Open the Door for Grace, part 2

Satsang with Mohanji in Canada, part 2
26 June 2019

Q6: What is the significance of a Guru living in a body, compared to a Guru who has left the body? 

Q7: Whenever we think of or remember you when we are at home, will you be thinking of us too?

Q8: What are the signs of presence when connection happens?

Q9: Can one have two masters?

Q10: If I think of Sai ji (Shirdi Sai Baba), will you come into my path?

Q11: What if I am able to be connected to multiple gurus simultaneously? If you pray to Sai Baba, then go to another place, you may get answers. I may be able to connect to god/guru/ energy in many different ways. Is this a sign that you are going towards a spiritual path?

Q12: How do you get empty?

Q13: Is that time when we are empty i.e. without thoughts or desires when we need to intensely pray?

Q14:  In today’s world, as householders and those working at jobs and doing different roles inside and outside the home, we cannot shirk our responsibilities or roles. What should be our methodology to reach that supreme goal of Oneness?

Q15: Everything is pre-decided, and I’m responsible for what I’m experiencing in this life. Are the people I interact with or family members just the instruments for me to have those experiences?

Q16: But when do I break that kind of give and take?

Q6: What is the significance of a Guru living in a body, compared to a Guru who has left the body? 

M: A guru in the body is difficult to handle.  If the guru is just a picture, you can handle the picture the way you like, because he is not going to eat you. See it’s very simple. Technically, all gurus are powerful. But the ego aspect is very difficult to deal with. We all have our ego. What is ego? The skeleton or structure of your personality is ego. At an elementary level, it is necessary. Why? Because that is the identity part. When you have zero ego, meaning you are totally diluted (which will happen anyway when you attain higher levels of samadhi), if somebody were to ask you who you are, you may say you don’t remember. And that is not a good idea while living in society.

So at the elementary level, mind-matter consisting of the three aspects of ego, intellect and mind, is important. But for a master who has already left the body,  you are accenting mainly on imagination, and your connection is based on that. And the teachings are what you receive. You do not know for sure, right? It may not be first-hand, it might come through somebody else. But if you are able to lead a disciplined life, fully focused on this master, you don’t need anything else – living or dead, no problem. However if you have a mind to tackle, the intellect to tackle, the ego to tackle, the proximity of a living master will be a good idea, although rather dangerous! Because what the masters do is they keep beating the ego, you know. When the ego sprouts up, one kick is given! When the intellect goes into analysis, one kick! And what does the intellect need? Answers. If answers are not given, the intellect suffers. The master will keep quiet. If answers are not given, questions will remain and the intellect will be very annoyed. The questioner will feel like pulling the hair of the master, or his own! Then there is the mind. When people come to the master with emotions, the master will be like stone. No reciprocation. What will happen? They will say – insensitive master, bad guy. All this happens with a living master. When Shirdi Sai Baba was living, the people living at the time said all sorts of things about him. They called him a mad man and so many names. Now a hundred years later, we understand his power. Most of the masters who are living are never appreciated by their contemporaries – because people cannot “see”. They cannot go beyond the physical form. They only see the physical form and take decisions. The senses and the mind can only base decisions on the data provided to them. Those data are physical form and expressions – not anything else. You can’t see the consciousness.

And why the third or fourth generation after the master’s time, sometimes connects with the master, is because based on the available data, they try to figure out something suitable for a connection. And secondly,  if there is no personality to handle, then everybody can connect. You know, personality is a big problem because we ourselves have personality and this personality has to match with the that of the other.

What do the scriptures say? Question and believe. They never say to have blind faith. Questioning here means address the question to yourself. The first question is:  do I need any master? Because I have a master within.  What is the master? The soul. The subtlest part of you, the non-interfering part of you, is the master. This non-interfering part of your whole system, your soul, never tells you what to do. It just allows your journey. It just energizes your faculties, the body, mind, intellect, and ego. But it never tells you where to go, or what to see or what to look for.

