When we talk about faith, most of us do not understand or express unconditional faith. Faith is primarily in ourselves. Faith is towards ourselves, and that needs a lot of conviction. We need to trust ourselves. We need to have conviction in ourselves, our destiny, our path, our existence, and this incarnation. We need to have deep faith in ourselves. When we have deep faith in ourselves, then we connect to a Master as powerful as Baba. A great Master whom as I told earlier, you can take your time to understand, assimilate and connect. That is not a problem. But then, faith should be unshakable. There will be tests. There are bound to be tests. Main tests are to break your concepts, break your mental frames, and also to break your notions or prejudices. So, all these have to be broken into pieces.
A Master is like a flowing river. How he flows, where he flows, nobody knows. Of course, we know that everybody, all of us, have to eventually reach the ocean and we will. Sooner or later, we will all arrive at the ocean, the ocean of existence, which is the Supreme Consciousness. A Master is like a flowing river, and you cannot predict that this is the way it flows. When you deeply connect to a Master, it should be with full conviction and full consistency. If we change faith with each fluctuating situation, the flow of grace will be affected. A Master is a flow of grace, he flows, he is flexible, and he is fluid. He is like flowing water, he is like a river. And grace is spontaneous. For grace to happen there should be consistency in connection. That is very, very essential. If the connection is not strong, the grace factor will also be affected that way.
Most of the people who connect to a Master are connecting with conditions. And that is why conditions, expectations, and fluctuations in faith, all lead to a state where the whole experience is affected. A true Master is an experience. For that experience to happen, you should nullify yourself as best as possible. Whenever I go to a Master, I always go as a disciple, as empty as possible. I don’t go as myself because there is no point in bringing a filled up glass to them. You go there with an empty glass.
Like in the story of a great Zen monk, who was an old man. A guy went to him and said, ”I have a few questions to ask you.” The Zen monk said, ”First, let’s have tea.” He gave a mug and a saucer. The Master was old and partially blind. As he was pouring the tea, the tea filled the mug, it started flowing into the saucer and then it fell to the ground. The man who came said, ”Master, the cup is overflowing. Don’t pour anymore.” The Master said, ”This is the problem. The cup is always full. How can I pour more?” So, when you go to a Master, go empty. Then the Master can fill up the cup. This is exactly how we must go.
Also, please trust the Guru (Master), when you are with the Master, even if you are not appreciating the various things they do. If you do not trust them, they can’t really take care of you. They are probably reducing your lifetimes, and the intensity of each life, each moment will be strong, sometimes painful. But that should not deter you, that should not make you run away. If you run away because you have pains, then the Master cannot actually take it out of you. He was probably trying to take things out of you, and remove it from your system. But if you do not stay there, if you do not give them time, and give them stability, or the stable presence, then it will not be removed at all. That means that you will have to take more and more lives to nullify whatever He is trying to remove, especially in the department of anger, hatred, jealousy, revenge, all those things. It takes time for you to completely come out of it, because there are patterns. Patterns are repeated behaviour. When you repeat a behaviour, it becomes a pattern. Anger becomes a pattern, hatred becomes a pattern.
Also, complaining, criticizing, judging other people, they all become patterns. We try to blame somebody else for our faults, and we feel that we are fine and safe. It’s not so. You are actually adding to your karma. When you criticise somebody, judge somebody, when you’re speaking badly or gossiping, you’re actually adding to your karma – karmic weight. It takes ages to clean it up. So we should have nothing to do with it. If somebody is betraying you, if somebody is bad with you, let them go, because they will pay their price anyway. Every activity has a price to pay, because we are using the Earth and the time for that. When one person contaminates another, and that person, because of this contamination transfers further, the first person gets even more. Because the one who started the fire gets more karmic residue, they have to pay more.
We should always remember, we should have nothing to do with any of these things. I’ll give you an example. I was with Vasudevan Swami in Vajreshwari, and I normally sit with him and talk to him. Swami told me that some children threw stones at him in the night. He was partially blind. He can’t see, he was old and bent. I asked Swami, ”Did you complain to the police?” He said, “No, no, no, I will not complain to the police, because the police will ask questions, they will ask me to verify, or give a testimonial, or identify who did it. That impression will come into my mind, and I may have to take another birth to clean it off, so I don’t want to remember, and I didn’t look at who it was. Bhagwan Nityananda came and told me, ”No stones hit you, because I was hugging you, all the stones hit me.” Like that, we will be protected. We will be protected all the time. But as Swami said, when you energise negative things, when you accuse people, when you blame people, when you criticize people, you are adding a lot of weight, unnecessarily.
