Struggle

Guruji: “Struggle is never-ending. I think if the struggle in life went away, we would die of boredom! Only when you relax for a moment after the struggle is over, you feel real happiness. Then new struggle begins, with new challenges. When that finishes, you feel happy again. But the feeling becomes grander and grander with each challenge.

“If you sit around doing nothing, without any struggle, then there’s nothing else but boredom. The more opposition you face, the more positive, extra-ordinary development of your personality happens. If there are two men, one who has struggled and one who hasn’t, the one who has struggled would be more knowledgeable. And to rise or to develop, you do have to struggle.”

Q: “Milarepa’s story is so inspiring! And it’s not like he had signs from his childhood that he’s going to be a great soul.”

Guruji: “His story is very inspiring. The biggest thing is the feeling of revenge that was borne in him. That feeling gave him so much strength that not only he took revenge upon his enemies, but also used the same strength to gain knowledge and self-realization. A weak person can’t even exact revenge. They say things like ‘whatever god wants will happen’ to excuse themselves. He at least took proper revenge. And when he felt guilty about killing so many innocent people, the power that he had developed to take the revenge, he was able to use it positively. That’s why he is a legendary figure today. The feeling of revenge gives a lot of energy.”

Q: “Really?”

Guruji: “Of course! Take Ravana out of Rama’s life, what will be left? Or take Kansa out of Krishna’s life, Krishna won’t be Krishna anymore. These are the highlights of their lives. This means that the feeling of revenge is what brings meaning in life (laughs).

“Main point is that opposition should be there. Without any opposition, how will you be refined? How will you prove that I can face any kind of opposition and come out a winner? Even in bodybuilding, the training principle is called Progressive Resistance. Only by increasing resistance you develop further. So is with life.

“Now even local people (in Govardhan) have started taking notice of me. They have always been taking notice, but now finally it’s going in positive direction. Some news reporters had come, they gave us good coverage in local newspapers, about rudraksha and kalpa-vraksha trees in the campus. People are totally stunned reading about it. Last Monday they even published about Shiva-linga.”

Q: “Aren’t people resistant to change?”

Guruji: “In the beginning everybody is resistant to change. If you tell them a new thing, the first response is always, ‘No, how can that be possible?’. It’s the same situation world over.

“That’s when I thought it was futile to explain. There were a lot of quarrels with the local people in the beginning, so I stopped talking to them. Now these days they are very anxious that I talk to them, let them inside the academy campus. I don’t pay any heed to them.

“All in all it has only benefited me. All these difficulties have developed one aspect of my personality which probably would never have developed. If somebody is coming to fight you, you could only do two things: come out to face them or bow down before them and run away. And if you bow down, you’d never be able to face yourself in a mirror again, if you have even a little bit of self-respect. I took a stand and challenged them to do whatever they could.

“Once about 60-70 people came to fight. I was by myself and with didi [Guruji’s sister, Mataji]. We both faced them, and they all ran away ultimately. That boosted our confidence significantly.”

Q: “What did they want?”

Guruji: “One thing was that when I came here, they got jealous that I bought such a big place and they couldn’t. And then I stopped their ‘free for fall’ (using campus grounds for ‘morning rituals’). So they picked a petty excuse and came to fight. My servants and the watchmen all ran away, only didi and I were left behind. And the furious face and anger that I must have developed – only they saw it, I can only imagine – all of them got scared and ran away.”

Q: “Did you get very angry?”

Guruji: “Very angry. I was ready to do anything. If someone keeps irritating you for no reason, then ultimately you can’t control the anger. Though one should have tremendous amount of self-control. If you have extraordinary physical strength, much more than average, that you can lift a man with one hand, and you lose control in the middle of a mob, only the mob will be on the losing end. The consequences may be serious. And here an average man is pretty pathetic, no more than 50-60kgs.

“These kinds of confrontations kept on going. Now we haven’t had one in a few years. Whoever came to openly fight me, they all died mysteriously. And this also created a different type of reputation. If our count is correct, so far 46 man have died in the last 9 years. It’s been very peaceful since then. I didn’t understand in the beginning what was happening. When I understood, I withdrew myself. Stayed inside and didn’t engage in fight with them.

