Clarity of Purpose Gives Will-Power, Part 1

Mohanji Speaks Zoom Satsang, part 1

24th March, 2019

Q: How to develop Iccha Shakti and what is it? Is sankalpa Iccha Shakti thing?

M: Iccha Shakti (the power of will) is connected to clarity of purpose. First and foremost we need to have clarity of purpose – what we are here for what we want with life, what your highest expression is, what will keep you happy, what the cause of your contentment and satisfaction is. Thus we have to do some manana (contemplation) before we can actually increase the willpower. Will-power is not something standalone. It is not alienated from your clarity of purpose. This is the most important thing. Most people are in a mechanical mode where they go for classes, get education, degrees, job, family, children, house, etc. In that mode, they would live their whole life, almost a clockwork kind of existence where they are not thinking at any point in time. They simply exist. So, it is important that we ask ourselves at some point in time, what really makes us happy? It’s not about pleasures. Please understand the difference.

Pleasures are connected to a certain time. For example, when you have a meal you feel contented. You wish for something and you get it, then you feel contented. Thus, we mostly spend our entire life chasing something and when it comes to you finally, you feel contented. It’s connected to some expectation and its fulfillment. I’m not talking about that. Rather, I am talking about a level of contentment where the end result is that contentment irrespective of whether something is available or not; you are happy no matter what. Whether you are appreciated or not, you are fine. You are fine at every level of existence. If that does not happen, it implies we have to increase our clarity of purpose.

Also the purpose should not be something small. It should be as powerful as brightening the earth with your existence for the limited number of years that you spend here. Do not lead your life as another hungry mouth to feed or consume. Most of us do not even think about how we can deliver more to this earth. That is the difference, the line between success and failure. We neither think about why we are here nor contemplate on what else we can do while we are in this body. This is important and this clarity will automatically increase the power of will.

Look at great leaders, not necessarily the philosophers, saints or Gurus, who have attained things and made a difference in the world. Consider someone who has provided employment to thousands. This means all those thousands of people enjoy a meal because of that person. These leaders have actually walked and are continuing to walk the path of success by having clarity of vision.

Thus the vision has to be very clear in life. It’s not an aim. It’s about what you want to do or what you can do with your current existence. That gives you stability. Then will-power automatically happens because you will not be bogged down by the events of life. You will continue to give. People may or may not appreciate. It however doesn’t matter. We continue to deliver. Since we are born on Earth, we will make the maximum use of this incarnation.

Adi Shankara has said:

punarapi jananam (again birth),

Punarapi maranam (again death),

Punarapi Janani jathare sayanam (again in the womb of some mother)

iha samsare bahudusare (this world is full of this agony of existence)

Krpaya’pare pahi murare (So, connect to the consciousness while you can).

The above words mean we have been taking birth, we have been dying, and we have been going through the same emotions again and again. We have pampered and nurtured our identities, our existence, and our personalities all our lives. At no point in time have we thought about or asked ourselves what else we could do for this world. Other than experiences, you anyway cannot take anything away from this world.

Talking about expressions, if your expressions are of the highest nature, such as compassion, kindness, selflessness, unconditional love, sharing, caring, non-violence, purity of thoughts, words and actions and you are operating from that plane consistently, then what you give back into the world will be very pure. You will only give purity. Don’t expect people to understand you. They may not understand  or appreciate. That’s fine because not everyone understands all others anyway. So, in order to maximize the relevance of this existence, you should maximize your delivery.

Delivery means you need to provide to Earth more than what you consume. That means more responsibility rather than rights. We talk about rights mostly and seldom talk about responsibilities. We must talk about our responsibility. You are already walking this earth; you are consuming a lot from this earth in the form of various materials, places, time & emotions, and so many other factors. Living on earth, walking this earth, we have many different needs and experiences and the earth is paying for it. We must pay back with our existence, with the highest good we can give. And that is the real and certain way to increase Iccha Shakti (the power of will).

Please understand it also is fearlessness. When you have great will-power, you will

1.  Not be afraid,
2.  Have no doubt,
3.  Not think (worry),
4. Stop to criticize or judge others,
5.  Not talk bad about anybody,
6. Know that all are karmic beings and all these people are expressing their existence in their own way.