So the soul is non-interfering, completely neutral. God is like that. True masters are like that too. And this detachment present in a living master is not understood by most people. Intensity will be interpreted as anger. So if you are approaching the master and you are a tough nut to crack, the master will be intense. What will people think? Master is an angry guy. I have explained this in the Atmananda book where a person came to a master, and decided to stay with him for some time because he was fed up with life.  So he was watching the master – he saw that the master was restless, then angry, that he was irritable with people. He thought to himself: what kind of master is this, people say he is a great master –  but he is completely irritated all the time, he is angry, abusing people. Yet he continued staying with the master…

After a while, he saw the master being very quiet and silent, non-intrusive, loving everybody, and then he was surprised. This didn’t seem like the same guy, he had changed all of a sudden, how come? And later on, he found the master very cool, and completely relaxed. Then the master called him and said, “You are done, you can go now”. Before he could leave, another person arrived who sat next to him. He asked him, “Is this guy always like this? He so irritable and angry.” He learned that the master was actually only a mirror. It was actually these people who were angry and upset, and the master was just reflecting them. The master was always calm and quiet. But when this person’s own mind settled down, he then saw happiness, calmness, quietness, and peace in the master. When his own mind was agitated, he only saw the same thing in the master. The master however always remained the same – calm, quiet, and peaceful.

And this is actually how every person who is aligned will be like – he will be a perfect mirror. You go to him with anger, he becomes anger; you go to him with love, he becomes love. So these true masters are true mirrors. You can’t define them. How you are is what you will see. And you will see nothing else.

So this effect is not possible when a person is normal – then it is only an understanding.  But I will tell you once again that Krishna has not gone, Rama has not gone, Baba has not gone.  Any master whom you connect to, on earth, is not gone. They all have capacity, they have power, they are doing work. They do their work through people. All the great masters like Sripada Srivallabha, Bhagawan Nityananda, Guruji in Delhi – all do their work continuously. Because they can’t die – they just expand. They leave the body once the connections are all finished, what do they need to stay for then? All they had to connect with, the connections, they are all done, so why sit in the body? Better to work without the body. So what do they do?  They leave the body. And they work better. Through hundreds of people. To reach hundreds of people. And who will connect to them? Those whose frequency matches their frequency, will connect. That is why we have numerous masters. They are each unique, not comparable. You can’t compare them. Each one has relevance. What we only need to have is perspective. Nobody is higher, nobody is lower. None are equal. Everybody has relevance – they have a purpose and they continue with that.

Also, let’s say you want Babaji as your master. How will you get him? You will need to tune in your frequency to communicate. Just like you do with your television. There are so many channels out there, but what can come into the television? What the television has capacity for, isn’t it? Nothing else. The vibrations and transmissions are coming, the channels are all there, but you can’t catch them – because the capacity is not there. So you cannot connect to all the gurus. There are numerous masters existing without the body. They work – they do guide. But we won’t connect to them all. Why? Because we are probably on a terrestrial frequency. Often, we lose when we compare. We really cannot compare them –  we can only respect. That’s why I say never ever disrespect any master. The guru tattva in you will die, when you disrespect one guru. The guru principle is not two-sided, it’s one thing. Guru tattva, the Guru principle, has to be respected. So all masters should be respected. It doesn’t mean you go to all masters. You see every master in your master, the one you are connected to. Yogananda said the same thing, “If you consider me as your guru, I am all gurus. Look no further.” Every master is like that – who you feel connected to, that is your master. What the Upanishads say is: ”The master that has happened to you is your master.” Not the one whom you chase. It’s like when in school, you never went searching for a teacher. Some teacher came to your class and that teacher helped you go to the higher class. Like that,  the right teacher is sent to you when you are eligible. And how will you connect? When your frequency is right. And through acceptance: ok, this person has come. And that’s it.

You can never say that Shirdi Sai Baba is not active. From our own experiences, we know he is very active a hundred years after he left the body. Chattarpur Guruji is active, so is Bhagawan Nityananda and we know many more masters that are active. How can you say they are not active? It’s not possible.

Q7: Whenever we think of or remember you when we are at home, will you be thinking of us too?

M: It’s all auto connection. There are two things you must understand. One is this physical form which exists for the sake of communication, for interaction on the physical level. But there is a consciousness form too, which never dies. That form is always available. So when your frequency connects to my frequency, that presence automatically has to happen. In fact the presence never goes.

