energy (atomic bomb theory: raw energy is released when an atom is dissected in a particular order).
So it was pure energy that, when conglomerated, became matter. And this matter became the means for experiences. See, we are all matter with the capacity to experience. That is what we call human existence.
You know, we are matter with a limitation. The matter has a timeline – a time limitation. The matter is bound by time. Supreme consciousness is not bound by time; time belongs to that. It’s not bound by time; we are bound by time. ‘We’ means what we identify with. If you identify yourself with Supreme Consciousness, you have no barrier of time.
That is ‘aham nirvikalpo, niraakaara roopo’ : this is what Adi Shankara said (Nirvana Shatkam).
‘I am eternal; I can’t be bound, I cannot be liberated because I am not bound.’
There is no need for liberation because there is no binding anyway. So the whole path of liberation is connected to the state of binding. We must be very clear on that: it is because we are bound that we need liberation. What binds you?
The ‘local’ mind binds you. We think we are this person, this personality, mind, intellect, ego, what people call us by the name, position, and possessions. All these things make us limited. We feel we are just this, and we behave like that. Of course, we have to – otherwise, we can’t swipe our credit cards! So, we do believe that we are this, and from there, you need liberation. Otherwise, you don’t need liberation; you are liberated.
This is what the great Masters said: “You do not need liberation because you are liberated by birth. You are liberation incarnated.”
If this is understood – ‘understood’ means it should be experienced.
It is not knowledge in the mind; it is not information that you process. You should experience it all the time.
Sometimes, it strikes suddenly, and it happens that you are going in a particular direction, and suddenly, at one point, you go, “Hey, look here. What is this whole thing about?” Suddenly, the settling in happens now from the first aspect. The mind, intellect, and ego look to the world outside and process information – various things that have come in through the senses. From there, you start focussing inside: turn the mind, intellect, ego inwards. What do you process then?
Another question – when you are awake, you are looking at all these things outside in the waking state. Correct? And you are collecting so many details from outside. And you are processing them.
What do you do when you are dreaming? Where is the data coming from?
From whatever is stored inside. The data for dreams are the stored data – impressions that are already within. And imagine that in the waking state, the mind, intellect and ego are looking inside; they’re not looking outside. What will happen? There is no collection anymore, right?
This is meditation. This is looking inward. So everything that we do is connected to these things. When we turn all the faculties inside, the mind is turned inside; the analysing intellect is turned inside, the ego is turned inside, they finally lose interest. There is nothing to analyse. There is nothing to process, in the ego-sense or in the personality sense, and there are no emotions.
Then the ‘me’ and ‘mine’ themselves dissolve. Then you know that you are consciousness. That which is unbound! No binding. You are the Consciousness. So, God did not create the Universe. The Universe happened from within. God did not create human beings that way – not in a specific order.
But why do we have uniqueness? Because we have specific flavours. These flavours are creating a new life based on desires. Based on character and constitution, we create new bodies. But this new body that we create has the impression of all the past lives. Because we are made brick by brick, this building is not made with one brick. It’s so many bricks put together that made the building. And it took time. The first brick was put on at a particular time; the last was put on at a different time. Like that, we are built over time.
MAYA
Q: Would it be ok then to say that what we see as a manifested form is a play of the unmanifested Supreme Consciousness?
Mohanji: It is all a play. In fact, why do people call it Maya? Maya means relative truth. Relative truth because anything which is not permanent all the time is relative. Correct?
We in human existence, as Mohanji or as you, are relative because you have a duration. A hundred years later, this particular person will not be walking this Earth. That means we are ‘relative’. Otherwise, we are eternal. Our job is to connect to something which is eternal in this drama. This means that our job is to find the ‘actor’ within the role.
We only see the roles. And we make huge plans or huge ideas around those roles. But what happens at the end of the day? Then when we realise that the role was not the actor, we have disappointments. That’s what we see in the world: “Oh, I expected that person to be like this. I expected this person to be different.”
All these expectations are connected to our non-understanding. If you really understand, you will not have expectations. You will see the actor playing the role. And you are free.
The actor is not bound by the role. It’s a play, actually. So did I answer the question? God was not creating anything; everything came out of God like a wave (you see on the beach) coming out of the ocean. The ocean is not affected by the waves. And then, the waves go back into the ocean, yet the ocean is still the same.
So many rivers join the ocean. So many rivers come to the ocean; they connect to the ocean. The ocean is still the same- it is not affected.
Like that, so many aspects of life come into this ocean called existence. Nothing happens to it. Nothing is happening.
But when we criticise and judge, that is all play of the mind-matter because the mind needs emotions. If there are no emotions, the mind feels starved.
The intellect needs analysis – it wants analysis. There is so much information coming (now it is much more because of the internet). The intellect can’t process everything. What does it process? Some of it. What it processes becomes knowledge. Only that which it processes becomes knowledge. And that knowledge has to be experienced. Then it becomes wisdom.
So, information processed becomes knowledge, knowledge experienced becomes wisdom. So, how limited it is! But how much do you process? Very little. And that’s the only knowledge we have – from outside.
From the inside, there is no boundary – you can have all the knowledge. And this knowledge also, until you experience it, it’s not yours. It’s just knowledge. The moment you experience it, it becomes wisdom.
