Mohanji Speaks – Zoom satsang on 15th July 2018
Yantras
Q: What is the significance of sacred geometry and how can we use it in our journey to liberation?
Mohanji: If talking about yantras, they are a representation of certain structures of energy flow, i.e. flow of energy in a certain structure, or they have a certain method, certain pattern. Its representation is called a yantra. The purpose of that is, first of all, awareness that certain energy is flowing in a certain way, for a certain reason. Everything has a purpose. The purpose is usually for the alignment or elevation. There are numerous reasons and a lot of different types of yantras which people have depicted, once they came to know more about the flow of energy.
If you look at the structure or a method with which the deities are created, in the Hindu tradition, there are 33 crore (330 million) deities. Each deity represents an ideal. Every idol represents an ideal. Depiction of an ideal is the idol. Each ideal, out of numerous dimensions we have, numerous patterns, shapes, forms and possibilities, are depicted as idols and when we connect to a certain idol, we are connecting to a certain ideal. Deities are beings who represent certain qualities of human nature or the nature of the creation and they are depicted in the form of idols. When we worship that, that aspect within us is enhanced. This is why we have all this numerous variety of deities. Each idol has a reason, has a clear representation, and a clear purpose. When you worship an idol, you are enhancing that ideal within you. We have numerous dimensions. We have numerous qualities and numerous possibilities. That is represented in idols. That’s exactly what we are enhancing or recognising when we worship an idol. Every structure that we, as humans have created, is based on what exactly is existing or how the pattern of the energy flow has happened. This is how we have understood the formation, the creation and the possibility through our own experience.
Q: How do mudras help sadhana and does practising certain mudras help in reaching the goal faster?
Mohanji: Mudras help us to stabilise. Mudras are connected to the flow of energy, too. When we are in a certain mudra, the flow of energy is regulated, just like we have pranayamas. We are breathing in and breathing out unconsciously. However, when we regulate the breathing in and breathing out, it helps us to enhance so many aspects of our existence including concentration, a certain level of discipline within and also elevation of awareness. Mudras help that alignment much more than without them. Mudras help the flow of energy and it helps us to stabilise in that.
Q: Can you tell us something about Navarathri?
Mohanji: Navarathri is celebrated at a particular time of the year, when Divine Mother energy is predominant as per the planetary positions, especially connected to the Earth, and of course the galaxy. It is celebrated at a particular time of the year and at that time, Mother energy is much more. Nine different aspects, which are nine dimensions of Mother, as mentioned in “Shrimad Devi Bhagvatam” etc. are predominant at the time we celebrate Navarathri. Each aspect enhances a particular strength or discipline within us; so there are nine different states that we celebrate or recognize and through chanting and prayers, enhance and stabilise within us during those Navarathris which literally means nine nights.
In fact, the Mother aspect could be celebrated every day because it is part of our existence. We are all male and female put together. When we stabilise Mother aspect, the dominant energy pattern within us is love, kindness, compassion, strength, determination, rejuvenation, reinvention, quite a lot of different dimensions of motherhood are stabilised in every human being and that enhances our determination and the three aspects of Shakti – Iccha Shakti, Jnana Shakti, Kriya Shakti i.e. the power of will, the power of knowledge and the power of action, all these things are strengthened and enhanced. This helps us to stabilise in the world.
Q: How did you raise your Kundalini shakti through the spine all the way to the brain and how long did it take?
Mohanji: That’s a very hypothetical question, it depends on so many different factors. First of all, Kundalini shakti by nature, automatically rises when the pressure of your karma is low. The karmic pressure which is coming out of desires, which we have collected from past lives and this life and which keep pushing us to exist on earth, delays the process of Kundalini awakening.
Kundalini is awakened when the pressure of the desires is low and we are not pressured for thinking, pressured for expressing or pressured for acting. If the pressure is low in these three levels, our breath pattern spontaneously changes. There are numerous methods such as pranayama, kriyas, meditations, contemplation, many types of paths, bhakti, jnana, karma, and raja yoga paths, and also various systems, methods, scheduled patterns i.e. programmed systems to cleanse ourselves and when the path is cleansed through our conscious activity, Kundalini energy moves forward. But again, fundamentally, the pressure which is created by desires and which is called karma is there.
One aspect of karma is that it provoked your birth, that is, whatever you could not fulfil in the last existence or the existence before. Second aspect is what you inherited from the lineage in which you were born, and the third aspect is what you have collected from here. These three aspects mixed together, become your agenda of life. When that agenda is heavy, Kundalini cannot move and as I said, there are numerous methods which have been prescribed, people are practising, people know and also Masters are guiding and training, to awaken Kundalini. It is possible only when the weight and pressure of karma is reduced. This is fundamental. How Kundalini energy moves, what time it moves, etc. is different, but how much weight you have within you, which provokes gravitational energy within you, that is exactly what we should be aware of, more importantly. Because the more desires and needs you have and the greater the pressure to experience things of earth, Kundalini energy will always stay dormant. Because there is no point in its moving up.