A story goes that Brahma told Kali (Kali of Kali Yuga) that during your time, you must not touch or disturb those who are deeply connected to masters and traditions. Then Kali replied, “What happens to my job then, if everybody gets connected? For my job is to disturb people!” Then Brahma said that time would be his friend, the prevailing times would help him. If time were so confusing and kept people unstable then he could work easily.

Then Kali asked how people would connect to masters at all, in unstable times?

In the Treta Yuga which was Shri Rama’s time, connection happened through yagna, homa and such things. In Dvaapara Yuga, it was a different way. In each Yuga or Age, there was a different format for connecting to God. So what is the format in the Kali Yuga?

Brahma replied, ”Remembrance”. If you remember, you will be connected. It’s that simple. But even remembrance is a problem during Kali’s time. When you remember, energy presence happens. They said to just remember, they didn’t even say chant or sing. Those are fine too – if you want to do it, no problem. But the minimum is remembrance. Just remember and the connection happens. So the consciousness is always available. The physical form needs transportation, but consciousness needs no transformation – it is always expanded. And you will feel it, you will get signs. Everything will happen per your intensity, according to how you connect.

Q8: What are the signs of presence when connection happens?

M: Signs can be many. There can be fragrance, for instance. There are 5 senses, right? The sign will be based on your orientation. For some people it will be a feeling of presence, some people are nose-oriented, so for them it will be a feeling of fragrance. Others may be visual-oriented, so they will probably see. Sometimes it can even be taste, so a nice taste in the mouth. Sometimes a fragrance, a smell. It depends on the orientation. It’s not easy to generalize it – various people feel it in various ways.

Q9: Can one have two masters?

M: There are no two masters. Consciousness is one, so there is one master but in many forms. What you should connect to is the master you feel connected to. There is nothing you will gain by changing the master. Because it would be just another form since it is the same story, the same consciousness. So if you just connect to the master you feel deeply connected to, and consider that person as all masters, then all masters will help you.

The entry card that gets you support of all masters, is the respect you have for one master: your own master. That is what is told by all great scriptures. They say to just stay put, and every master will come and help you. In other words, to have a steady connection to one person – this is the secret. It is the mind that takes you to different masters, that thinks that the other one is better, or that I can get more from many people  – it’s not true.

An example of this is an incident about a film actress, a staunch devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba – she has actually spoken about it on video and Youtube, so I’m not naming her. She had been filming somewhere in New Zealand or Australia. And she was going through tremendous confusion over some serious decisions she had to take. She prayed intensely to Shirdi Sai Baba that she needed an answer that night itself, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to do the film shooting the next day.

Since I didn’t have her number, I called up one of her friends, CEO of Sunil Shetty’s company I think, and I said, “Do you know this lady?” She said, ”Yes, I know her.” I told her to convey the answer. She asked,” Did she contact you?” I said, ”No, don’t worry, you just give her this answer.” So she called up the actress and gave her the answer and the actress exclaimed, “My God, how did you know this?” to which she replied, “I don’t know, Mohanji called me up and told me.” The actress said, ”How did Mohanji know? I did not pray to him!” Then she contacted me, “How did you know this question was from me?”   I replied saying, “Just see if the answer is right.“ She said, “The answer is accurate, thank you very much. I can take a decision now.”

And about a week later, something again happened – not so serious but similar. And again I answered. She had been praying to Shirdi Sai Baba, this also she related on video. She said that she was completely surprised, since she always looked upon me as just as a friend. She said,” How did Mohanji know, although I was praying to Shirdi Sai Baba?” So what does that mean? It’s all one canvas! I’m not Shirdi Baba, I’m telling you this straight. I look upon Baba as my father. But how did the answer come?

One canvas! That is why it is not about this physical form – you will not understand then. This consciousness is one. So you pray to whoever you are connected to and answer comes some way. And we have no give or take in it. I’m not taking any extra favor or I’m not telling them I invented this. It’s   not possible, you know. It happens automatically. It was accurate for that person, so she went and put that on video. Sometimes this type of thing happens, though not always. It depends on the intensity of the prayer and the intensity of the connection to your master. But many people don’t receive that because they keep wandering. They are neither here nor there. They don’t know who to pray to, and when they pray, there is no intensity.