So why are we in a hurry to go to places or do so many things thinking that that will change? If things don’t change inside, nothing changes at all in your life! This is something which we must always understand. You know, we are processing thousands and thousands of pieces of information each day, and very little becomes knowledge.
Now the memory (power) is falling, right? The memory capacity has gone crazy. Most people do not have memory capacity now. Why is it so? Overload of information. Lack of memory is connected to an overload of information because we are collecting too much data. We don’t need them, you know. When you are focused more and more, you will not have memory loss. Memory loss is about overloading – it is because of that.
SELF-REALISATION
Right, so this is the story. What was happening with this creation?
Creation – its transformation and its evolution – is all witnessed by somebody who had nothing to do with it. Who is that somebody? The God particle. God material. So the God material sits in everything but has nothing to do with anything.
What do we call the God material within us?
The soul. Consciousness is the operating aspect. We can call Consciousness – Shakti or Tripura. Shakti in three aspects: waking state, dream state, deep sleep state. When all these three states are witnessed, we call it Turiya state. And all these things are activated by energy.
That energy belongs to consciousness, and that energy can never perish. The soul never dies; the soul is immortal. So all of us have an immortal aspect in us. Recognising that immortal aspect is our journey.
That is why Self-Realisation is the realisation of something which is already within you. It’s only a realisation: you realise that ‘I am not the body’:
mano buddhi ahankaara chittaani naaham,
na cha shrotra jihve na cha ghraana netre,
na cha vyoma bhumir na tejo na vaayuh,
chidaananda rupah shivoham shivoham (Nirvaana Shatkam)
That moment we realise, then we understand, “Oh, this is the whole story.” So, realisation is already there. You just have to open the lid and see. Nothing is coming from outside.
Why do we then look outside all the time? Why are we so focused on the outside world? Habit. It’s just out of habit – sheer habit. We are used to the world outside; it’s so tempting – what can you do? So much temptation. So we keep looking outside.
Mohanji on 5G
Mohanji: 5G is a killer. It violates the brain waves. 5G and all those are affecting the – as you see – all the birds are dead? Plus, it is making animals crazy, you know. I was told that one elephant walked 35 km into Mysuru city, killed a few people, and returned. Can you believe it? It came from the forest 35 km away, walked into the city, killed a few people, and it went back to the forest. So it’s affecting the brains of people.
What do you get out of this? More and more information which we can’t process leads automatically to memory loss. And we don’t know what we are doing; we don’t like ourselves, all these things. Instead, if you sit down and accept yourself, you will become powerful. You have no choice but to accept yourself.
UNDERSTANDING THE DEITIES
Q: Who created all the Gods?
Mohanji: There are not “all the Gods”. There are dimensions of One Consciousness: 33 crore/ 330 million dimensions of One consciousness. And why do we have 330 million dimensions? Who created them (Gods)? We created them. Based on what? Based on what we are.
We all have flavours based on gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas guna combinations. Based on those flavours, we can connect only to certain frequencies which complement ours, only those frequencies that are complementing our flavours.
So we have such a different variety of beings – entities or beings which we call gods. And they are definitely important because we are different, we are not the same, we are all different combinations. To understand that, we are connecting to something external, and then there is an alignment.
So when you look at an external form, a particular structure/form, then we have an alignment – that is the cause for all deities. Understand that all idols are based on ideals. Every idol has its root in an ideal. An ideal is the cause of an idol. So every idol is a representation of what we are inside. And we can only connect to an ideal or idol which suits us.
That’s why we have 330 million varieties. And the varieties are needed because not everybody can connect to something which cannot be seen. It is very difficult to connect to something which you cannot see. It doesn’t give you that alignment. So that is why this is created.
THE NATURE OF THE MIND
Now take one example: Lord Hanuman. Many people have asked me, “Why do you have a god with the face of a monkey?”
I asked the question, “What is the face of the mind?”
If you were to put your mind out, what would it look like? It would have the face of a monkey. A monkey doesn’t stay in one place; it jumps from one branch to the other. It never feels satisfied.
The mind’s nature is that of a monkey. A monkey, they say, that was bitten by a scorpion!! And one that had alcohol also! While having alcohol, it was bitten by a scorpion. The monkey didn’t enjoy it! This is our very unstable mind, and that’s why there was a representation in the form of a monkey, monkey face.
But why is Hanumanji very powerful? Why do we worship him so much at every place? There are more Hanuman temples than Rama temples. Why?
Rama is an Avatar of Supreme Consciousness. Hanumanji is completely focused on Ram-Supreme Consciousness and having all the powers of Rama. He expressed more powers of Rama than Rama himself: he expressed all the ashta siddhis, nava nidhis.
So what is the implied meaning?
Focus on the Supreme Consciousness, your Guru or God, with full attention and no doubt. You become very powerful. So the mind becomes that which it is connected to. If the mind is connected to Supreme Consciousness, the mind becomes as powerful as Supreme Consciousness. If the mind is connected to inferior matters, it will remain like a monkey. This is the point.