Our aim in the spiritual journey is extreme purification – purity in thoughts, words, and action. If somebody betrays you, or somebody does something bad to you, they will pay the price. You allow the karma to take its course. We should stay away from all these things, so that we remain pure. Like Vasudevan Swami said, he didn’t want to remember faces, because to clean those faces, it may take another life, or a few lives. He did not want to remember any of those faces, he did not want to remember anything. He remained pure, and he allowed karma to take its course. Karma will pay them. Karma never ever leaves anything unfulfilled. Karma keeps a tab of all things. In the path of spirituality, we must always remember that we should always remain pure, that’s the only thing you can focus on. As I said earlier, it’s a story which is about you. You are the main actor. Keep yourself clean, with purity in thoughts, words, actions and keep doing something good for the world. So that you pay back to Earth, the rent you pay.
Criticising a Master is very, very bad. Likewise, expecting something from Baba, and if you don’t get that expectation fulfilled, you blame Baba, or you go to another Master, this is also not good. This only shows insecurity, and a lack of stability in us. Some people keep shifting to various Masters, and they gain nothing, because nobody can do anything for them. Unless there is consistency, there is no delivery, one can’t deliver anything. If you hold a cup in one place, and before they pour into the cup, if you take the cup elsewhere, it is of no use. It’s very important that you are stable in one place, connecting to one Master, and because of your stability, because of your connection, because of your conviction, you will reach very high states of awareness. So this is exactly the point, that acceptance should be very high, and lack of criticism, don’t judge. Don’t go to Baba or any Master with expectations. Go to them to be aligned, because they are alignment. A true Master is alignment. As I said earlier, the body, mind, intellect, ego, and spirit are aligned. When you go to a Master, you go to him to be aligned. When you are connected to something or someone for a period of time, automatically the energy gets transferred. There will be an energy infusion.
This is very important to understand. When you are with the Master, just be with the Master. Very few people go to Baba asking him for liberation. Most of the people ask for material support, material benefits, social positioning, positions or possessions. This is what most people go for. That’s all karmically bound. You can’t be given something, which you’re not eligible for. Eligibility means you have to earn it. Earn it means you have to consistently work for it. So all you can do is to give your best, put in your best efforts, and leave the rest to Baba. Then grace will flow. The grace factor will happen, and things will evolve. But if you go there asking for something, don’t expect Baba to do a job on your behalf. You are supposed to do what you are supposed to do, and you should do it.
In the story of Baba Ganeshanandagiri, he asked for a big bungalow, a big house, a mansion. So Baba said, “Your body is your house.” He said, “I need lots of servants, lots of people to support me.” Baba said, “Both your hands, they are your servants.” He said, “I need a vehicle to take me around, a big vehicle.” Baba said, “Your legs are your vehicle.” Then he said, “I need lots of money to do so many things.” Baba said, “Your brain is your money.” The empowerment happens within. You’re already empowered, all of us are empowered, we have been given the time, the space, the skill. We have been given the knowledge, the experience, information, guidance, grace, everything. All we need is gratitude and surrender. Surrender means we dedicate ourselves to the world. If we increase our purpose, if we become more and more selfless, the grace factor will increase automatically. A lot of grace will flow. The more selfless you become, the more grace will flow. That grace will be the wind beneath your wings. You will be able to sail smoothly because of the grace factor. And for the grace factor, you will need to wipe out selfishness.
What can you get from this world? We have to leave behind everything when we die. All the things that we accumulate here, everything is temporary. So why do we waste our time for all these things? Instead, we can give more and more to this Earth, within our capacity, and grace will flow, and we will be happy and contented. A true life, a successful life, a happy life, is a life of contentment. For that, you need to have less desires, there is no other way. If we increase our desires more and more, and then we ask more and more from Masters, etc. we are always in poverty consciousness, we are in a begging mode. The more poverty consciousness we have, which means we keep saying we don’t have something, we lack something etc., we are expressing poverty. When we are in a poverty consciousness mode, the more poor we will become, actually poor. Eventually it will be. The expressions have to be very clear.
What we need to deliver is abundance. Abundance means we share what we have. It may be time, money, position, wealth, love or skill. Whatever you have in abundance, share it and be contented. So that we are bringing our own amount of light to this Earth, that’s all we can do. And if we consistently do that, we will be rich inside, and the richness will increase. Grace will flow. This is what, as a true Babas’ disciple, we must perform. Not ask for more, instead share more of whatever we have, and Baba will give more. He never ever leaves anyone empty handed. Today if Mohanji is sitting here and talking to you, it is only because of Baba. He created me, He empowered me to this extent. So I don’t ask for anything more. What will I ask? I am grateful, I am thankful, I say that I am happy to be used, thank you for using me in whichever capacity. All we can do in this lifetime is to be contented and grateful. The best thing to do is to be grateful and graceful. That’s the elegance which we can display in this world.