Now, when in that position, you pressurize it, that is, you have a lot of weight on you and you are pressurizing the movement of Kundalini in spite of your weight of desires, it can either move to the sun or the moon, Pingala or Ida side. That can create disasters. If it moves to the moon side, it causes dullness, depression… If it goes to the sun side, solar side, then it causes vibrations of madness or hyperaction i.e. heat, the power of the sun. What should happen ideally is that it should move to the center – Sushumna. For that to happen, the pressure of desires should be very low, that’s the whole idea.
There is a system in the tradition of Bharat, we have had four aspects.
The first level is Brahmacharya where people learn skills, they are taught things as per their nature. The second level, they express or exercise their skills for the sake of earning materials for their gratification. The third level, they understand that all the things that they earn with their skills cannot be carried once they leave their body. It is a detachment stage where you consciously detach from the things you have collected. Finally, the fourth level or stage where your detachment is perfected and you are connected to the Supreme energy, the Consciousness. That’s the time when you become light. You become detached from all the things which are around you and within you. “Within you” are feelings and emotions, “around you” are materials which provoke them. When you are detached from both aspects, in that mode, your Kundalini automatically rises, because your breath pattern changes, you are only occupied with the divine energy of the Supreme consciousness, and then you merge into the Consciousness. This aspect is clearly defined.
Today, most of the practices are for a sensation, or an experience. That is not a good idea because when you are looking for a sensation, you may have a sensation, but it will not sustain. When something sustains for a period of time, that’s yours. If something is coming and going, you just had a taste of it but that’s not sufficient to stay. That is because your other desires are overlapping it. That’s why.
Q: Do we really have a choice to practise sadhana? Please clarify where free will begins and where it ends.
Mohanji: First of all you need to know your nature, what suits you. Some people are emotional by nature, for them bhakti is suitable. Some people are intellectual by nature, for them jnana i.e. knowledge path is suitable. Some people are kind, compassionate by nature, for them karma yoga is more practical. Some people are on the path of dissolution, they have had all the experiences and they just want to dissolve into the Supreme consciousness, awareness, for them raja yoga is suitable.
There are various paths, so fundamentally a person should understand what is predominant in them. Gurus will know. When real masters see a person, they will know what is suitable. Otherwise you yourself can see what makes them comfortable, happy, just like your connection with a master, a spiritual teacher. If a person’s presence, disposition or teaching is suitable for the recipient i.e. you, it is easier for them to connect to the person. If a teacher’s presence, teaching or disposition is not suitable that fundamentally says that the nature of the recipient is not in tune with the teacher. Let all of us understand that we have a particular nature, disposition or composition. When we understand this is our composition, and based on that composition, whatever we practise, it will be suitable. Just like a shirt you choose for yourself. The size of the shirt, the nature of the material, texture, are all connected to your nature. What is your nature, that kind of thing you should have. That works perfectly. Otherwise, most of the people do not think what suits them, they get fascinated. That is the mind’s thing. Mind gets fascinated with various objects, but mind doesn’t stay. It always changes. The fulfilment aspect does not happen in many cases. That is why people wander and wander through various paths but finally they feel disillusioned because whatever they have been doing has not been powerful enough to achieve a completion or fulfilment. This is something which you should always remember. Everything is connected to your nature. You need to recognise your nature and connect accordingly. Even the choice of a master – the scriptures say, a Master that has come to you is the one who has been sent. Just like in our school days, we were sitting in a classroom when a particular teacher came; we never went in search of the teacher. The teacher came and started giving us guidance and through the guidance we went to the next class. Then another teacher came. We were never after that teacher either. He or she came at the right time, gave us skills to go to the next class. Like that, nature provides teachers. So the Scriptures say the teacher that has appeared before you is the one meant for you; however, what if your mind is stuck to a form or an expectation? Then it’s a problem.
What YOU need to check is “Does that suit me? Am I comfortable with this practice, teacher, training, information, knowledge?” If the answer is yes, stick to it. Whatever happens, don’t change. Because if you keep changing, understand that it is your mind in operation. If you are steadfast in one thing, after a while you can see transformation. The benchmark or the sign of spiritual progress, is inner transformation. Inner transformation can be called in one word – silence, i.e. inner silence, which means fewer thoughts. Noises of mind are connected to thoughts. Thoughts create noise. Inner transformation amounts to fewer thoughts. Transformation happens when you have fewer desires. Many materials, substances, around us create a lot of noise within. Then understand clearly that your mind is fully occupying you. Mind is chasing experiences, is fully outside, using our senses mind travels; mind flies out with eyes, ears, nose, skin and tongue. In every aspect mind travels outside and craves for materials for fulfilment. That creates a lot of noise. When you stabilise within you, mind will be inside, and it will accept what comes in our life. It will be stable by nature. Then you understand there is a progress happening. This is what we call spiritual progress. That is why I said transformation. Contentment with what comes to you, what comes your way and contentment with the way you are, which means you accept yourself totally. You accept, understand perfectly, merge with your constitution, yourself, not trying to compare yourself with others, not trying to change. Allow the transformation to take place.