Also, the power of Hanumanji’s body was diamond-like, Bajrang Bali. Why? Because when you are connected to unlimited power, it expresses itself in your body, and there are no boundaries. He is a Supreme bhakta. His only words were, “Rama, Rama, Rama”, so his alignment was perfect.
ALIGNMENT
When you have perfect alignment, when you’re completely connected to Supreme Consciousness or a representation of it (Rama was a representation of Supreme Consciousness), when the whole focus is on Supreme Consciousness, there is perfect alignment.
Alignment means body, mind, intellect, ego and spirit together. So when you look, everything looks – body, mind, intellect, ego spirit, everything looks. When you hear, everything hears.
Why don’t we have that power?
When we are looking, our mind is elsewhere. So we hardly see. When we hear something, we are thinking about something else, so we don’t listen well. This is our nature. That is why we call the mind a monkey.
So, when you are fully aligned – when you look, everything looks.
How does that reflect? It’s transformative. It’s a high-density transformation. And then what happens? He changes things. He could lift a mountain and bring it; he could change all his capacities because he was focused.
You try that in your life. When mind, intellect, ego and spirit are together as one unit, make one decision, it will happen. It will reflect its nature. You become very powerful. This is exactly why that idol was created. But people probably couldn’t explain it.
Now, why do we have a god with a large belly and the head of an elephant? Do you know? Lord Ganesha is the Supreme Consciousness aspect of Lord Shiva.
Shiva has majorly two aspects; one is which is unmanifested. The unmanifested cannot set boundaries for him. You can know only what has a boundary. If some things have no boundaries, you cannot perceive them. The mind can perceive only things with boundaries.
The importance of Shiva Linga
So, Supreme Consciousness is spread with no boundaries and is pure energy. That aspect is the Shiva linga: the Shiva linga that we worship. That is why all the atomic reservoirs of the world are in the form of the Shiva Linga, the form which can contain, store and stabilise maximum energy. That is why Linga is important.
Shiva is the Supreme Consciousness, and one aspect of him is His limited aspect: parabrahma roopa Ganesham bhajema. Parabrahma is the Supreme Consciousness that has no form.
Supreme consciousness is also Supreme Intellect, the ritambhara buddhi. It is the intellect that is beyond boundaries, intellect which is every knowledge, every aspect of knowledge. So, a human brain cannot signify that. So what did they do? They found the biggest brain possible, which is an elephant’s head. And the size of the body signifies the unlimited Universe.
See, the manifested Universe is said to be like a pimple on Shiva’s face – small, very small. Shiva’s size, the unmanifested and unknowable size, is much more. So, all of the created Universe put together is not so big. So they created an image of Ganesha in that way with the face of an elephant, which signifies supreme intellect and a human body.
Ganesha consumes a lot of things. What does he consume?
Everything that is created. Everything that is created has duration. It is not forever. His state is that of no boundary, and he is unlimited.
The Unlimited keeps on consuming, like the ocean keeps on consuming waves. This ocean that you see eats its waves all the time. A wave comes, then it’s consumed immediately; another wave comes, again it’s consumed.
Like that, Supreme Consciousness keeps on consuming. Every creation has its duration and frequency. Nothing is permanent.
And the elephant is sitting on a rat! What would that look like?
(You must have seen how a prop on the road is flattened when a truck runs over it. Like in the Tom and Jerry cartoon, when sometimes the cat becomes flat like a piece of paper. So if an elephant sits on a rat, it would be like that!)
But what does the rat signify? Sensory pleasure. Sense-related pleasure. Always after something. They are always chasing something, wanting something, needing something, or trying to eat something.
We normally eat food for the body, emotions for the mind, information for the intellect, and personality-related stuff for the ego. This is what we are always consuming. That is why we have obesity on some level—either physically obese or intellectually obese or emotionally obese.
We do have obesity, all of us – obesity is part of our existence. So the rat signifies that – the craving for these things. Supreme consciousness is controlling that. It’s riding that, which means inside this craving also there is Supreme Consciousness.
If you have anger, behind the anger, there is consciousness. If you have a need for something or desires, then behind every desire, there is this consciousness at work. So what are we saying? Try to find the consciousness behind your anger. Try to find the thread inside the beads. Then you understand the Truth.
So, this is the story. Everything has an ideal, a proper ideal and a lot of respect are involved. That is why 330 million gods are created out of extreme clarity. Everything has a story. Everything has a structure.
All the nadis in our bodies are our circuits through which energy channels. They (representations of gods) have yantras. Yantras are circuits through which the energy is maintained in an idol, apart from the form.
Then they have beeja mantras. Mantras are vibration or frequency.
We have a frequency. When we chant “Om” continuously, alignment happens. All our mantras are connected to alignment.
What happens when you’re fully aligned?
I said that just a short while ago: when you look, everything looks; when you hear, everything hears, so that you are not distracted. There is no distortion in life. When you’re fully aligned, your level of satisfaction from the experiences is the highest. What is the benefit of having that satisfaction?
You don’t need repetition. Imagine you had a certain food and you’re fully satisfied. Somebody is asking, “Would you like more of it?” You would say, “No, thank you”, because you are fully content. When you’re fully focused on each experience, your contentment factor is very high. That helps liberation. That helps you to come out of the desire. So alignment helps to reduce desires.
