Q: “Guruji, some people don’t shave during Navaratri, some don’t shave on Thursdays. Are there any such rules?”
Guruji: “The first rule only applies to people who fast all nine days and/or are indulged in special rituals during that time of the year. As far as weekdays go, some people don’t shave on Mondays or Tuesdays, some on Thursdays. There are no set rules about it. In fact, I’ve seen some south Indian Brahmins who especially get a clean shave, wash their hair, and get all tidy and cleaned up on Thursdays. Different regions have different traditions.”
Q: “I’ve realized that around 11pm in the night, I feel a sudden peace inside myself and in the surroundings.”
Guruji: “It shows that your body and mind have started getting ready for practice at that time. Your body is beginning to get tuned for it, so now it has become your physical need. This is why regular practice is so important. A set time develops a craving in your body for the kriya practice, and your heart and mind feel an immediate sense of peace. You will be in the mood to practice.”
Q: “I thought that peace descends due to the calm of the night.”
Guruji: “No, that’s not true; the real reason is regular practice. If the night time was the real reason, the entire world would be meditating at that time. Whatever time you choose for practice, stick to it and slowly your biological clock will begin to get activated at that time automatically. It’ll be like an alarm clock.
“After prolonged practice, that mood will stay throughout the day – each and every second. The practices we are doing right now form a continuous cycle of effects. For example, the lunch we eat in the afternoon has its effect till dinner, which in turn has its effect till breakfast. Similarly, the morning practice supports the evening practice and vice versa. And once that cycle forms, the person starts to feel an entirely different level of awareness and consciousness.”
Q: “Yes, I do have a high feeling throughout the day. Is that what you are talking about?”
Guruji: “Not just that, it must also be helping you perform better. That is essentially the development of consciousness. For example, any problem you face now, you’ll be able to think of it from different angles and the possible solutions. You’ll be able to see things and situations in their totality. I feel only people who reach this level of performance and consciousness are capable of doing extraordinary planning in life. Such people reach closer to the forth dimension we call Kaal or Time, and so naturally whatever they do will have a very long term effect on them and their coming generations.
“Why do you think self knowledge is important? It is important, so at least we can understand the purpose of our birth, and the purpose of spending time on earth. Why are we here, where have we come from, and what is our total potential aimed for? To answer these questions Nature will itself guide you towards your destiny. What we call as luck and chance is actually nothing but Nature prompting you on. Nothing happens by chance. It is actually Nature that guides all things around.”
Q: “So what is our role in this play of Nature? Is it just to keep moving ahead wherever it is guiding us?”
Guruji: ‘Our role is to keep getting more and more tuned with Nature. We talk about yoga, which literally means union, connection. Through yoga we are aiming for this connectivity with God, with the consciousness of Earth. We are all living on earth and along on our paths, we should realize it someday that whatever we are doing is somewhere guided by Mother Earth herself. In that case, if we are able to form a connectivity with Earth, her will will start getting executed through us, and this may even lead to the ultimate evolution – final transformation in the womb of Mother Earth! (read this discussion). I sometimes feel that this ultimate evolution is the driving force behind everything.”
Q: “You had mentioned that it takes ages to bring a man who is able to reach such levels.”
Guruji: “Yes, that’s absolutely true. And if we flip through the pages of history, such men have mostly been either yogis or avatars (incarnation of gods). Avatars are fully evolved souls who came back to earth to take birth.
“We can easily explain this through the process of union of sperm and ova. Initially, there are millions of sperms fighting for a union with ovum. But ultimately only one sperm which shows some signs of evolution gets that chance, with the support of Nature. It’s Nature only which not helps the sperm with the union, but also transforms it then after. Similarly, through yoga we are aiming for a union with the super-ovum of Mother Earth, and once that union takes place, the reins completely fall into the hands of Nature. After that, whatever transformation takes place will be mind-boggling and beyond all imagination!
Terms like self-realization and god-realization have been repeated way too often in the world. I am very tired of hearing their different interpretations as they do not convey the actual meaning of evolution properly. And think of the confusion these terms have caused in the world. Their vague explanations have led to the formation of thousands of cults and sects. Even though according to Earth time these cults don’t last even for the blink of an eye, but being sperms we have to bear all the confusion around (laughs).
“My suggestion is always to Think BIG and then Think BIGGER. Why be a miser in building castles in the air? They are just a flight of imagination, so make them as big as you can. The bigger you’ll think, the more you’ll progress. This is just an exercise for the mind. Make plans taking the entire life into consideration; think of life in its totality.”
[20090802] Conversation recorded on April 3, 2003