“The main point is if you have to do a big task, a proportionally strong opposition also comes. If you are able to face it, things get progressively smother.”

Q: “Does somebody keep testing whether you can take this opposition or not?”

Guruji: “Think of it this way: I was introduced as an antibiotic drug here. An infection was spreading on a certain portion of Mother Earth, and I was introduced as with anti-bacterial properties to eliminate the infection. Struggle was inevitable. And what are we in the eyes of Mother Earth, nothing more than virus or bacterias.

“We can see the difference in 9 years. The entire area has changed. Goverdhan Parikrama has gone beyond everybody’s wildest dreams! This Guru Purnima, more than 10 million people crossed in 24 hours. Management was very good. After that, suddenly a very eerie silence has spread everywhere. No noise of quarrels, loud speakers, etc. Also, government is taking over management of temples so all the pandas [rowdy caretakers of Hindu temples] are in shock – their source of income is gone. Things are getting better.

“It has been a remarkable series of changes. Government’s attention is now finally here. Electricity used to be out for 5 days, which is almost inconceivable in the western society. Now government has ordered 24-hour electric supply, especially in Goverdhan. Tourist department gave a proposal for 66 million rupees for facelift of our campus. They’ll do the lighting, full repair, and water supply. We’ll only have to pay the bill. Agreement is between myself – the owner of the property – and the governor of UP, that archeological department will look after this property. It is the first time ever in India an agreement like this has been made between a private property owner, archeological department, and the state government.

“It took a very long time and a lot of effort, but things are looking better. We had come in absolute opposition – no friendly person around at all! Nothing beyond thorny bushes and cactus.

Q: “You have set a big example.”

Guruji: “I haven’t set this example for anyone else. It’s ultimately for my own development. The place started looking better, status increased. All my disciples got inspired, their confidence increased. Because what I have done I have taught everyone. No more, no less. Anybody can do anything. The basic thing is that the man should be prepared. There’s an English saying: Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. You have to prepare yourself. And with proper preparation, the team that forms will be of specialists. And ultimately team only performs.”

[20100711-2] Recorded: Oct 2002

Higher Living, Aghora

Q: “There was a documentary on TV which showed a tāṁtrika eating human corpses!”

Guruji: “I’ve seen it. Eating dead bodies, their own feces, etc, all these dirty deeds are part of black magic. We read that piśācas eat dead bodies – there are many descriptions in purāṇas
that they drink blood and eat dead bodies. These are not human acts, they are demonic acts. And a human will only do them if he is under the influence of a piśāca. And they claim it’s higher living! It’s the lowest of low living, guaranteed to go straight to hell!”

Q: “They claim this the life of a aghori since aghora means no distinction between good or bad!”

Guruji: “I don’t think that’s the case. Aghora means “the most beautiful”. Also know for sure that aghora is not a sectarian belief. It’s a stage of development. That what I have realized now, only after toiling in śmaśāna for 10 years! It’s not a separate path.

“Only a person who is trying to catch a ghost would eat corpses and put excrements on himself and put cotton doused in his own urine in his ears so he could contact a karṇa piśācinī . There’s no purity in all that! Avadhut Rama who we were talking about used to sit arond on a garbage dump and drink 7-8 bottles of alcohol. These people lie around in śmaśāna and carry skulls around. They dont do any spiritual practice; just stay in śmaśāna and repeat mantras. Now their founders – Aghori Kinaram, for example – must have been accomplished beings because their supernatural acts are well known.

“Take the nine Nathas on the other hand; we’ve never heard that they were chewing a chicken leg or dragging a corpse or playing football with a human skull (laughs). Yoga is really an art of highest living.”

Q: “I think people look for shortcuts.”

Guruji: “People get influenced by small siddhis so they get into this business. And once you go into the business of ghouls, that’s the life that you lead. Higher living is really a tough thing. To reach that standard is really a big thing. Because for higher living, you should have high standard, and high mental capacities. Now imagine some laborer who’s earning Rs 1500 in a month, you give him 10 million rupees one day. What will happen to him?”

Q: “He’ll go insane.”