DEPRIVATION AND DENIAL
See, denial is not a solution. Somebody wants to have a banana. When somebody says, “I will not give you a banana”, then this guy will be only thinking about bananas all the time. It’s not that bananas are a big deal. But the denial of something, some deprivation or non-availability, keeps that memory stronger. This is the point.
This is why each time we revisit that, we feel something is missing. That’s why you see so many people roam around in this world, missing so many things. Because when something is not given, when something is denied, there is deprivation; they will think only about that. And then they come back again and again for the same thing.
That is why you see some people, they drink alcohol and perish. What will be the root cause?
Deprivation. They may not have got enough at certain times. So, they come back, and they try to compensate. And in the bargain, that’ll be the main theme of life. Their only focus will be alcohol, addiction or some kind of dependency. You look at any dependencies or addiction – it will have its root in some denial.
That’s why I always say, nothing is right, nothing is wrong. Just be that. You just focus on that sensation, then let it be done. Then you are free. For freedom to happen, you cannot have denial, suppression.
Suppression is postponement for another time, which is not a good idea because what happens when you postpone? You want more of it. You’re asking for more. Every time you postpone something, you’re demanding a little bit more. So it’s with interest; it keeps going. This is how life is. All the deities that we have created have perfect synchronicity with our existence.
But even if you do not understand and chant a mantra consistently, alignment will happen. Alignment has to happen. That alignment will be visible in your life, in your existence, in your very life.
How do you know when you are aligned? When you’re not affected by the wear and tear of the usual life existence. It’s very easy to know whether you are aligned or not aligned. If you are not aligned, you become angry about everything. You’ll become upset or angry with everything; you will find excuses for not being there—things like that. If you’re aligned, nothing affects you. If you’re fully aligned, nothing will affect you. You are free.
Significance of broken mala
Q: With your blessings, my son’s wedding went out very well. At that time, I was wearing my sphatika (quartz) mala. But the moment I opened the door with the keys, my mala just slowly broke down. What does this mean?
Mohanji: That’s fine. Usually, crystals are connected to protection, like a shield. So when the need is finished, it breaks. That’s quite fine. I think it’s not a problem.
I don’t want to go deep into crystal therapies – I’m not involved in that. But crystals are like allies, friends. So as you keep them close to your body sufficiently, they start expressing themselves as your protectors. In case they break, something would have come to them, and they break, and that’s fine. If you can get all the beads back together – the same number – you can really fix it. If something goes away, you can throw the rest of them in a river.
So understand that something which was supposed to hit you has gone away. Be thankful, be grateful.
SUFFERING FROM THE PAST AND ITS IMPACT ON CURRENT LIFE
Q: How do you not bring suffering from a previous life into the current or future life?
Mohanji: Well, almost everything that we experienced today in this life is sourced from previous lives. That’s why I said the cause for karma is not consciously stored data. We have not stored data consciously to make it into karma. What then is more the cause of karma?
Cache memory. The cache memory of numerous things which we passed through. That residual memory is usually the cause of the karmic roadmap. We call it destiny. The cause of destiny is cache memory, not as much as stored memory.
(We can definitely see stored memory as the predominant character traits, such as anger and hatred towards something, analysis of certain nature – spontaneous. This we can see because we are compelled to go through it. That’s probably connected to the consciously stored data.)
Apart from that, everything is unconsciously stored: cache memory. Like with your computer: whatever you searched for, the residue goes into the computer. You did not consciously store it, but it stays.
Almost all the things that you experience in this life are connected to past lives. The whole road map, from birth to death, the people you will meet, the awareness you will develop, all this is connected to past lives.
From what you collect now, and that which you will take from this world, maybe you won’t be able to experience that in this life. Probably you will experience very little. Sometimes we do because we have certain desires. In our childhood, that doesn’t remain for a long time. When we become youth or when we become adults, those desires are not there; that happens, then it gets dropped off. So many things get cleared as well.
So, in this whole structure of experiences or destiny, what we are experiencing now is linked to the past, and what we will experience in the future is connected to what we desire now. So, if it is a disease – as I said, diseases are connected to blockages. Otherwise, like Chinmayananda used to say, when somebody fell sick in his ashram, he used to say, “Throw them out. They should not be a swami.”
If you are fully aligned with yourself, no sickness can happen. If sickness is happening, your mind is overactive; it’s blocking energy flow. So, there will be blockages when you have so much energy flowing and in conflict with yourself. Those blockages will turn and manifest as diseases.
This is something which we should always be aware of: that all the manifestations have something to do with us, with ourselves. Nobody else has to be blamed for it. Nobody else is responsible. We easily blame other people – “Because of that person, I am having a cold.” What can you do? It’s your body. This is exactly how it works.
Anyway, if you’re looking at some kind of relief, etc., it has to start with acceptance. For relief to happen, acceptance should happen. You need to accept: “Ok, this is the situation. Fine. I’m accepting it as it is”. Then we take the next step. Automatically we will feel released and relaxed.
EFFECTS WE GET FROM THE TEMPLES AND DEITIES
Q: What exactly happens when we go to the temples and get the darshan of the deities?