There are two things in life: intensity and intention. Sankalpa or intention should be strong. We do sankalpa before a havan and puja: I am doing this puja for myself/ my family/particular person so that they are protected. The priest takes the name, gotra and all that, and then they do the chants and puja. Sankalpa should be clear for whatever action you take. Then intensity or single pointed concentration. The answers will come, and I’m sure you have experienced it. But the thing is you don’t have to pray to different gurus because they have different forms. All gurus are one. You connect deeply to your guru – everybody will come and help you. So there is no need to change anything and I will never recommend that also. Because what will you change? Only the forms right?  After that what will you do?

Q10: If I think of Sai ji (Shirdi Sai Baba), will you come into my path?

M: That’s possible, but not necessary. Maybe Sai himself will appear in the thoughts. I gave this example only for your understanding. It happened and the actress herself has said this on video, otherwise I would not used that example. But there are numerous such instances. It’s not necessarily me, Baba can work through anybody, through different people. But for Baba to work, that person should be empty, with zero ego. Any master can work through anybody, he can work through all people: there are 7.5 billion people who are options. But how will he work through someone? You should have no ego, you should be completely empty. Then he will take over and he will work and he will talk.

However many people do many predictions, and I don’t believe in most of them. One person came to me and said you will be doing this, you will be doing that.  I completely discount that. These kind of things I do not endorse – I’m a practical person. It should  be tangible and practical. And I don’t like to mislead or misguide. If things are not happening, they are not happening. Why things don’t happen is mostly because there is no intensity in our prayer. Intensity means single-pointed concentration .

That’s why Babaji always talks about concentration first. He insists on concentration before any practice. Learn to concentrate first, then you practice. We are all scattered, attention is distributed over so many things that our intensity on each is reduced. So each thing doesn’t receive the intensity.

Q11: What if I am able to be connected to multiple gurus simultaneously? If you pray to Sai Baba, then go to another place, you may get answers. I may be able to connect to god/guru/ energy in many different ways. Is this a sign that you are going towards a spiritual path?

M:  The secret of connecting to all the gurus is connecting to the one guru in you. A disciple asked a guru, “You know I am completely confused. You are talking about 330 million or 33 crores of gods. I can’t even begin to start worshipping one god, and here you are talking about 330 million gods. How will I worship all of them? He replied, “Worship 33% of yourself”, which means the mind and consciousness. If you worship these two aspects, you are actually connecting to 330 million aspects of one thing. One is supreme consciousness that has 330 million possibilities. You are connecting to every master, everything.

So, the secret is connecting to yourself, and for connecting to yourself, you have to accept yourself – self-acceptance. And self-acceptance has to start with recognising yourself as a complete being. Totally unique, totally perfect, totally complete. No comparisons. People waste a lot of time comparing themselves with other people. Oh, that person is good, that person is better, all that is absolutely not true. Since each person is unique, so you can’t say that somebody is better than the other. So when that kind of self-acceptance happens, you will automatically start connecting, you will appreciate and respect yourself, you will stop judging yourself. You will like and love yourself and then you will start experiencing the same outside.

And then when you look at one guru, you will see all the masters, millions of them. And then you understand that he is just a representation, and not the reality. See, I’m a projection, not the end. There is a continuation, there is a flow. And I will be ‘alive’ even after I leave the body. So this flow continues on and on. Before me there were so many, after me there will be so many. But still the flow will be there.

Q12: How do you get empty?

M: Emptiness is connected to less thoughts. Less thoughts are connected to less desires. It has to start with this: when you are experiencing something, be fully that. That means no resistance.

Imagine you are experiencing happiness. Be happiness fully, be like a small child – like the baby that was walking around. Be fully that thing and at that time, whatever it is. Tomorrow or the day after, it doesn’t matter. Yesterday doesn’t matter. So that you are there, experiencing fully. In that mode, desires will be fully brought to completion. In that mode, no more such desires will crop up. That automatically reduces your thoughts, leading to more and more emptiness.

Emptiness doesn’t happen in one day, because we have already stored so much inside of us, without our knowledge. We have served a lot of days, right? We are served a lot things that are all there as cache memory. Let it be, no problem. But just be aware. “Oh, it’s there, let us sit together!”