Guruji: “He’ll go insane and won’t even be able to spend that money in anxiety. Why? Because he doesn’t have that training, doesn’t have that capacity, doesn’t have the mental status or standards in life. He’s been thinking narrowly so can’t think of higher things in life.”

Q: “Is it just a matter of training or could be sanskaar (impressions) from past birth?”

Guruji: “It could be carryover from past birth. Intelligence is not accidental.

“Higher living could be to get a chance to live in Babaji’s group. Who knows. There’s always a chance. This business about Kriya tradition he started, may be is it to recruit a new member in his club every 1000 years or 500 years. it might be. it’s quite a possibility. How he lives, what he does, nobody knows.

“Remember Jonathan Livingston Seagull: when one school is over, another begins. One qualification is achieved, who knows what’ll come next.”

[20100711-3]

Creating Ghosts, Selling Faith

Q: “Guruji, we were talking about ghosts. In Christianity, for example, there’s no concept of pitra tarpaṇa (ancestral offerings).”

Guruji: “And neither is there any ritual to ensure gati (transition, to the other world). The complete ritual is to create earthbound ghosts, and that’s why they don’t have reincarnations. They wait for the judgement day.”

Q: “How it must feel to be confined in a box for such a long time!”

Guruji: “This also creates a negative influence on the society. There are miles-long graveyards in the US! In our tradition, bodies of only those people used to be preserved who had attained great knowledge, and whose bodies had become extremely pure. So, if they were preserved for a long time, they’d have a positive, pure mental effect on the surroundings. There, even evildoers are also getting buried, and their bodies are decomposing for a long time, so they’ll will have their own influence on society, which will only increase over time.

“Also, as we discussed before, those who are buried are confined only to the lower two elements – Earth and Water, while those who are cremated go to the higher two – Air and Sky.”

Q: “Is this the main reason for degeneration we are seeing in society today?”

Guruji: “It’s also a tāṁtrika experiment: keep any human bone nearby and you’ll only have bad dreams. If only a bone can have that kind of effect, imagine what will be the impact if an entire body is buried nearby.”

* * * * * *
Guruji: “We were looking at Kriya websites, found one about Yogananda which also had a few video clippings of him, with Ramana Maharshi, Yukteshwar Giri, etc, one going into super-conscious state. They were all good; felt good after seeing them.”

Q: “Guruji, earlier you had said that Paramhansa Yogananda commercialized Kriya yoga which was not the right thing to do.”

Guruji: “That he did. That is one aspect of his personality, this is another. How can we understand in totality by looking at only one thing? One aspect of his commercialization is that he’s the only one who has been able to get his gurus worshiped alongside Jesus Christ. No one before him could do that. We should think from all angles. We also shouldn’t forget that his book (Autobiography of a Yogi) inspired so many people, including myself! How can one deny that? Even today it feels good to read that book.

“The videos are good, especially what he said in the one about super-consciousness, that yoga is not magic, it is a art of high living.”

* * * * * *
Guruji: “The annual puja of Hanuman-ji is on the 6th (Dec). Many people will come for that. It’s been going on since 1996. This is the 7th one. It just started automatically.. still going on. Best thing is it’s only one day long.

“One strange thing happened: A 16 year girl who was possessed went to Mehendipur Balaji to remove her affliction. The temple caretakers took advantage of her and left her to die in front of the Bhairav temple. This is the first time this kind of case has come out from that place. Rather, this is the first time it came to be publicly known, things like this must have been going on there for some time. Police has arrested some people, there’s a lot of uneasiness in that area.