Mohanji: Well, the temples are structured in a way, just like a human body. The design of the temple is like that of a human body. The whole area, the length and breadth of the temple, all those things are positioned in such a way that there could be an energy exchange.
So, first of all, the idol has a specific size as per the vastu where you can induce the energy into the body, just like the soul is entering your body. If the soul exits your body, your body is useless. There’s no life in the body, which means it’s a dead body. Just like that, a mere idol has no value. When energy is infused into the idol, then it can transmit. It becomes like a transmitter.
When you stand in front of an idol (according to vastu), the structure is such that between 8 to 40 seconds, the idol transfers the energy. Usually, they say that when we go, and you close your eyes and pray (usually we close our eyes, right?), then you are connecting only with the third eye to the idol. And from the idol, that energy connection happens. Rejuvenation, purification, alignment, this is what happens.
When you do full-body prostration at the feet of the idol, then what happens? Ego (head) is kept at the feet, and the heart and head are in one line. So minus ego, you become very receptive.
Then, whenever you go to a temple or a guru, you offer something—sometimes fruit, sometimes money. What you have, you share. When you share, it amounts to gratitude and sacrifice. When you sacrifice something, you become pure. When you share something, you become pure. When you express your gratitude through a sacrifice, grace flows.
Gratitude is the key that opens grace into your life.
Mohanji
You offer something you have (you can only offer what you have, but you can’t offer based on somebody else. Of course, there are some people who say that “If my son gets a job, I will shave the head of my neighbour.” Some people do that, but that doesn’t work.
Then the priest usually gives us something to eat or drink or something to apply to the body. Imagine sandalwood, sacred ash. When you apply that on your third eye, etc., automatically brightness enters, good vibrations enter you, positive vibrations. These materials are sitting in the sacred space, where mantras are chanted. What are mantras? Frequencies. So, these materials also get aligned.
Everything is made out of atoms and molecules, right? So when you consistently chant a particular frequency, that frequency gets absorbed in these materials; when you apply that on your third eye, chest, neck or all the chakras etc. – that automatically brings good energy into these areas. Then they give you something to drink. So through the tongue, again, good energy enters you.
Then the holy basil leaves, thulasi (different temples, different things. I’m explaining this because this is important), you put it behind the ear. Why behind the ear? One of the most sensitive receptors of our body is behind the ear, so we put it there. So, naturally, in our body, we get that energy.
Then we go around the temple – circumambulation. It’s like we are soaking ourselves in that energy.
So, it’s not just a place of worship, like a church or a mosque. It’s a place of total transformation. When you go to a temple and merge with the energy and surrender, when you consume things from there, etc., it completely realigns you, makes you stable, makes you aligned, and comes out totally refreshed – internal bathing. That happens.
There are so many aspects to it. When you sit down and chant mantras in that environment, or we do kriya in various environments, it helps your alignment faster. Better, more focus. That happens. Then the mantra, music – through the ears, all the channels get rejuvenated. The idols are usually decorated very well. So eyes connect to the positivity of it. When you see brightness, decoration, it’s all positive, right?
That is why when you go to places of burial, etc., people will say, “As soon as you come back, take a bath. Refresh yourself.” That is because you’re connecting yourself to something which is not so positive. Death is not so positive, apparently.
We consider that as something not so positive, but it is also another expression of existence, just like birth. But life is positive. Brightness is positive. The idols are well decorated so that when you look into them, you feel good, bright and positive. The persons who go in with dull energy look at the idol, and they feel better. At every level, it is rejuvenating.
THE STORY OF KRISHNA
The story of Krishna, which I remember – Krishna arranged for his chariot, as he wanted to go and meet somebody. The chariot was ready, and the driver was sitting there, and Krishna was dressing up. Usually, he didn’t take much time to dress up and didn’t have a detailed dressing regime.
But on this particular day, dressing up was for a long time, one hour, two hours. So the driver finally came to see what he was doing. He was still dressing up. He asked, “Why are you taking so much time to dress up?” Krishna replied, “I have to go meet somebody very important today. That’s why I’m dressing up.”
So the driver asked, “Whom are you going to meet?” Krishna said, “Duryodhana.” Duryodhana was a king of a particular dynasty, synonymous with being dark energy. Dark energy means egoistic, greedy, lustful. That is what we call any heavy, dense energy.
So the charioteer said, “He is not a good man. Why are you going to meet him? You are an avatar; you are pure brightness. Why are you going to meet a dark man? He is not having a good character at all. Why are you going to meet him?”
DARKNESS NEVER COMES TO LIGHT
Then Krishna said, “Tell me one time in life when darkness has come to light to meet him? Every time, light has to go to darkness. Darkness never comes to light. Because when it reaches the light, darkness doesn’t exist! So tell me, one time when darkness has come to light? Light goes to darkness each time. That’s why I’m going there.”
Then the driver said, “But why are you dressing up so much? You are wearing so many ornaments and dressed that much.” Krishna said, “Duryodhana can’t see who I am; he can’t see my consciousness. He cannot see who I actually am. So what can he see? My dressing, my style. Let him see my style. At least, let him connect to that. You know, even that is better than no connection. That’s why I’m dressing up.”