Then secondly, what do you reject in yourself? What is it that you don’t like in yourself? There might be plenty that is connected to other people’s opinions or your own comparisons. We are compared to other people. Or other people told us we are not good enough. We take all that seriously. But they don’t know you, nobody really knows you. Nobody can know you, and not only that – you don’t even know yourself!  And this is because your conscious mind is available just during the waking state. The waking state is only one of three very vibrant states: waking state, dream state and deep sleep state. The dream state is real: you are having experiences, and even memories in this state. Then in the deep sleep state, you don’t know whether you are man or woman, nor do you know time or space. You don’t know your nationality, country, class, culture, possessions, positions – you know nothing. When you wake up, you know. So there is a death state too, every day. Every night we are dying, every morning we wake up and when we wake up our world wakes up. The world was existing before that but we did not know that world, because when we slept, our world was asleep. That is our whole story, isn’t it?

Now, how do we compare? How do we criticise each other or judge ourselves? In karmic law, whether you criticize yourself or criticize another person, it has the same effect. If you judge yourself or another person, it’s the same in karmic law. Because you are not accepting yourself.  Not accepting oneself and not accepting other people – these are both equal. We only think that karma is towards other people, this is not so. In karmic law, you are an incarnation too, and just like other incarnations. Then if you don’t accept yourself, it’s equivalent to not accepting every other person. When you criticize yourself, it is like criticizing another person. From the karmic angle, there is no difference here.

So it is when you start accepting yourself with all your happiness, all your sorrows, all your weaknesses, and all your strengths, that the mind starts to settle down. It will be less turbulent, you’ll say, “Things are ok, it’s fine, let me manage myself.”

And then, step by step, there will be decline of thoughts, of the TPS – thoughts per second. That leads to emptiness, the subsequent reduction of ups and downs, of the fluctuations of mind. The mind fluctuates only because of thoughts. Remember, the mind is like a projector that needs a film reel. The mind doesn’t have its own data. The film reel has memories, impressions, your desires. If you are not providing it any film, what will the projector project? The screen will be blank and empty because there was nothing to project. That means there were no thoughts. No thoughts means no desires. So though the projector or mind will remain, there will be nothing to project. That means total emptiness and peace.

Q13: Is that time when we are empty i.e. without thoughts or desires when we need to intensely pray?

M: Then there will be no need for prayer. When you are in a totally empty state, which is the state of most of the masters, you don’t have to pray – they don’t pray. I don’t pray, what to pray to? There is nothing outside to pray to. You decide, you intend.  Tathaastu, they say, right?  Based on somebody’s input they say bless you. There is nothing to pray to, because there is nothing outside of you to pray to. You just feel everything inside you, the whole universe inside you. In other words, tat tvam asi, which  means “You are That”. That’s when you realise that state when it’s all empty: aham brahmaasmi  or “I am the Universe”. When you are the universe, you are one with the Creator. Creator means Pure Consciousness.  Then when there is nothing or emptiness within, even a small thought or intention can be very loud. But when there are a lot of thoughts, you wouldn’t understand that. Like a person who is smoking all the time, won’t know how it feels to have the lungs of a nonsmoker. It’s like that. So that thought (prayer) is not needed. It will be operating on the dharma  – what has to be done will be done.

No unconscious action. No compulsive action. Nothing can provoke you at all, because you are empty.  That’s the state of masters. State of mastery needs no prayer. Until you reach that state.

Our prayers are very weak, you know why? Number one reason, our prayers are to someone. Number two, our prayers are for something. When you say, “Please give me this”,  what are you telling the universe? That you don’t have it. So they say “tathaastu”. So you don’t have it anyway. When you keep on praying because of the lack of something, you will only continue to experience the lack of that thing. That is why our prayers are very weak most of the time.

So the right prayer is: “I am grateful. Thank you. Thank you for coming into my life. Thank you for being the grace of my life. Thank you for the abundance that You are, in my life.” Understood?