“I’m observing that since we started Shiva-ji’s puja and started sounding bull-horn, a lot of deep-rooted corruption like this is getting exposed and uprooted all around. There’s a change in the air; may be the time has changed since 2000. Every day we hear about some famous sadhu caught in some dirty deed and exposed to the public. A common man doesn’t have that much respect for famous sadhus as he used to. This the main article in today’s paper:

Selling Faith in the Shop of Lies and Corruption
In these times, the guru market is blooming. God gives in plenty, but the godman gets even more. Not only in India, but also in foreign countries there’s no escape from these dealers of emancipation. Big ashrams are being built, expensive cars are being bought. They’ve kept God in one corner, and are competing to decorate the rest of the shop as lavishly as possible. Devotees are told, ‘World is an illusion, what you are seeing is illusion, all relationships are evil and selfish. Break all relations and make relationship with God.’ But so called gurus don’t tell why this illusion, this attachment doesn’t apply to themselves? Why is this world not a false reality for them? Why do they need air-conditioned palaces? Why need dozens or servants, luxury cars? For the devotee, the world is an illusion. For the guru, it’s the biggest truth! How is that possible?
Time is limited. Time to wake up. World is not illusion. God’s creation, in which He manifests Himself even in the smallest atom, how can that be a lie?

“This is a commonplace talk now. And this is where the difference in the general approach and a yogi’s approach lies. Our approach is right, Earth is the truth and our God.”

[20100711-3]

Senses, Sadhus, and Sanyāsīs

Q: “Guruji, in the fight between viveka (discrimination) and mana (heart), does mana always win?”

Guruji: “You can say in the conflict of heart and mind, the heart always wins. Viveka is but a part of the mind.”

Q: “Isn’t mana (heart) a servant of the senses?”

Guruji: “No, it’s the commander.”

Q: “Then why do people say that it got entangled in senses?”

Guruji: “Those people now look like idiots to me. You are a computer specialist. Tell me this: There are so many buttons on a computer. Are they all useless? When god made senses, why did he make them? Truth is that people are not able to command the machinery of the body, or master it, that’s why they keep complaining. They are scared about what will happen if the wrong button gets pushed. That’s why should learn control of the entire body, how to use it. These are useless talks about senses and mana, etc. Ultimately it’s the mind which is working. When you wiggle your toes, does it wiggle by itself or is it by a command from your brain?

“Let me tell you an incident: A sadhu came to visit here. As soon as he entered, he saw dīdī [Guruji’s sister – Mataji] and covered his eyes. We later found out that doesn’t look at women. Everywhere he goes, women are first removed from his path, then only he proceeds further. I told him never to come back. Instead of removing women from your sight, why don’t you just gouge your eyes out.

“In this fervor to not ever look at any woman, he must have developed a negative attachment towards them. He must be careful all the time that he doesn’t accidently look at any woman. He will never be normal again. And it’s not like his father gave birth to him! And let’s say even if he did not see the face of a woman his entire life, what did he really accomplish with that? He wouldn’t even realize what he lost. It’s the height of stupidity. Now he’ll claim ‘I have controlled my senses since I haven’t seen any woman.’ So what? There are many blind people who don’t see them.

“I feel that all the later religions, which formed world over after the so-called dark period, they all somehow went into negation. Judeo-Christians say you are born in sin, so everybody is filled with guilt all the time. Or some say you should have non-attachment. If you are not attached to anything, then what’s the point of doing anything? The old vedic way of life was very natural. We should be totally down to earth.

“I have also seen some idiots – I was going to use a heavier curse word but there are people sitting here – some idiots who even quarreled with their mothers saying ‘You are
māyā (illusion). You’ve destroyed me by giving birth to me!’ This is all stupidity and nothing else. If there were no senses, man would go insane.

“It’s just a part of business. First create confusion among people, and then preach them their entire lives. If you don’t create confusion, nobody will ask how to get out of it. Eventually you’ll be in an important position, since you can teach people how to get out of confusion, and so on. Then will come saints and bishops and mahaṁtas (abbots). And the common man, who was leading a simple life, these people twist and bend and shred his life into a thousand pieces and drain it down the toilet. Generally people are happy before meeting sadhus and
sanyāsīs (renunciates).

“That’s why Lahiri Mahasaya used to advise people to stay away from sadhus. Also, as I’ve discussed this many times, sanyāsīs remain expelled from śmaśāna (cremation grounds). Śmaśāna is Shiva and Shakti’s place, and only a worldly man has entry. Sanyāsīs are either drowned in rivers or buried in earth. And those who are not allowed in śmaśāna, what’s the guarantee that they’ll achieve emancipation or not? Actually it’s a fact that they don’t. If Shiva-ji has refused them entry in His house, how can they be free? The become ghosts and wander around. I’ve seen hundreds of ghosts of sadhus in Rishikesh and Vrindavan. Those sadhus who are buried usually become ghosts.

