Q: How can I fulfil my purpose every day?
Mohanji: In the question, there is one ‘I’. I do not understand this ‘I’.
You know, “I fulfil the purpose.” So, I am fulfilling. I’m doing something. Who is this, ‘I’? Whenever I’m asking the question, I’m asking you to think. Who is this ‘I’ who is fulfilling the purpose? That means somebody owns the activity.
Okay, I agree you are fulfilling purpose. How much of control, how much of fulfilment do you have with your heartbeat? Are you pumping your heart, as per your doership? Digestion, circulation of blood, your activities of the body, activities of the brain; how much control do you have? From one to 100 (or zero to 100), how much control do you have? Zero control. Then, how can ‘I’ do something? This is a fundamental question you should ask.
‘I’ am not fulfilling any purpose. Purpose gets fulfilled through me; this is the difference. The purpose is getting fulfilled through me. ‘Me’ is what? Not what you are projecting; it’s an incarnation, called whatever.
What is the purpose?
Karma is the purpose of incarnation.
What is getting fulfilled?
Karma is getting fulfilled.
What are the means of fulfilment?
Incarnation is the means of fulfilment.
How is it getting fulfilled?
When you experience it.
When is it getting fulfilled?
With time, you cannot get everything fulfilled in one day. If you’re living 90 years, it takes 90 years to fulfil.
Then, what is the purpose?
Karma. Fulfilment is experience. Time is given. Space is given. Awareness is given.
What are we doing then? Are we controlling anything at all?
This is the truth. Time is given, space is given, awareness is given, karma is given, the body is given; everything is given. And also, our vital functions are not controlled by our waking state mind. Our waking state mind, the state in which we think we are, has nothing to do with our heartbeat, circulation, respiration, digestion. Everything is perfectly synchronized by consciousness.
So, who is this ‘I’, who is running the show? This is the question you must ask yourself. It gives all the answers to life. The personality, which is defined by the ego, is saying ‘I’. The skeleton of the personality is ego. What we project to the world outside as ourselves that is a projection; that’s a personality. That has a form, which people recognize, that is ego. Ego is not a bad thing, by the way. The mind is not a bad thing.
Why did God create mind at all? Why was mind created?
Because the mind is needed to experience karma.
How can mind experience karma?
You have eyes; you look at things. We look at so many things, but how many things do we see actually?
How many things can we see?
Only where the mind is with the eyes, you see. Otherwise, we will just look, we’ll see nothing. There is a beautiful garden, and you’re visiting the garden with beautiful flowers, everything is pretty and nice. But if the mind is elsewhere, will you enjoy this garden? So, the mind is needed, with the senses to experience life. That’s why God has given mind.
Levels of awareness
And the second thing is that we have a level of awareness and that awareness is what makes us understand something. Everybody has different levels of awareness. Everybody has different frequencies; it’s not the same. It can’t be the same. All people have different levels of awareness. Within that level of awareness only, we can experience life. We cannot experience life based on somebody else’s awareness.
One person may say, “Hey, look here; it is a beautiful day.” Another person will say, “Okay, this’s a nice day, but it can be better.” Why are there two opinions? Two levels of awareness, two frequencies, different moods, various factors. It makes us like or dislike, between these we oscillate. So, the mind is provided.
The mind
The mind with the eyes makes us see and experience. Mind with the ears makes us listen and experience. Mind with our tongue makes us taste and experience. Mind with our skin makes us feel and experience. Minus the mind, none of these faculties works.
So, the mind is not a bad idea. You know, it is not negative. If everything is kept in its place, it’s tidy, neat and clean, and it’s good. But if it is in various places, then it’s a problem. So, the mind is not so bad. Mind, with its proper usage and capacities, is a very good idea.
And also, mind helps you to maintain the relativity. That’s why we say: my father, my mother, my husband, my wife, my children; this ‘my’ comes with the constitution which mind manages or the ego aspect which mind manages. This is the illusion which we work on; we like to maintain this illusion. But tell me, in truth, do we own anybody?
Can we own anybody at all?
Nobody is ours, including this body, it is not ours, we have taken it only for some time. When the soul leaves the body, people will take it away. It is called a dead body. Until then, we call it a name and a form, and we respect it. The moment it’s dead, it’s finished. That’s it. We own nobody; we own nothing. The purpose of life is karmic fulfilment. Understand clearly; whether you like it or not, it’s happening at every moment.
Time-space junction
This group of people are supposed to meet me at this time. It is called the time-space junction point. This time of the day, we are supposed to be together. Whether we liked it or not, whether we chose it or not, whether we are enjoying it or not, that’s not the point here.