That is why (before the Mahabharata war), Arjuna said, “I need only Krsna”. And what did Duryodhana  say? He said, “I need the Yadava army.” Krsna said, ”Take it”. Duryodhana looked only at the numbers of warriors, not the talent. Arjuna said he only needed Krsna. One man was enough to defeat a million people – Krsna. Krsna’s presence was more important. Duryodhana thought Arjuna was stupid – why did he not ask for the army. Duryodhana said, “I negotiated very well. I got a whole army, a huge army. Millions of soldiers.” Arjuna said, “I have only one, Krsna. Enough. Thank you for being here as my grace. Now I will win the war.”

All you need is the presence of the master, then the war can be won. Because the master wins the war for you, if your surrender is absolute. But surrender is not absolute.  Shirdi Sai Baba says this: “You leave your mind here and go back. I’ll take care of it, but don’t look back. Don’t ever look back. If you look back, you are not trusting me. You are looking back to see what I am doing with your mind. I’ll take care of it, don’t worry. But don’t look back.” And we look back all the time. We plant the seed in the ground and expect it to grow, but every day we dig up to see the seed. Then we complain: “God, why didn’t you make it grow? God is not being very helpful”.

Q14:  In today’s world, as householders and those working at jobs and doing different roles inside and outside the home, we cannot shirk our responsibilities or roles.  What should be our methodology to reach that supreme goal of Oneness?

M: One word answer: Awareness. Be aware.

Decide that not a word is to be uttered without your mind being present. Not even a spoon is taken, not even a finger is moving without your mind being present. Practice awareness.  Awareness is all… be aware. You practice awareness all the time, not only just sitting down and practicing but also when you are working and when you are traveling. When you are watching television, be aware that you are watching television. When you are talking to people, you must be aware you are talking to people. Whatever you are talking about, be aware you are talking about that thing. The only problem will be in the mind, because of thoughts. You don’t know what you are going to think next. So you can’t help that.

But you can understand the thought after it happens: “Ok, this thought happened. No problem”. No resistance, no comparison, no criticism, no judgement. So, everything is flowing, and there are no good, bad, ugly or dirty thought segregations. Anything can happen in the mind. You don’t even look, they all coming and going. Everything is coming, everything is going. So you are not comparing, criticising, judging. If you practice this bodh or awareness, it stabilises you, and you become buddha when you are stabilised in this field at all times. You are no more interested in talking about people. When people are talking, you are not even listening – and people talk according to whatever they are, not what you are wanting.

See, nobody can talk about the truth of something, because nobody really understands the truth accurately. If you want to know the truth, you need to know karma. Like, if I want to know why you are doing something, I need to know your karma. I am only able to see your doing, which is really nothing – it’s just an expression. That expression is caused by some pending desire. So someone says to you, ”This guy is drinking alcohol”. Now why does one do something? Because there is a pending desire. That is what is provoking that action. It can become unconscious action, turn into addiction, etc and it may start ruining his life, and that’s the time when you can guide them or warn them. But in truth, nobody knows anything, and nobody really knows anybody, right? So when people are trying to influence you etc., you say, “I am not interested.” That is what I have always said to those people who try to tell me about other people. I always say that I am not interested. (I think I know this person anyway and sometimes I see through them also.)  I don’t want opinions. I don’t take opinions from anybody because opinions usually contaminate your mind. You know, if somebody were to talk to me about you, then when I meet you next time I will be remembering that, more than the fresh connection. So why should I even try…. I just keep away.

So you just concentrate on your bodh or awareness, and try to stabilise it as much as you can. When you drive your car, you see yourself driving the car.  Every time you see yourself – whether you are watching a picture at the movie theater, or you are interacting with people, or you are taking decisions – and when you do this, what will it be? It will be perpetual meditation. I’m not asking you to sit down and meditate because as you said, you have all your duties towards your family, your dharma. This is what the scriptures say – never deviate from your dharma otherwise you will have to come back. This is something that you chose before you took this birth, so continue. And secondly, karmic. What brings you to that point is karma. That you must perform beautifully, without any self-interest. Then the structure is: maata – pita – guru and God. Follow that structure. First come mother and father, then guru, then God. Worship, connect, or serve in that order so that you are maintaining that structure, so that you are maintaining your dharma. You are calm and quiet. And no guru or god is dependent on your prayers or anything from you, because they are already independent from you. For you to connect you don’t have to give anything.

