Purifying Yourself Within

Satsang with Mohanji during 2015 Kumbh Mela Pilgrimage in Nashik, India, part 3

Participant: Can you explain the significance of doing Shraadham , tarpanam etc. on Amavasya and other such days?

Mohanji: When you get up from this place and go, if you take a picture of that place, it will still have your residue, and this is proven. Certain cameras which are sensitive will show this, not normal cameras. So even when you just sit in one place for some time and leave, that place occupies your aura body, and hence some energy. So whatever you do, when you are living on this earth, in this plane, you are leaving behind a residue. It could be good, bad or ugly, but every incarnation leaves a residue.
You are born to your parents, they to theirs and so the lineage continues on. You took birth in a certain family, to a particular set of parents, and you have a specific set of experiences, thus binding you to the lineage. There is a level of obligation involved. When you connected to me and started learning from me, or started experiencing some truths through me, a link was formed. If you meet another person and connect to him, again a link is formed and all this is karmic. The best way to unhook from all the karmic linkage is gratitude. Shraadh is one way you express gratitude to the dear departed. You are actually saying thank you, be liberated. Thus it releases you and it releases them and it helps the journey. In our system they say that at a specific point in time, our ancestors come very close to the earth and will look for their dear people and if at that time they find that you do not care, they will feel sad. In order to satisfy them, you must do the Shraadh. If you would like to believe this, it is alright because again, it is expressing gratitude. I would not term this as superstition, because whatever the reason, gratitude always liberates you, while anger and hatred bind you. When you harbor anger and hatred towards someone, it binds you, but if you have gratitude and love, it liberates you. Understand everything in simple terms, don’t try to complicate it. There may be various reasons given for doing Shraadh, let them be. We don’t deny them, but our understanding should be that it is an expression of gratitude.
We are saying thank you for coming into our lives, thank you for what you gave us and we love you. And you express this through a ritual. So what happens is that you feel nice and liberated and they will also energetically feel liberated. This is unhooking. You are unhooking from your past, the people, the situations and moving towards freedom. Whatever contributes to your freedom is good for you. Whatever binds or controls you is not good for you. That is why the Power of Purity is giving so much peace and solace to many people. It is because actual unhooking is happening to those that sincerely practice it. They have no idea of the amount of release happening.

When the soul departs from the body, at the time of death, it is very painful. Why? Because all these cells have occupied, collected some impressions that are stored. Say for example, you have a lot of hair on your body and you try to pluck each hair out. Wouldn’t it be painful? So also when the soul is retrieving it all and leaving, it is very painful. You might have noticed that sometimes people urinate at the time of death. That is because they are suffering severe pain. However if you are detached or unhooked while living, the soul makes an easy exit as if it were a smoothly oiled track. It’s a painless smooth death. When we perform all this, we are actually preparing for death. Some day you have to die. There is no way you can be here forever. We have no control over it. Why don’t we prepare for it, through good activities and less attachment to everything? All these things aid you.
To explain this further, our body and its organs are in a functional mode because of heat inside it. This heat is provided by the energy within and when it withdraws, our organs start shrinking. Our internal organs have a certain lightness because of our soul which permeates into them. The fire aspect provides the heat and without it, there is no air too, and the body became heavier after death. What was supporting the body has now left it. Death can be very painful. Some people even feel cramps inside. Many are completely connected to the earth and not in any way connected to something higher. Hence they have more suffering. In contrast, if you are connected to a higher Master, are involved in practices that release you from anger and hatred, are peaceful inside and are expressing kindness outside, when you leave, it will be a smooth exit.
Hence, I always encourage people to do their Pithru Karmas. It always helps to have gratitude to the lineage.

Participant: Can women perform these, if the male in the family does not?

Mohanji: I think everyone can do it. You can do it in your house, in whichever way you like. These are all situational. Just follow the practices involved.
In fact, I don’t believe in gender at all. Being a man or a woman is the physical aspect. What is the gender of your soul? What is the difference between your soul and that of another? Gender lies in the physical form and is taken for a particular experience. While you chose a female body, someone else chose a male body. That is all. I believe it’s a wasteful exercise to bind gender to any rituals. How can God discriminate between people based on gender? When they say that women should not visit temples when they have their period, there is a reason for it. A temple has a murthi with Prana Prathishta. We are inducing energy into a particular stone or idol, and certain rituals are needed in order to maintain it. It is like bringing a soul into a body, and food and water is required to maintain the soul. In other words, it is the manner in which you retain the energy in the body. During your period every month, the dead cells are sent out. A dead cell is like a dead body. The eggs which are not fertilized go out of the body. That means it is like death and this process takes 4 or 5 days. At that time, in your total energy level, you are at a lower vibratory level. In order to get into the normal vibratory level, you attract more “prana” from the idol. In other words, you draw more energy from the idol! It takes more effort for the pujaris/priests to maintain the energy level. Hence they ask you not to come in at this time. This is the science behind it and the intention is not to discriminate between genders. While the original idea was that Prana Prathishta needs a certain level of energy to maintain the sanctity, the manner in which it is now interpreted is human interpretation. Even now every year, the temples have to renew the energy and bring in more, because a number of people visit it and the energy is being circulated. That is also why they say that one should not come into the temple after eating meat. Meat has no prana, and hence the body draws more energy for digestion and other functions. Hence the reason women should not enter temples during their period and everyone after consuming meat, is that it is a low energy time. Otherwise there is no gender discrimination at all.