Imagine 7.5 billion people are graceful and grateful, look at how the world will be. You will not see a war here, you will not have dearth of anything, there will be a good distribution of materials and wealth. We will have lots of friendship and companionship, there will be no competition, there is nothing to compete for. All are unique, all are great personalities. There’s nothing to compete for. This kind of awareness will happen, and we will never blame anybody, we will not be cheating, stealing, or betraying people, or have bad management of materials. We will always be fully contented. This is a very powerful state to be in, we can all do that. It just needs an attitude shift. It does not need spirituality, it does not need any other thing, it just needs an attitude shift. Then you connect to a great Master like Baba, and grace will make you more and more powerful. That will reflect in life, in the world.
There is no point in blaming, criticising, or moving away from a Master. Just stay put, just be there, that’s what the Tradition says, ”Just be there, just be available.” The Masters take care, the Tradition of Liberation takes care of you. The sign that you are progressing is stability inside. Whatever happens outside, if you are not getting affected inside, you are stable. And finally, whatever is there inside, with your knowledge or without, the cache memory of all our interactions, they also stop bothering you, that means you are stable, you are still. This is a sign of progress in the path of Liberation. A clear sign of progress is inner silence. How deep is your silence, that much you have progressed, for which you need to give more, and take less. Also, we have to get out of greed, anger, hatred, jealousy, and revenge. Blaming somebody, criticising somebody, all these things are unnecessary.
If something is happening in our life, we created it. This fundamental truth we must understand. It is not about another person, or a situation, or a time, or space, it’s not about materials. Whatever we are experiencing in this life, we created it, consciously or unconsciously. When I say unconsciously, it’s the cache memory of all our interactions. Even watching a movie, watching something on television, or somebody telling their experience to us, all the memories that you have collected and stored through your senses, that is exactly the cache memory. That’s what is creating our realities in the future. Destiny is coming out of it. So, if anything is happening in our life, we created it. Patterns are repeated behaviour that we created. We are clinging on to them and we refuse to let them go, so they keep repeating.
Everything we do, everything we are, everything we experience, it’s all connected to us, only us. We should not blame a Master for that. We should not blame Baba, we should not blame Akkalkot Swami, we should not blame Babaji, we should not blame any Masters or God. Instead, just say, ”Thank you for this awareness.” Whether it is a good, bad, or ugly experience, just be grateful, and when you are completely surrendered at the feet of the Master, they will all go away, all the patterns will dissolve. Only when you resist, the patterns exist. If you do not resist, patterns dissolve. This is something which you can practice, and you can do.
Likewise, states of depression. Lots of people go through states of depression. Clearly, it’s a sign of lack of clarity of purpose. If you increase clarity of purpose, it is the antidote for depression. Clear purpose creates strong minds and strong determination, and that is totally the antidote for depression. Depression is a state where you do not know what to do, and there is no strength of action. Ichha shakti, the willpower is less; Kriya shakti, the power of action is less. It’s not necessarily lack of knowledge. So to enhance Kriya shakti (power of action), and to enhance willpower, clarity of purpose is very important. Focus on what else you can do to this world, what is your capacity, and what you can give this world. Look around and decide that you will do something for this Earth. Because we are walking this Earth, we will do whatever we can, within our capacity, for this Earth, all the time. Then you will not be depressed, there will always be something to do. You will never feel depressed.
When you are not acting, and you are only procrastinating and thinking, it is a sign of tamas, inertia. Inertia leads to depression. The second thing is expectations, unfulfilled expectations. They also lead to depression. Then lack of self-esteem, that is because of lack of purpose. All these are causes for depression. If your purpose is clear, if you clearly push your purpose forward, you will not be depressed. This is for sure. The antidote for depression is clarity of action, and a purposeful life. When you have a clear, purposeful existence, you will be very powerful. The whole purpose will give you power, and Kriya shakti (the power of action) will be there, because of clarity of purpose. So focus on selfless purpose, compassion, kindness, unconditional love, purity in thought, word, and action, and express this with all determination. Depression will go completely out of your system.
Transcribed by Nada Rakovic
Proofread by Shyama Jeyaseelan