“Always remember Ghalib’s words:
जन्नत का राज़ कुछ और है ग़ालिब, खुदा की बात कुछ अफवाह सी नज़र आती है |
(‘The secret of heaven is something else. The god concept now feels like made up.’)”

[20100711-2]

Mummification

Guruji: “Some foreign visitors were discussing about witchcraft. Even in witchcraft there are four elements: earth, water, fire, and air. Ultimately it’s some aspect of nature. Whether it’s white magic or black magic, we should have some knowledge about it, and after studying it from an Indian’s perspective, you might be able to understand something else. For example, they have a concept of Devil, and our temples are called deval. Devil is always shown with a trident. Here only Lord Shiva and His associates (śiva gaṇa) carry tridents. Could it be that these things came to oppose the tyranny of established religions, like Vedic?

“The western dominance had grown by the black magic of Merlin the magician. People say he was a good magician, but I’m sure he was a black magician. For the misery of the world the English are mostly responsible, and all that was due to the power of Merlin. This is also becoming very clear.

“We made a new discovery about pyramids 2-3 days back. I was researching what was the original Egyptian word for pyramids, because ‘pyramids’ is an English word. Found out that the original word is phir-aamid, which literally means to come back again, back on Earth. It seems all the mummies were wait to return to the world. These idiots disrupted their plan by digging them up.”

Q: “Do you think they would have been able to come back?”

Guruji: “Who knows? Why would they keep an identity intact for such a long time otherwise.

“Indian system of mummification is very elaborate, but also simple. It is not part of Ayurveda – only yogis know about it. The body remains intact for a very long time – it doesn’t disintegrate. And with that, the personality in the astral or subtle body becomes very strong. This is also a technique to remain on Earth. That’s why my attention was drawn towards this: Why so much emphasis to remain on Earth as long as possible? She is the Paramātmā, the Supreme Soul.”

[20100711-2]

Moments of Realization

Guruji: “Gorakhabodha is an amazing book! Discusses some of the heaviest truths about yoga sādhanā.

Q: “Guruji, what happens in samādhi?”

Guruji: “Your consciousness becomes one with Earth’s consciousness. That’s why they say you are everywhere and nowhere at the same time.”

Q: “In Tripurā Rahasya Jñāna Khaṇḍa, it says everybody experiences samādhi every moment, when the mind goes from one subject to another.”

Guruji: “That’s also going on. Every moment of realization is a moment of samādhi. Any new thing you’ve understood is a form of samādhi only.

Q: “It says in the book that whenever you are stunned, you also experience samādhi.”

Guruji: “Because it’s a moment of realization. Every moment of realization can be termed as samādhi. Even when you suddenly discover a new thing in your laboratory, that’s also samādhi. Refer to Yoga Darśana: the combination of dhāraṇa, dhyāna, and samādhi is saṁyama. Samādhis are many.”

Q: “I have the same question as is posed in the book: If samādhi is happening every moment, then why doesn’t everybody become all-knowing?”

Guruji: “Well, knowledge increases with these momentary samādhis. The common concept that in the moment of realization you know everything, in my opinion, is not true. It’s a journey of realization, step-by-step. With each realization your knowledge will increase. Every samādhi experience makes you more mature. What you are today is not the same as what you were yesterday. You are not the same person. Because, since yesterday you may have understood a few more things that you knew then. It’s a gradual progression.”

Q: “So it’s not like a switch suddenly turns on and you become all-knowing.”

Guruji: “These beliefs have become more popular after Ramakrishna Paramhansa talked about samādhi and when Yogananda described it a little. Before then, there was no such misconception. Otherwise why would people practice samādhi everyday, if only one experience was enough? Refer to Yoga Darśana: it gives the exact description of samādhi. And the experience that Paramahanda Yogananda has described, even LSD users have the similar experience.”

[20100711-2]

Manifesting the Immortal Substance

Q: “Guruji, are mana (mind), buddhi (intellect), viveka (discrimination) the same or different?”