So, we will continuously start expressing without any kind of blockage from within. It’s important that Iccha Shakti (the power of will) be connected to clarity of purpose. I would say that the highest clarity of purpose is “expressing non-violence”. They say “Ahimsa Paramo Dharma“, that means the ahimsa (non-violence) is the highest of dharma. If you can express non-violence in thoughts, words of expression, you will be increasing the clarity of earth and the society around you. And that will continue to bring you more energy and power.

As I said, when you have clarity of purpose, you will have the power of will, also you will have fearlessness. This was demonstrated when Pilate told Jesus, “If you repent, if you say all that I did was wrong, all I said was wrong, I can pardon you; I can set you free, you can remain alive.” But Jesus said “NO. All that I said was RIGHT.” Pilate then said, “People are against you. If I have to pardon you, I need your repentance for whatever you have done or said”. Jesus replied, “No, I will not do that. I meant what I said. I meant what I did”. That’s clarity (of purpose). When your purpose is clear, these words will come out because whether the next option is crucifixion or not, it doesn’t matter. Your clarity will lead you, give you strength and increase your will-power to the highest potential possibility.

Whenever your will-power is less, understand that your clarity is lost or you are unclear about the purpose. This holds good for employment too. In some companies you are just dragging your feet, you are going there out of compulsion, out of the need for salary, but you are not happy. That is because you are unsure whether this is exactly what you want to do in life. And that will not work because the job will become a pressure and you will never be happy or content. So, the clarity of purpose is essential. I hope this is clear.

Secondly, the faculties that you are using to experience this earth are

1) mind – emotions,

2) intellect – analysis,

3) ego – personality.

These are the three aspects with which we respond to the world. There are a lot of emotional people. Emotional people are basically nurturing their basic instincts. The basic instinct of every being on earth is SURVIVAL.

Survival has two strong aspects:

1) Need for food for the body to exist and

2) Need for sex – sexuality for the species to exist.

Now, most of the people who are operating in the emotional plane, which is, the mind plane are stuck to one or both these aspects (food and sex). And if you look at the whole world, you can see that the people are going in circles (similar pattern) in this manner.

Some people rise above the emotional factor and go to the intellect factor. In fact, they feel great about it. Intellectual/Intelligent people have a great capacity for analysis. They sometimes become scientists and explorers. They contribute a lot to this world just by using the intellect and they feel superior to the normal emotional and unconscious people. This is one more trap. As you can see, you are not actually getting out of traps. You have only transitioned from an emotional trap to the intellect trap. It is a trap, because it is not helping you to see the consciousness. You are not able to rise above these faculties. Another problem with the intellectual aspect is that it gives you a feeling of supremacy or superiority. Because you are able to analyze, you are able to assimilate, you feel great about yourself. That will lead to a more accented ego.

The mind is the basic (faculty) that which nurtures these instincts of human existence or any existence. Intellect is the analytical aspect makes you feel much better. There are many thinkers, philosophers, and other educated people who have tried to explore the nature of existence and they feel great about it. And then sometimes in their name or name of their teachings, religions & paths happen. While they may be good people and, in some instances, great people, if the intellect accents your personality, that is, the accent that overemphasizes a bloated ego, that is a BIG TRAP.

In the feast of ego, everybody goes home hungry. This is the way it is because the ego cannot be satisfied easily.

Intellect is another trap. One master had said, “Somebody who’s proud of their intellect is like a prisoner who is proud of his prison cell.” Intellect is a trap. The mind is a trap. Ego is a trap. Now, if this is understood clearly, then you understand how you are operating in this world. You might be using some of these faculties all the time. Right from the time you wake up until you sleep, you are operating in this mode continuously, all the time.

Now, the other aspect is AWARENESS. Awareness is there for every being. Some beings that are not able to talk like human beings, use their awareness to a great extent. You can see that during a natural calamity; most of the animals run away. They go to a safer place. Who told them? Look at the migratory birds traveling from Siberia or the Arctic region or wherever, to a tropical region every year at a certain time. Who told them? Who gave them direction? Who gave them the GPS or navigation capabilities? They have sharpened awareness. Through sharpened awareness, they are able to maintain precision in their lifestyle. Most of the animals and birds do that. But they are run by instinct. While the main instinct is survival for all beings, including human, they (non-humans) have awareness to a great extent.