So, many of the rituals connected to temples or almost all of them are prescribed to transform people. For those who are ready, like if you’re dry wood, that one spark is enough – you will catch fire. But you need to be dry wood. What should you refrain from? Refrain from doubting, analysing, processing through your mind, intellect and ego. Instead, surrender your mind. Surrender your intellect and your mind-matter at the feet, and leave it there. Then come back empty.
PRANA AND LIFE
Q: Mohanji, they say that when we are born, we come with a measured amount of prana, and that is dependent on our karmas. On average, though most of us are not aware, some people find out that a loved one has a shorter life span through astrological charts. So then a lot of pujas are done. One that I know of is the kala sarpa puja for longevity. So, is there any truth that prana comes in a measured amount and can then the divine flip it over?
Mohanji: The destiny path, from birth to death, is directly connected to what you wanted to experience in this life: the unfulfilled desires. And we have sufficient money, which is prana, for fulfilling that. The intensity of it and the fulfillment of it is all connected to that particular requirement.
But when we come to know something, especially from the Indian system, we have deeper insights into our structure of existence like stars, planets. There is astrology in every country. The Chinese have their own astrology, and each country has it, right? So they are only trying to understand why certain things are happening at certain levels at certain times. They only understand a roadmap.
So in that roadmap, we come to know. For example, in Indian structure, one of the highest and the deepest sins or paap is the abusing of your own guru. They say that even the gods do not touch you if you abuse your master. That they say, when somebody who’s trying to bring you to light is abused, that is unforgivable, unpardonable.
So there are so many similar situations – like you abuse your father and mother, somebody who has given you life. Those are aspects of paap or sin. Sometimes it can be something that you may not have thought about. I’ll give you an example.
THE IMPACT OF SUBTLE INFLUENCE
In Brindavan, many years ago, there used to be one saint, and he had the power to see the leelas of Krishna. So he would watch them and he used to get entertained by the play and pranks of Krishna.
One day he was sitting in a particular place in the garden and watching Krishna playing. So Radha was trying to pluck some flowers, and she was short. So Krishna would bend the branch, and as soon as she reached for and touched the flower, he would let go and release the branch. So he was playing, and this saint was laughing, looking at this divine play.
Meanwhile, one Brahmin boy who was lame because of one leg being dysfunctional was walking past the saint with a lot of effort. He could see this saint laughing. He automatically thought this saint was laughing at his handicap.
So what happened in his mind? Sorrow. He felt sad. This handicap is something that he did not consciously create. And yet, look at this enlightened master who was laughing at him. The boy felt bad, and he went away.
From that moment onwards, the saint’s power to ‘see’ went away. He couldn’t see Krishna anymore. He panicked, not knowing what he had done wrong. Suddenly all the vision stopped. He did not know what to do. He was feeling so angry, embarrassed, and so disturbed.
Then he decided to go to one great master, who was mostly in silence and wouldn’t speak much. He went to him and told him what had happened. The master closed his eyes. Then he said, “Did you insult somebody who’s doing worship and chanting mantras?” (that means a Brahmin or a priest)
Then the saint said, “I have never insulted anybody, nor will I insult anybody. I respect all people.” “No, there has been an insult of some nature, which is causing this”, the master said. Then the saint said, “What should I do now? I never insulted anybody consciously. What should I do now?”
So the master said,” Ok if you do not know, I understand that this kind of a thing has happened to somebody who’s practising, who is chanting mantra, who’s connected to divinity in a particular order, and who is aligned in that way.” (Which means practising in a prescribed, in a systematic format, a proper acharya.) He said, “Do one thing. Arrange a feast for all the Brahmins at this place. Call everybody. The person who’s insulted will not come.”
So he threw a feast for all the people, and everybody turned up, they were happy. And this lame man did not come.” Then he understood. He went to the lame man and said, “I invited you to come for my feast, but you didn’t turn up. Is something bothering you? Are you alright?”
The lame man did not say anything. People don’t talk immediately, right? And then he tried to talk over these things since he wanted to get to the bottom of it, to know the depth of what caused that. Finally, the lame man said,” You know, you insulted me by laughing at my disability.”
The saint said,” I didn’t even see you. I don’t remember seeing you. How could I have insulted you?” Then the lame man said, “No. That day I was walking past you, and you were laughing and laughing. You were rolling and laughing, and I felt very bad.”
He said, “Swami, by the way, I was watching Krishna’s leela. I was watching the divine play. I did not see you.” Then the lame man suddenly realised this, “Oh, ok”. Because the saint was laughing before he actually entered the scene, then he apologised.
He said, “I’m sorry. “I thought you insulted me.” The saint replied, “No, no. I apologise to you because you felt insulted.” They reconciled. The saint offered him something, and he finally accepted it. And suddenly, the saint’s vision came back.
So, everything we do in a subtle way is influencing our existence in some way. When we live our life on a daily basis, every bit and piece is causing something. That is why it is important to be aware. All the Masters are constantly talking about awareness, right?
Be aware. Without your awareness, without your mind being present, no expression should happen. Without your mind being present, no words would be uttered. When you feel angry about something, detach from it, and observe. This will come and go.