Participant: Can we light diyas, pray etc. during menstruation?

Mohanji: Yes, you can read books. You may read the Sai Satcharita or chant mantras. I am only referring to a temple which has Prana Pratishta. I do not believe you have Prana Pratishta in your house, because then you would have to do pujas in that manner, that way. When someone dies in the family, you don’t perform the puja; it’s a similar concept.

P: Can we go to the altar?

M: Don’t go to the altar, but you can connect to the Masters, chant mantras, and so on. No one can prevent you from doing so. That’s why I said, don’t be bound by the gender. God does not discriminate so. I truly believe that we can never discriminate between a man and a woman spiritually. People ask me why there are fewer female enlightened masters than male. Who says so? There are many enlightened masters who are female. They do not come out and tell the world that they are enlightened. The male of a species is more extrovert by nature. You may observe this in many animal species. Nature created them so. Women are more introverted and hence even when they become enlightened, they tend to keep to themselves. How does one become enlightened? It happens when you connect to yourself more than to the outside. Outside, you are always chasing sensations. However, when you are connecting inside, feeling and understanding yourself, you are definitely in the correct path.

Participant: Could you explain the significance of the Kumbh?

Mohanji: There are certain planetary positions which increase the “amrit” element of the earth. The earth is connected to the solar system and the Milky Way, whatever it may be termed as, in the gross level and in the subtle level to numerous other “lokas”. We are thus connected and are interacting with various frequencies at various points in time, some of which we know, and others that we do not. Just because we do not know about some of them does not mean that they do not exist. They all exist. So we operate in various levels of subtlety. At specific times of a year, certain planetary positions align in a way that the entire energy or frequency is higher on earth. That’s the best time for inner purification. This is referred to as taking a dip and involves a few aspects. One is that we are surrendering to the water. Second while we are purifying the external body, the inner body is also getting purified and third, we are using the right planetary positions to elevate our consciousness and our awareness. Numerous reasons are also given to it.
During “Amritmanthan”, it is said that the drops of the Amrit fell at Nashik, Haridwar, Allahabad and Ujjain. Hence these places became more suitable for that aspect and the planetary positions created the effect of Amrit. Amrit should be understood as that which elevates your awareness and gives you moksha. You elevate your awareness when you are not bound by your mind. If you are bound by your mind, you will be judgmental and look at life with a critical eye. Acceptance, continuity of life, peacefulness, love, kindness and compassion are higher levels of awareness. The shift we expect through these activities is from selfishness to selflessness, from “Shav“ nature to “Shiv” nature i.e. unconscious existence to fully conscious existence. This is the shift we are looking at. In all this we are also surrendering. We take a few dips, first of all for our ancestors because without them we would not exist, then we take a dip for our dear ones who are living, third we take a dip for ourselves, and others associated with us. We can certainly take more dips such as for Gurus and for Gods. That will also help. So there is surrender in everything and nothing is selfish. It is not as if we take three dips for ourselves and stop. If we do, then we are not increasing our frequency. I think this explains it in a nutshell and I believe it is enough to know so much. You can certainly read more about it if you desire, but why would you want to do an analysis? We should understand the purpose, and that consciousness is being elevated, awareness increases, and that we move from a state of unconsciousness to a state of full consciousness.

Participant : I was reading about Brian Weiss, on past life regression. In the technique that he uses, is he removing karma?

Mohanji: Regression involves going back in time to when the issue started and solving it there. Everything you are manifesting now, has a root in previous lives. So in this process you go back to that life and root out the problem. Unfortunately, today, regression is being done more for fancy purposes, and expressions like, “Oh, I went to my past life and saw I was a king or a queen” are common. Many times these are not real. However there are masters like Brian Weiss who have pioneered it and they might be doing the right thing.

Participant: Is it removing the karma?

M: Yes, it is modifying the whole thing and removing the bindings of karma. Whenever there is a release, there is definite progress. When you are angry or harbor hatred toward somebody, you are bound. But the moment you let go, accept what happened, say it is alright and express the desire to be completely free, there is progress. You can experience this practically. Whenever you release, it helps you. However we keep hatreds and soap operas aid us in this. The soap operas lead you to believe that the world is as they portray, and we hold on to hatred. This binds us because otherwise, we are born free and have every reason to remain free.

Participant: If we are free then how will society and nations at large be maintained?

Mohanji: It is not because of the people with hatred that are controlling them. When you are free from within you will perform to the best of your ability. You are not bound by concepts any more. You will do what you have to do, not what you love to do. Notice, there is a difference, because you will always do whatever is needed. Then the whole of society will be free. When you have no selfishness, you are very confident. For example, if I would like to possess whatever is in your pocket, I might have to compromise. However when I do not need anything from you, our relationship is clear and I can be free with you. When expectations arise, so do problems, because usually, expectations lead to disappointment. Thus when you are free from inside, you are not bound by anything, you are normal, not controlled by expectations or concepts or agendas. Then, you will do what is required of you at the given time, spontaneously like a child. As adults we are controlling and masking. That will go away and you become natural. When you are natural, you are powerful. That is how society should be. You can only lead by example. You cannot preach it. I have to live what I preach. Otherwise I am not eligible to preach.

Transcribed by Vidya Rajagopalan
Proof-read by Caroline Moscato