We also have awareness, but we also have the capacity to use the awareness to understand the consciousness. That’s the difference. Consciousness is the substratum which runs the mind, intellect, ego, and body. Being aware of consciousness is one of the highest possibilities of a human being. If in one lifetime, we do not reach there, there is not much of a difference between our life and that of animals.

Most of us are not even aware of that aspect of consciousness. Why? Because we are stuck in the instinct plane. We are stuck in the instinct for survival and all other aspects associated with that. All our aspects (emotions) such as greed, jealousy, etc. are connected to instinct. If we become aware, or, we are conscious that consciousness exists, it is a completely different life and outlook. This is the possibility of human existence. And when you settle down in that aspect of consciousness permanently, we reach the stage beyond waking, dream, and deep sleep.

Also, understand that waking state is like a dream state now because we are not conscious of what’s going on. We are living mechanically. In the dream state, you are actually dreaming and that’s not the reality in real life. But it’s real at that time as when you are dreaming, you think it’s real. In waking state also, most of the time you do not have clarity, you only have partial understanding or awareness. If you are not able to see the truth as truth, as clarity (of purpose) with clarity, then it’s an extended dream state.

Thus most of us have an extended dream state in the waking state, and also a deep sleep state, which is similar to the death state with no existence. Dream state is one side and deep sleep is another. If you increase your awareness to the level where you understand that there is Consciousness, which runs or regulates the body, mind, intellect and ego as one unit, and consciousness that is the same in waking state, dream state, deep sleep state, then your clarity will be very high. With that clarity, you will not have much greed, jealousy, anger, hatred, you will not take revenge, criticize or judge because you know very well that all the people existing on Earth are at some level somewhere.

As I explained now, most of them might be operating only on mind state. Some of them might have transcended to intellect state. Some of them are between intellect and ego state. In some way, they are all trapped in their own states. How do you blame them? Or how can you criticize them? We all have gone through the same thing. If today you have a master, he would have spent many lifetimes chasing that mastery. Mastery doesn’t happen in a single day. You have to cleanse and empty yourself time and again, over lifetimes, to reach a stage of mastery where you are fully established in the consciousness, and not in mind, intellect or ego. Most of the people, who talk about the intellect such as writers or thinkers, are stuck in the intellect plane. While they have awareness, their awareness is pretty much caged in intellect and they are not able to transcend. They probably know that consciousness exists as a theory but it is not an experience.

Until and unless something becomes your experience, it’s not yours. That is not your state. It’s a theory. It’s an understanding, it’s an awareness. But you have to bring it to a level not from outside, it has to happen from inside to a level, where you are experiencing consciousness, then you realize it’s a different world. That gives you tremendous strength, power, and freedom. The sign of freedom is fearlessness. This is how all the great masters fought. They did not care whether people liked or disliked, they did not care whether people understood or misunderstood, they delivered.

Many a time during their lifetimes, the Masters were not recognized. After their death, they were revered and they were canonized. This is exactly how life works. Masters did not care about this as it didn’t matter. It is important that you deliver. You will display the states of brightness, stability, and stillness. In that state, you don’t even need words to deliver; rather you deliver with your life as you exist, as you are. It shows when you are peaceful and when you are completely settled within.

The best place and the most authentic place to settle down in life is you. You need to settle down inside. It doesn’t matter where you settle outside in countries such as America, Canada, London or any other place on Earth as they are of temporary use; you live there for some time and eventually die. If you can use this lifetime to fully settle into yourself, that’s the best gift you can give yourself. Settling into yourself is the highest possibility of human existence. That means you stop asking “why?” There’s no “why”, it’s just “am”. “I am” or being-ness will be the state. In that state, you do not have to worry about Iccha Shakti (the power of will), Gyana Shakti (the power of knowledge) or Kriya Shakti (power of action) because everything comes, joins and dissolves into the state of oneness or being-ness. This is the highest possibility.