Guruji: “In totality it’s the Mind. Just like hands, legs, head, etc are different organs of the same man, similarly buddhi, viveka, etc are different parts of the mind. Mind is basically one.”

Q: “Then why do we have conflict in the mind?”

Guruji: “It’s actually a mechanism induced by Nature inside us to gain knowledge. How will you draw a conclusion if you don’t think from different directions? Without friction there’s no energy, and every conflict is created by nature to generate energy. Without conflicts we’d all be leading a vegetable life.”

Q: “Does that mean conflicts are induced from outside?”

Guruji: “It just means that the mind is processing what you are experiencing. Those who don’t understand that get worried about the conflicting thoughts in their mind. See, as soon as you see or hear anything, you are mentally involved. The mind will store and process the information, and until it reaches some conclusion there will be conflicts appearing in the mind.

“Quiet mind doesn’t mean an inert position. Einstein said when an object travels at the speed of light, it is in the perfect rest condition. Those who appear quiet, may be the speed of their mind is way too high. This means that their mind is working or vibrating at a rate which is beyond our imagination, so we think it is inert, but it is too fast for us. When we say that someone has become inert in samādhi, it may mean that they have gone in the perfect rest condition, and their consciousness has gone beyond the light-speed and is vibrating in a very high realm. This is exactly what happens.

“It is like the story of the caterpillar and the butterfly. Caterpillar is not trained to see the butterfly who will fly away leaving the cocoon behind when the time comes, while the caterpillar mourns for the cocoon. Life is a deep thing.”

Q: “Sometimes there are conflicts between different actions as well, which has different results. For example, should I eat tasty food or do some exercise.”

Guruji: “Instead of hankering after the memory of food, it’s better to eat it and be done with it. You should also remember that taste doesn’t fill your stomach. So fill taste, but not stomach. Stomach will fill only with bread, not with chocolate. This is a proof of the advancement of human civilization that we invented chocolate: No bird has been able to make omelette even though eggs come them them only. Similarly no cow can make yogurt or ghee even though it produces the milk.”

Q: “It makes sense. But sometimes I wonder if such processing actually means we are going from natural to unnatural.”

Guruji: “In a way it is not, as I’ve already said that to make ghee is like going from mortality to immortality.”

Q: “How?”

Guruji: “Here’s how: People say that the soul is omnipresent, and everybody has a soul which is immortal. But even though we have an immortal substance inside us, we still die. What is immortality then? Somebody asked me that so I gave them this answer:

“Cow gives milk. Milk has ghee in it, but in the raw milk it is not visible. And despite the presence of that immortal substance, the milk goes bad or sour. The process to extract ghee from milk is like a yogic discipline: first you heat milk then cool it off, then turn it into yoghurt, then churn the yogurt, then take the butter out, then heat the butter, and then the substance which comes out, ghee, is immortal. Pure ghee doesn’t go bad even in hundreds of years. Similarly, soul is in everybody which is immortal. But those who don’t go through this process, through yogic austerities, they’ll never realize its immortality nor will they ever experience their soul.”

Q: “Wow!”

Guruji: “Mind blowing, isn’t it? The soul is omnipresent, but to reveal it or to manifest it we have to do tapasyā. Just like ghee comes out of milk after so many transformations, similarly, with yoga sādhanā after so many transformations a man reaches his immortal substance, which was always inside him. But to bring it forth, he has to go through through these transforming processes.

“Anybody could wag their tongue that the soul is omnipresent. Yes, we know it’s omnipresent; who doesn’t know that? (laughs) But how to catch it, how to realize it, how to make it appear? That will not be possible without tapasyā. Everybody has a body and a soul; every cow gives milk. But here a realized master, a man of knowledge, a guru is needed, who knows how to extract ghee out of the milk, who can tell you everything about the body and it’s potential and how to transform it. Those who mislead people into philosophy shouldn’t be considered as gurus.”

Q: “This also proves why tapasyā is necessary for everyone.”