Every moment we are changing. Every day we are changing. Every morning when we wake up, we are not the same. If we live 80 years, that is 29200 days, every day we have changed right from our birth until our death. In about 29000 days we complete this journey in this body. Then we merge back, we give the body back to the Earth from which we had taken it and then we go forward into the next journey. The next story begins. This is how we live. Those in that life, every moment, the potential for transformation, the potential for stabilisation in a particular method, or a particular position, or let’s say even a deity, or an ideal, that can happen. When your objective is total liberation, it is definitely liberation from the mind. When mind is still very active, it is asking for more things, it is very difficult for us to stabilise. First, mind will constantly push us with more and more desires connected to this life, expectations, comparisons…
When we realise that the mind is taking us for a ride, then it is time to contemplate, “Who am I? What am I? Why am I?” These questions will give you deep penetration into yourself. They take you inside. They guide you within. When you go deeper and deeper with these questions within, you reach a level of tranquillity which we call meditation. Meditation is nothing else but mind stable on something. There are levels and layers of meditation. There are levels of penetration. In this mode, you reach a level where the mind is very tranquil and there are no thoughts. In that thought, your Bodh or awareness is very high. When you stabilise your awareness in tranquillity, we call it enlightenment. When stability happens, that means awareness is stable over a period of time or stable for good, that’s what we call enlightenment. With enlightenment, your awareness stabilises. Then starts the path of dissolution. Whatever you collected, whatever you think you are, is dissolving like a candle – melting and melting and finally becomes completely molten. Like that, whatever we caught or whatever we thought as our existence as a personality, etc. starts melting, and it doesn’t matter because actually anyway we have to melt in 29200 days, we have to leave this body. With full awareness, we start melting completely and then we dissolve and dissolve and finally we become completely empty. There is no tragedy or expectation connected to it. We just melt and dissolve.
This is the whole journey and you should have clarity about it. Whenever you chase a Master, a teaching, a method or a pattern, always think that if you do not know who you are, what is your nature, there is no journey. This is to be clearly understood.
Q: When we have a feeling that something will or will not happen, how to recognise if it’s intuition, or mind?
Mohanji: What has to happen will happen anyway, because life is programmed in that way. Right from your birth until death, there is a prescribed time of existence in a body. You cannot extend it by another day or reduce it by one day. What you can do is increase your level of acceptance, so that there is no suffering. Now, whether an event will happen or not, you should be clear and aware that let everything happen in its course, life is all about a little happiness and a few sorrows, both are educational and they all give you experiences. Basically, life is only about experiences and expressions. For expressions we have a choice. Experiences depend on what we are. World is as it is, and we experience it as we are. So there is not too much of a dimensional change you can achieve by doing something else because you are connected to a space, a time, a situation and awareness and with the mixture of all these at a particular point in time, you are experiencing life. This experience is inevitable, only one degree of difference could be AWARENESS. Then you look at everything from above, e.g. when you climb a five-storey building and look down, you see a particular radius. If there are 20 stories, you will see much more because you have a larger radius. That is the level of awareness you can cultivate. You can choose to be aware more and more, that is what we call bodh – awareness aspect.
If you are concentrated on that, your vision will be expanded and your experience could be different. Apart from that, whether you have intuitions, whether you have awareness, feelings or knowledge about something which will be happening in the future, I don’t think it will give you any difference. Sometimes it gives more anxiety. Sometimes it gives fears. Some people always live in fears of tomorrow, they fail to experience the current time, today, the present. Everything is happening. Present is happening and we do not know the future and we cannot do anything about the past. Therefore it is better to be in the present, accept ourselves 100%, we don’t have to be perfect, we don’t have to think we should do differently, because sometimes we can’t do anything differently as we have to use this body, time, space, this constitution, awareness, the materials around, or a particular experience… That’s about it. There is not much choice. There is not much variety. E.g. I am sitting in this place now. I can’t be in Paris at this point in time. I have to get up from here, move to a particular position, to another location or try to catch a flight or go on a journey, to reach Paris. At this point in time I cannot be in Paris, I am here. So we have a lot of limitations of time and space, at every point in time. This awareness is very important for us to have. Then we realise, ok, within this time, space, awareness, surroundings, we experience something. Sometimes we call it happiness, sometimes we call it sorrow. Both are the same, just two sides of a coin. And it’s a mixture, numerous materials are around us for gratification, five senses to experience them, one mind to process it, and with the one mind we use, only two results emerge – happiness or sorrow. Therefore when intuitions are happening, whether it’s your thought or fear which is projecting, at the end of the day there is not much value in this. The highest value could be if you are allowing things to happen, look at them and have nothing to do with them. There is detachment. There is freedom. That’s the right way to be.
Transcribed by Biljana Vozarevic
Proof-read by Vidya Rajagopalan