I am saying all these because you need to see the full circle. If you understand this clearly, then you have understood the entire spiritual journey. We are actually stuck with words of people, rituals, methods, ideas, and concepts. These are all traps which are nurtured by one of the faculties such as mind, intellect, and ego. If we are looking at these aspects as existence, like life, like spirituality, we are mistaken. Not even a guru is important here. You are the guru you are the one you are connecting to, and you are not even looking outside. Forget about judging or criticizing as these are very low levels of existence and you can’t go to those levels when we are talking about being aware of consciousness and being conscious of consciousness. In that stage, you settle down completely into you and then you stabilize there fully and completely.

Question: How do we invoke Gods such as Ganesha and Muruga? Do we invoke these Gods as dimensions of the super consciousness or as different states?

Mohanji: There are 33 crore gods that is 33% of us is our soul. There are 33 crore or 330 million aspects of one supreme consciousness. What is that one supreme consciousness which has no or which is beyond dimensions? You cannot put that consciousness into any frames. Its pure energy, pure brightness, “brighter than a million suns”. And that energy is intelligent energy which is vibrant, intelligent and potent which can take any form. Every form has come out of that energy. And every form is just another part of the play of duality. Duality means up and down, left and right, night and day, light and dark, all those are parts of duality. So, the whole manifested universe such as galaxies, planets and the suns and moons and the un-manifested universe which is remaining as pure energy put together is the concept of Shiva.

Shiva is the manifested and the un-manifested. Shiva is the known universe or and the unknowable universe. You cannot know because you don’t have the faculty to understand the size of Shiva. This is Shiva. Shiva means complete. Shiva represents fullness or completeness, existing all around and everywhere. There is no place where there is no Shiva. I am not talking about the finite form of Shiva, which is like a yogi, who is completely occupied with stillness. That is an expression of the Shiva. I’m talking about Shiva which cannot be represented or can be only represented with the Shiva Linga which is often represented within a disc-shaped platform.

Now, there are 330 million expressions of Shiva. Our great masters understood that this infinite energy can be demonstrated or expressed into this world in 330 million forms or more and they expressed it. Every expression has a form, name, circuit (Yantra – a geometric structure through which the energy flows). Every expression has a worship method to maintain that circuit, maintain that energy. Every worship method is almost like your need for food or need for oxygen without which you will die. Thus this worship method and the structure of worship was created to maintain that energy, with that intensity. Then there is a frequency that it manifests, which is the Bheeja mantra (a.k.a. Seed Mantra). So all the aspects, such as a form, circuit – yantra, frequency – mantra were put together and each deity was created. A deity represents an ideal. Every idol represents an ideal.

There are Gods who are fighting demons. That is actually the representation of demons which are sitting inside us in the form of anger, hatred, jealousy, and comparison. We have certain Gods representing only fighting and destroying their dominance so that the earth becomes better; our Inner Earth becomes better and cleaner. Thus certain deities were created.

Now, Shiva has two sons. One is the knowledge incarnation which is Lord Muruga or Karthikeya. Lord Muruga even explains to his father Shiva, the meaning of AUM. Since the father is AUM, he doesn’t need to know the meaning of AUM. So the son tells His father, the meaning is of AUM. Hence, He became the guru of His father. Lord Muruga is knowledge incarnate or Gyana Avatar – Avatar of knowledge.

Then there is Lord Ganesha, who represents the un-manifested universe. The un-manifested universe is unfathomable. It can’t be explained. That’s why he takes the form of a huge body with a big belly. Lord Ganesha also has a great intellect which is cosmic consciousness. That is intellect not contained by a form or a frame. This is represented by the big head of an elephant. Why? Because the elephant is the biggest animal walking this earth. It is also a very kind being; it is herbivorous. It is it doesn’t attack or kill people or anything unnecessarily. It minds its own business and it’s very intelligent. So, all put together the elephant’s head was given just to express the state of intellect (cosmic consciousness) He holds. Then His vehicle is a RAT. Literally, if an elephant sits on a rat, then the rat is history! It will be gone for good!