Guruji: “Tapasyā is only necessary for those who want to do it, who have understood. For someone who is beginning to understand his divinity, who is beginning to realize, ‘how I look is not really everything I am. I could develop to a much more sublime height, I could even be immortal. All the necessary ingredients are within me. I should learn all the processes for this development, and I am ready for all the physical and mental transformations as a result of these processes.’

“It takes time to understand these things – took me years. In the beginning, everybody repeats the common words: self realization or god realization. That’s all! But ‘self realization’ describes this exactly. God realization is a vague thing, but self realization is closer to the reality.”

[20100711-2]

Light: Gross or Subtle?

A disciple asked Guruji: Is light gross or subtle?

Guruji answered:

“Light is gross, because it can only illuminate 3 out of 5 elements of matter – Earth, Water, and Fire. It passes through the other two elements – Air and Sky – so they are not visible to us. According to the Indian thought, Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Sky are the five gross elements of material world. We are only able to see the first three, since they reflect light. Since light can only illuminate the grosser elements of matter, it is gross and not subtle.

“This also implies that anything we see, we only see 60% of it, since the two elements – Air and Sky – which light doesn’t reflect, we are not able to see. This means that even our physical appearance is only 60% visible; 40% remains invisible!

“Another important thing to note is that only those things which reflect light ultimately go through decay. Those things which don’t reflect light don’t. We don’t see the destruction of air or sky, but fire, which depends on material objects for its survival, eventually dies out. Water also gets evaporated or gets stale. And solid objects in all forms eventually disintegrate; scientists already have various forms of measurements for that.

“Decay is based on the rays of light. What doesn’t reflect light doesn’t get decayed.

“We’ve also read about Babaji that his shadow doesn’t form. This means what doesn’t reflect light must be immortal!”

[20111110] Nov 11, 2011

Be Conscious of Mother Earth: The Supreme Soul


Guruji: “[.. continued from before] we talked about ātmā (soul) and paramātmā (the Supreme Soul, God). You have a soul. Then what is the Supreme Soul? Which is the soul of your soul, or, in other words, that on which the existence of your soul depends. Based on that, Mother Earth is the Supreme Soul. We are supposed to realize the supreme soul, and instead a vague concept of a distant, hypothetical God living in skies has been handed over to us. People say God is omnipresent: go anywhere in the world, Earth is everywhere! And don’t know when we’ll go in outer space, even there land will be needed.”

Q: “Then Guruji, what should a person do? It must be so hard to communicate with Mother Earth.”

Guruji: “A person should live a very natural life, and should try to tune with the mind of Earth, or tune with the life-force – the force of life – of Earth. That’s all. Without tuning in, will not understand the union, as we’ve discussed before. Tuning is necessary.

Q: “So it is mainly a thinking process?”

Guruji: “It’s not a thinking process. When the actual tuning happens it will make the difference, not just by thinking that. Like the old swamis and vedāntīs (propagators of Vedas) proclaim, ‘I’m brahma (supreme universal spirit, Godhead)!’. They even argue to prove they are brahma! But just by saying can they be brahma? They eat food, need to go to the toilet, they shiver in cold and yet continue to claim they are brahma! Can brahma shiver in cold, or can it get indigestion? The important thing is to understand reality. Reality can be harsh, but isn’t it equally beautiful as well?

“You can do this meditation of mother Earth [..]. Nobody meditates on Earth. Have you seen anyone do that? Has any so-called god-man ever said that you should meditate on Earth, that she is our mother, the basis of our existence? Meditate on Her, then only you will develop an understanding of your own existence.”

Q: “Guruji, you had mentioned that you were looking into some methods to communicate directly with Mother Earth?”

Guruji: “Yes, the research is going on. You can say that the success is just looming on the horizon; can already see it, just have to reach there. Have discovered a few techniques and processes after doing a major research; now I’m looking for the original touch. There are also some mantras of Earth, and fire rituals. They are very rare to find.”

Q: “That’s probably why they are hidden.”

Guruji: “They are hidden because they are not in convention; nobody cares for them. People are worshiping the goddess of wealth, Vishnu, or some other gods. But nobody cares about our real god.