Don’t keep bad memories. Don’t insult anybody, especially a person who’s practising, who is aligned, like a saint. Never insult anyone because that will go to many lifetimes. It will continue. Like what Mirabai said, it takes 80,000 to 800,000 lifetimes to come back to the same state where you have been. Not even to a higher level. It takes so many lifetimes just to be what you are today. So everything has its repercussions. This is the story.
(Mohanji answering to someone from the audience): It’s not about intention; it’s about the effect. It’s all about effects, not about intention. Intention can be anything. See, the intention is even worse. But even without intention, this happened. The effect causes karma. What causes your destiny? Cache memory. Cache memory is not intended. Cache memory is what you went through, which caused destiny to form its roadmap.
We don’t intend everything. How can we intend many things – because our mind itself is all over. It’s tremendously scattered, right? So we don’t intend many things. But we can actually insult people without our knowledge, without our conscious awareness.
I would like you to tell me if you did not have clarity because if you know the fundamentals, your track will be very clean. You can definitely understand what is ok and what is not ok. Actually, there is no right or wrong in life. Why?
I would say what is wrong is violence because it creates density. When you are violent in thoughts, words and action, it creates more and more dense feelings. Otherwise, I don’t see anything as right or wrong. Because who can decide what is right or wrong?
It’s an individual experience. Something which is right for me may not be right for you because we are all individuals. But as a general principle, I would say violence is wrong because it creates heaviness. It leaves that frequency in the air, which can cause similar activities or similar events. I would say to avoid violence. Otherwise, I don’t say anything as right or wrong.
But when you know that we are only processors at work, then we do not feel that we miss so many things. We don’t deny anything to ourselves. The guilt factor will go.
Once the guilt is gone, you are very free. Guilt is huge and heavy. Regret is huge and heavy. So what we have to do now, we do now and finish it off. Then that is done. We don’t carry it forward. That memory is not needed; memories are heavy also.
So why do we keep a lot of memories? It’s not needed. We trash them. Do the job with your pure intention; then you are safe. If your intention is pure, unselfish, you do not have to worry. Then you are safe. Do the job with pure intention, and forget it. No memory. You are free. At least, that space is clean.
Otherwise, information, memories – most of the information that we store has no value or has value only at that time, not later. Like yesterday’s flight was late, I don’t want to know today – that’s done.
But we keep that memory. We carry that forward. All the time, we are processing data that sometimes have no value in any time of life – no value at all in life, many times. But there is information you need as a navigation tool. For example, a captain is going into the sea, and he would like to know what the weather is going to be like. It helps him to navigate. That’s ok.
But otherwise, what will the weather be like after one year? Why does the captain need to know now? Sometimes we get bound by these astrological predictions also. They say that the next five years will be a very bad time for you. After that, you will get used to it. These are all fears, right? We don’t need that. People predict like that. Some astrologers are brilliant.
VIOLENCE IN FOOD and ITS IMPACTS
Q: You just said that violence is what we should avoid. So, as living entities, we also do violence, not directly but indirectly. We’re getting a lot of processed food. I’m also talking about the animal aspect, like killing animals and eating them.
I am also talking about the living things, like plants, trees, and the food we eat, which can also be considered violence. In a sense, I take fruits or a vegetable and take it out of the plant or with some force. It’s a kind of passive violence, right? So what kind of food and how to detach from this passive violence in the food?
Mohanji: I understood. I have explained this before also. But this fundamental question will happen, if not today, then tomorrow. Because as you go into subtler levels, this question will come up for sure.
Because even if somebody didn’t tell you that this food has violence behind it, you would start feeling it in your body, in your system. You will start feeling it in your frequency. In the Indian system, we had a beautiful system where we coexisted with animals. If you look at the old houses, we had cows and calves in the house, and they were almost like family members. They were not treated like lesser beings.
And now, Bharat is planning to create a cow goshala where they are planning to have 1000 cows and calves roaming free. This is fine because everybody has the same right on Earth. We, because of our intelligence, dominate and we pay the price for it.
The exploitation of any species is definitely a violence. It’s not acceptable. Now, take any species. They are all driven by instinct and intellect, including human beings. What is the basic instinct? Survival.
BASIC INSTINCTS
To survive means survival of the physical first, because you need a body, and inside the body, we have a mind, intellect, ego, this combination to experience life. But if you take all the beings, they all operate based on instincts. Animals, from the wake-up, are going after food, so it’s all for survival.
Food and sexuality are the two major aspects of instinct because one is for the survival of the body, the other is for the survival of the species. This is inbuilt in the system; you cannot avoid it. No species can avoid it. No species can ever say, “We are beyond it”, including humans.
Then, the level of awareness for an animal is the sixth sense that we talk about. That’s connected to their existence. The circle is small. But for human beings, we have much larger awareness possible, including the awareness of Supreme Consciousness, including the experience of being the Supreme Consciousness, not the body, mind, intellect and ego. We have that capacity. So our responsibility is also higher, for our eating habits and stuff.
But what we have done in this world is that we do not operate in high frequency always. We captured, conquered, tortured. We did so many things for the sake of food. We ransacked the skies; we ransacked the Earth; we ransacked the oceans.
It’s all in the name of food. So if you look, the basic cause is instinct – an instinct for survival, but the aberrated version of it is the non-understanding of the lack of compassion. If you put compassion, moksha, liberation on top of eating habits – we will consume only what is non-violent.