Rat signifies the basic instincts or vices of human existence such as greed, jealousy, etc. The elephant representing the whole supreme consciousness sits on the basic human faculties, which signifies that the supreme consciousness is controlling the human frailties or faculties.

Similarly, for each and every idol, there is an ideal behind it; there is a reason for everything. Even the arms and the weapons held (by Gods) are connected to certain qualities or vices that we possess. Everything is defined that way because Shiva is the supreme consciousness, which has no form; and that formless can come as 330 million gods. Each God is one dimension.

Please always remember that whenever there is a form, there is destruction. Nothing stays forever. Everything has come from pure energy and everything has to go back to pure energy. So, if there is a form, there is a formless state also. If there is a birth, there is a death. So everything has its time, duration and evolution. All these things are part of it.

WORSHIP METHODS: If the worship methods are not followed as per the frequency of the deity, that deity’s frequency changes or it nullifies. This is why there are strict, definite and codified systems in temples which allows certain things and doesn’t allow certain things in order to maintain the energy of the idol. And usually it is said that between 8 and 40 seconds the idol transmits the energy depending on the inducement into the idol. Prana (energy) is induced into the idol using certain mantras and rituals. Then the idol becomes alive. It’s almost like the soul that enters a body. When the soul enters the body you are alive and when the soul leaves the body you are dead. So this inducement of energy into an idol is created in such a way that in the 8 to 40 seconds it transmits the energy to the worshiper. When the devotee comes and stands in front, then within 8 to 40 seconds, depending on the intensity of prana pratishta (a ritual that gives life to the Idol), it happens (transmission of energy).

Secondly, our temples are not just the places of worship; they are all places of rejuvenation and transformation. How does that happen? When you look at the idols that are decorated and are beautiful to see, your eyes brighten, the mind expands. Then there is a nice fragrance emitted from the flowers, incense sticks, camphor, and other materials. Automatically your nostrils like it because of the nice fragrance. Your mind and heart expand through the nostrils. Then you have mantras, chanting, rhythms, bells and many different sounds which are pleasing to the ears. Through the ears, the mind expands and rejuvenates. When the sandal paste, sacred ash, kumkum (vermilion) is applied on your third eye or on your body, through the energy of that or through the smell and/or fragrance or touch, the mind once again expands. Then the priest gives you something to eat or concentrated water to drink. When you drink that through the tongue, again, the mind is rejuvenated. So, through all the senses, the mind is rejuvenated. Hence it’s a place of total rejuvenation. Then, people prostrate, they lie down on the floor with the head down denoting surrender, thereby canceling the ego. When you surrender, your ego is canceled. When ego is canceled, you are ready for the state of emptiness.

Ego creates blockages. When the ego is cancelled, you become empty and the energy of the deity enters you even more. They say that when you go to see a guru or God offer something in the form of money or fruits or something. When you do that, it’s amounting to sacrifice. You can only offer what you have, not what you do not have. So when you share what you have, it amounts to sacrifice. It makes you rich from within. Always sacrifice makes you rich inside. In fact, when you offer food to somebody who’s hungry, you feel great. All these things completely transform a person, a worshipper, a devotee, and when you go around the temple a few times, a minimum of three times, then you are actually rotating within the auric field of the whole temple, by being inside it. That means your aura is getting cleansed. You are going around the temple, and you are getting cleansed. Through the senses, the mind is cleansed. When you surrender, the mind is cleansed. When you offer something, the mind is cleansed, then you go around the temple, again, the mind is cleansed, when you come out from the temple, you are fresh, and you are a new person. This is why one should never go into a temple without taking a bath. Then you get the maximum benefit. If you do not take a bath or you don’t wash your faces, then what you receive from there also is not enough. But if you have purified yourself, the body is pure, the mind is pure, the expressions or Mantra chanting is pure (i.e.) you are chanting it well, you gain maximum from this trip. So all these things are very definite, beautiful and most importantly, everything is scientific. That is exactly how our great masters have designed this whole tradition of liberation. Everything helps you to go one more step towards liberation.

Transcribed by Rakshitha and Ananth Sankaran          Proofread by Vidya Rajagopalan

Read Clarity of Purpose Gives Will-Power, Part 2