In 2003, when I started ACT Foundation, I had an interview with either Times of India or Hindustan Times. One of their questions was: “So what is your investment in this organization?” I replied, “Myself”. You are the best investment you can ever have in anything. If you are connected to a master, more than in anything material, invest in yourself. If you want to rise to the highest levels of awareness invest in yourself. Everything else that you got from here is temporary. But you – you brought yourself here. That is the difference, and that you should remember. You are the only original thing which you brought – everything else is received from here.

So what can you give to the master? Only yourself. And at a certain point in time, you will understand that you are one with the master. Master is not outside, it is inside. Then that acceptance level will take you to great heights. Your awareness will soar and soar and you will see all the things transparent. Then emotions won’t disturb you, situations won’t disturb you, time and space won’t disturb you. Nothing disturbs you. You are free.

Q15: Everything is pre-decided, and I’m responsible for what I’m experiencing in this life. The people I interact with or family members are just the instruments for me to have those experiences?

M: In other words, your projection.

Q16: But when do I break that kind of give and take?

M: It breaks by itself. You are not breaking anything. You didn’t consciously create, so that you can break. You see every situation has happened. In real time. Krishna said, “I have happened.” He never said that he took birth or that he did something. It happens. So you did not create that particular person or situation – that person was right for giving that experience you got. Neither do you create nor do you uncreate. For example, your asking this question here. Did we know this 3 months ago? Last month? Only now right? So this is the way it happens: everything happens at its time and we are not deciding all of this. This set of people came her together, an exchange of energy happens, the exchange of information happens and it’s all beautiful…. I can’t stop this and neither can you. So total acceptance is the only way it can drop off.

You know the only remedy in the path of liberation is total acceptance – “This is happening now, let me witness it…. “  Maybe you will appreciate, maybe you will criticise, maybe you will like it, maybe you won’t. No problem. But my reality is this, and let me have it. So that when you look it in the eye, you see that this is really nothing. I am much greater than all these incidents of time! You feel and start seeing your real grandeur. You will say, “I am the universe”. Only when you wake up does your world exist. When you sleep, there is no world for you. The real world existed before you, and it will exist after you. You realize that only you created your world – means when you wake up all this is amazing. When you wake up during some time, you might realize, “Oh, I am in Canada.”  Why so? Because actually your reality only opens up when you are awake. Like that, when you truly become awake, your whole consciousness opens up.

Even the three aspects of consciousness  – do we never think about them, the waking state, dream state, deep sleep state. Do we ever consider those every day? They are all existing but we don’t know about them, right? We are only after some silly emotions of life, relationships, likes and dislikes. This food I like this, the other I don’t like this. This person I like, the other I don’t like. Our range is that way. Now look at the limitedness of it. We have created nobody and nobody can we uncreate.

Only through acceptance can you dissolve everything. Through resistance you will only maintain the same thing. Very simple. Through acceptance you dissolve, through resistance you maintain. If that is understood, this whole story is very simple. We are not chasing anything in life. If something comes to us, receive it. If something doesn’t come, no problem.

So like that, when you are totally at peace with yourself, the world can’t do you harm. If somebody hates you, it’s their problem, isn’t it?  If somebody hates you, you are not responsible. How can you be responsible for somebody’s hatred? If somebody says, “I hate you, I don’t like you”, what will you do? Nothing. We have no control over these things. Do we have any control? If somebody compares me  with another person and says you are not all that good, I say it is ok, I am not that person anyway. If somebody tells me I don’t look like Sylvester Stallone, of course I know I don’t look like Stallone and I should know. He can’t say what I myself say!

You see, spirituality is very very simple. Our spiritual journey is very simple. We complicate it with so many dos and don’ts and rituals. Everything is to finally connect you to yourself, for that matter. But if you get stuck with the external, it takes more time to go internal.

The whole spiritual journey is about the traveling from outside to inside. Very simple in one sentence: it’s a journey from outside to inside. If you understand that, you understand all the scriptures, the whole philosophy. Then it’s a question of journey and the elementary, the fundamental is self-acceptance. Accepting yourself, with all your faults and all your merits. That’s it. Simple.

Transcribed by Sjarn Mansoor
Proofread by Geeta Iyer