Trust and Dispassion on Spiritual Path

Trust on the spiritual path

A. Doubts are projections of the mind. Mind is also the seed of confusion, as well as alienation, that is – duality. What makes you feel different from me is your mind. There are 7 billion people in the world, 7 billion expressions and 7 billion constitutional differences. It’s all fueled by one soul. Once you go beyond the differences of the 7 billion and connect to the soul which runs the whole diversification, then you understand you are that.
Mind and its expressions (ego, intellect) create the wall of differentiation from other people and entities. Mind tells you “That is separate from me”, “I am not that”. Mind also creates frames, mental images: “My guru should look like this, behave like this”. If the guru in front of you delivering the message, does not fit the picture in your mind, we reject him.
First thing is to demolish images and go to truth. This can be done if you are linked to the truth- only truth- which belongs to the soul and is beyond the mind. Soul activates the mind; mind cannot do anything to the soul. Truth is beyond forms or dimensions. If we are constantly connected to the truth, mind cannot distort any situation. Many people ask me the question “Who is my guru?” The answer is very simple – the one who came in front of you. Because there is an eternal truth: when the student is eligible, the right guru appears. When the right guru comes, it may be a picture different from the mind’s expectation but the only criteria is if the message or information useful and relevant to me? When we were in school, we did not go in search of a guru, a teacher. A teacher came to our class and we accepted the teacher. Another teacher could not have helped us to go to the next class. Many people say they would like Mahavatar Babaji to be their guru. I always say “Sure, it’s possible, but are you subtle enough to understand him? Even if he comes and sits near you, how can you get anything from him?” First we have to raise ourselves to a level where we are able to relate to him; only then there will be a transfer of information or energy and elevation. Many people ask me about the realm of operation of Satya Sai Baba. I tell you that is not relevant to you. You can only understand the realm of operation of a master of that stature, when you become him. Otherwise we only see what is in front of us- the image, words or expressions. That is actually nothing compared to the operational level. We make our judgements based on this plane (the visible operational level), which is again (I always say) a weak expression of a huge consciousness.

Dispassion

There are two types of dispassion. One is – we tell the mind to be dispassionate. Attempts to be dispassionate on the mental level are not permanent. Another level of dispassion, which is permanent, is that you reach a state where nothing matters. Everything is available, but it doesn’t matter. That is permanent, achieved through exhaustion or experience. E.g. you craved for pizza, you had sufficient pizza in your life so you can say I don’t need it anymore. At one time it was very important, but at another time it is nothing, you don’t need it. That is actually your dispassion towards a material, which was important at one time and not important at another time.
Going through own experiences is one of the sure methods of exhaustion. Let me explain own experience more. If the mind makes it a habit, i.e. you are experiencing a thing but the mind is not available, it will become a repetition. That way exhaustion doesn’t happen. In that level, you feel sad without pizza. So this is the mental level of operation where mind captures an activity, retains it and instigates the desire on a periodical basis, repeatedly. And if that material is not available at a particular time, mind says that things are not right. So habit does not help exhaustion of a desire; a habit just maintains it. At the same time, when the mind is present during an activity, it fully enjoys the situation and chances for repetition will be small.
As a member of a family in a society, you are part of the experiences of the other people. You carry certain impressions or experiences of other people which become yours as well. In that level also you say “ok, I know what my friend went through in a particular situation, I am fine with it, thank you very much”. That also leads to dispassion. Please don’t confuse this with escapism or hatred about something. These are all different emotions. I am talking about dispassion as a settlement, that means that you are dispassionate about something and it settles you, it doesn’t hide you. There are various inputs which help create dispassion. The best thing is when awareness grows, you can see from above the whole pattern of life. At that time, many things will have no value. Then dispassion sets in as an expression of unconditional love. That is forever, it can never change. In other words, you have taken effort and climbed 20 floors of a big building and the reality is that you reached the 20th floor. Nobody can take the view from there away from you, because you achieved it. So your awareness depends on where you stand. Are you on the 1st floor, are you on the 20th floor?

Transcribed by Tamara Bobić
Edited by Aviral Srivastava
Excerpt from a satsang during Serbian retreat in May 2013