For example, we pluck a mango from a tree. The tree is undisturbed. It is creating the flesh around its seed for beings to come, to eat and to spread the seed. Like that, there are so many good materials which have seen the sun, which means connected to the sun.
OUR JOB IS TO BE BENEVOLENT AND KIND
Most of them are for the sake of reproduction. That means the seeds are sown, and a few more of those plants will happen. So if we operate like this in the whole structure, we are not in violence.
But also animal products. ..Imagine there’s a cow and a calf in the house, and the calf has had enough milk, and there is some extra milk, and we use it – that’s not violent because our job is to be benevolent and kind. And in this whole structure, we can definitely coexist. But not by capturing, controlling, conquering, torturing – that way, we are only showing the violence aspect or insensitivity.
Speaker: Just as you said, a mango eventually might fall down, and we might say, “Ok, why not take that mango or keep it for later, maybe for myself or my family? But then again, if you’re taking it from the tree, it’s not going to have much pain, as it would with an animal. A human being has more consciousness.
The tree also has some bit of consciousness, and it feels pain when you pluck it out. So, what you said is reproduction so that species can survive; the tree also does the same thing. Mango falls down, the seed might germinate, and a new tree can come up. That is one thing. I feel that there’s a bit of violence there as well. My question was, how do we not take this thing like the violence that we are committing to a level like we are to get rid of the karmic reactions?
Mohanji: As I said earlier, alignment is fundamental. Mind, intellect, ego, spirit and body together. But as long as we have a dependency on the world outside, we will have to have something from outside to run it. Like, imagine there are desires of terrestrial nature. We have to fulfill only through the terrestrial nature itself. That’s why we have taken birth. We have come here, with these faculties, to experience all those things and to reconnect with the Source.
So, as awareness grows and our dependency on the outside world reduces, we start connecting to aspects within us. Such as the operating levels of each organ. Each organ has its flavour, its sound, its frequency, its vibration, its function, its own music.
So when you start connecting to these organs, you are able to sustain those organs also, and to the level where probably your dependency will be only on water. Eventually, you don’t even need water. Then you can probably depend on sunlight. Everything is possible, provided your dependency on the world outside has reduced.
When you have terrestrial needs and terrestrial requirements, you need terrestrial materials to back it up. It’s usually like that. But many masters withdraw, and then they start practising a certain lifestyle in a very rigorous way, and then they come out of all these desires. They do, but it takes time. But then also, please understand, we all have dharmic duties on Earth as well.
SHARE WHAT YOU HAVE
That’s why Adi Shankaracharya told all the people in the Himalayas who were completely detached from the world, practising hugely, and then they attained moksha. But they couldn’t leave this plane because when you use a particular platform for experiencing, even for liberation, you have to pay the price. So they asked him the question, “We have nothing. We don’t have money; we don’t have any possessions. What do we give?”
Adi Shankaracharya said, “Give what you have.”
Then they said, “But we don’t have anything.” He said, “No, you have everything, which people don’t have.” What is this everything? It’s the spiritual quotient, the spiritual bank balance.
He said, “Share that.”
Then they asked, “Where will we share?”
That’s when he said, “Go down and be present in Kumbha Mela”.
Then they asked, “Who will we share with?”
Adi Shankaracharya replied, “With those who are eligible.”
So they asked, “Who is eligible?”
Then Adi Shankaracharya said, “Those who are empty.”
That means you need to have an empty pot to receive. That means that inside there should be no expectations, no thoughts, no words, no activity, no analysis. So you are empty. That’s the right person to take over. And so they come down, and they connect to the people who have come with no demands, and they transfer. That’s what happens in Kumbh Mela etc.
So what I mean to say is that you can reach a certain stage where you have no dependency on Earth at all. But you are on Earth. In that mode, you’re totally in a non-violent mode. Otherwise, even when we breathe, we unknowingly have violence, so many beings are getting crushed.
There are so many beings in the air, which we don’t see. They’re going through our system, and they are dying. When we are walking, we don’t even know how many ants and insects we have crushed—this kind of violence we cannot control. I’m only talking about conscious violence. Consciously when you’re living, avoid violence – avoid conscious violence in thoughts, words, actions. That is something on which you have a grip. Other things you don’t have a grip on.
Maybe when we walked out, we went to various places. And we walked over a nest of ants; this is possible. I mean, it’s not with awareness. We did not even know. How can we be responsible? That’s destiny’s plan. Destiny has created that kind of a situation for those ants. Just like an avalanche, earthquake, or mudslide wipe away so many people, right? Those things are not in our control. What nature provides, a flood happens, situations happen where things are over control, we can’t do anything. That’s fine because then nature is using us as one of its tools. But if we go hunting consciously, killing beings that are having families. That’s definitely not a good idea.
Like canned hunting, where they groom lions and tigers, that get used to human touch and body and they like to come to you, these people go and hunt and kill them. It’s outright betrayal! Because they are used to human beings, they tend to come to you out of love. They think we are not dangerous.
That’s the problem.
Transcribed by Geetha KS and Nada Raković
Proofread by Geeta Iyer