The point is, we are together at this point in time, at this place. Nothing else could have happened. Because that is the way karma is designed; time, space, junction point, for a particular person to experience a particular thing, there is a particular location and a time within which we live our life.
So where is the good and the bad in it? There is the only experience. There is nothing good, nothing bad; all are experiences. So, first of all-purpose is very simple, the purpose of incarnation is the fulfilment of karma.
The purpose of every incarnation is the fulfilment of karma.
What is the root of karma?
The impression is the root of karma.
How does it manifest?
As desire. When desires need fulfilment, karma happens. Karma pushes incarnation for fulfilment.
Effects of Karma
While you’re incarnated, the first level of effect of karma is an inclination, vasana. You like something, or you want to do something, you have a taste. You have a flavour. You have an inclination. That is the first level of manifestation of desires.
Then it leads to thoughts. Inclination leads to thoughts. Thoughts lead to expressions. Expression leads to actions. Impressions become unfulfilled desires, becomes incarnations; it becomes inclinations,—thought, word, action.
And every action has an experience associated with it. That experience becomes a memory, and that memory comes back as impressions stored in the (Karana Sharira) causal layer as impressions. You can call it subconscious mind or the hard drive of the system. It is stored in as impressions; then it takes further shape.
Impressions
Impressions also can be a concept; it can become a character. Sometimes you have certain impressions, and you form an opinion, and it becomes a character. It can associate with a character also, not always unfulfilled desires. One aspect is unfulfilled desire; another aspect is the flavour of character. Both are possible. But in any case, that determines your life ahead. Impressions decide how much you’re living.
So, why all the masters consistently say, have nothing to do with the world, have detachment? All these things are said consistently. Why?
Collect lesser impressions, empty the space more so that each life will be lighter, lighter, lighter until there is no more impression stored.
Why do masters say you connect to yourself and bring things out? Whatever you have stored, bring it out and become empty.
Because that ensures no more incarnations, if there are impressions, there will be incarnations. Please make it very clear. If there are impressions, there will be incarnations because it asks for a manifestation.
So, how can I fulfil my purpose, every day? I think I destroyed the question more than answered the question. But it’s important to understand. Now, I’m not saying that this is a bad question at all. But what I mean to say is that, please understand, we are not doing anything particular to fulfil our karmic desires.
Destiny
Destiny is bringing that time and space and experience for us, we must understand that. We are not particularly doing something so that my karma is fulfilled.
In fact, we are not even aware of the karma. Do we know why we have incarnated, do we know why at a particular place, in a particular environment, with a particular knowledge? We don’t know any of these things. We are just experiencing life as it happens. So, karma is what happens to you.
Why did Lord Krishna say when the Dharma is in decline, I happen?
He said I happen. He didn’t say, “I take a birth”.
He has no birth or death. When your identification is with your soul, you have no birth nor death. But what Krishna said was ‘Yada yada hi dharmasya’ when Dharma is in decay, I happen. I happen, it’s happening. Every incarnation is happening.
And, and the whole time – space – structure, including the level of awareness to experience the karma, is happening; it’s happening at each point in time. This, what we are talking now is happening right now. Tomorrow, I might be in another place; you will be in another location. The same thing cannot happen tomorrow. No, forget about tomorrow, tonight we will all be in different places.
So, if you operate with that awareness, every point in time you will be free from within. “Oh, this is happening now.” There might be a reason; you cannot see the cause; you can see the effect only as it happens.
You do not know the cause at all. Which time of the day or when do we understand the causes of our life? Never almost.
We cannot see the hard drive. We can only see what manifests on the screen. What is stored in the hard drive, can we see at all? Of course, we can go and search and find that’s different. But in the causal layer, what seeds are sitting, we cannot find until they manifest as an effect in life.
So, look at our limitations, Lord Krishna says again ‘Millions of sense objects, to experience them – five senses and one mind.’ At one point in time, you experience only one thing, and that experience is squarely divided into happiness or sorrow. This is life. Simple!
Millions of things are outside of you; to experience them, five senses, and one mind. At one point in time, you experience only one thing, fully. There is no multitasking here. It is not possible. Multitasking means you’re experiencing nothing, mostly you are on unconscious mode. So, I’m talking about conscious mode when you are living your life. So, at one point in time, one experience, and it can be classified as either happiness or sorrow. That’s it.
And happiness and sorrow are also conditioned. They are only sitting in the waking state mind; when you’re awake. When you’re dreaming or in deep sleep, the same happiness or sorrow has no value. So, how limited are we? You see our limitation. Don’t think we are running any show; we are running nothing. We are running after shows; that is different.
Transcribed by Ulla Bernholdt
Proofread by Gayatri Jayshankar and Rekha Murali