“My mind is opening up. See, I received a natural-found śiva-liṁga. But ultimately it was given by Mother Earth only! I’m worshiping the śiva-liṁga, offering milk to it, etc, so in a way, I’m worshiping her as well. Also the female signs of śakti that we found: they were given by Earth herself. It’s not like they fell out of the sky.

“One most astonishing thing has happened here: we are totally stunned, and amazed as well. You remember the Neem tree next to the hall? It actually had menstrual periods! And it happened on the first day of Navarātri. Aren’t these the signs of Mother Earth?”

* * * * * *

Q: “Guruji, I read the first chapter of jñāna khaṇḍa. It’s amazing! There’s an argument in there that as long as there are responsibilities a man can never be happy.”

Guruji: “These are great discussions of great people. And see, immortal beings are discussing! Can you imagine their point of view, how far would that be?

“In a way, the only emancipated person is the one who is immortal. Since everybody depends on Earth, from gods to a common man, an immortal man can do anything they desire. They are totally free. They don’t have to worry about changing their form, and nobody can cause them any harm either. Once Mother accepts you as her own, nobody can harm you in the entire world, because Earth is everywhere. It’s a marvelous and very significant concept.

“Immortal beings must be the most relaxed people on Earth.”

Q: “Mother Earth’s standards must be pretty high, she probably doesn’t accept just anybody.”

Guruji: “Who knows? She is a mother. She looks after even those who don’t care for her. If somebody cared for her, who knows what she’d do for them!

“All the riches come from Earth, all the knowledge comes from her. Our existence depends on Earth. If such a divine being starts favoring you, then there’s no end to happiness.

“It’s a major realization, that’s why we have started so many Earth related activities. Even found her meditation form in texts: A brown-skinned, supremely beautiful woman, who’s donning green clothes and whose hair are also green, and who is feeding a sprig of wheat or rice to a parrot. That’s her human form.”

Q: “I haven’t found much about Mother Earth in religious texts.”

Guruji: “Nobody will teach this, no religion will talk about it. There are some hints in Vedas but not a whole lot of details. But it is an honest observation. It’s a blessing from guru mahārāja that this thing came independently to my mind.

“This is probably why the ancient ṛṣis used to live close to Nature. The farther we have gone from Nature, the more complicated life has become.

“Some time back, an archeologist, who had a PhD in this subject, came to visit. He had brought a small, knife-like stone instrument of the cavemen. He told us that it is not even possible to make such an instrument today – the way it was cut and had been given treatments. It makes us wonder whether the people who we call cavemen, were they really cavemen? Or were they so advanced that they had become one with Nature?

“The result of development is not that you keep building sky-scrappers and exploit the nature to such an extent that even your existence comes under question. That is not development. The ultimate development is that we become one with Earth, we merge with Earth. Remember, Mother Earth is the Supreme Soul!

“To become aware of Mother Earth is a big deal. Then only we’ll be able to say we are down to earth.”

[20100711-2]

Sense, Sensual and Sensible, Jesus Christ, Indian Youth

Q: “Guruji, it is said that knowledge brings deliverance. So, if someone understands food, for example, they still have a taste for it. Will their enjoyment go away?”

Guruji: “We are not talking about the end of enjoyment. It’s about the end of attraction or attachment. Hankering, actually. If somebody is addicted to something and think about it all the time, that hankering will stop. You’ll enjoy things but not live for that. I also think that the more knowledgeable or wiser you are, the higher is your enjoyment level. You will be more sensitive.

“People say that you should stay away from sensual pleasures. Now here’s a linguistic analysis: Sensuality depends on senses. Only somebody who is nonsense will not have sensual pleasures in his mind. If you have enough sense, then also you could be called sensual. Sensual word has unnecessarily been attached to sex only. This means every religion is out to make you nonsense (laughs). It’s a play on words but still a significant truth: we are born in sensuality that’s why we are sensible.”

Q: “Guruji, aren’t there rules that say that for development we should conserve sexual energy?”

Guruji: “The main reason for this rule to conserve energy is that in a particular period in a man’s life, their concentration should not break. If you had married when you were 14, you thinking direction would have been totally different. That’s why a few norms have been made: don’t marry until 25, then live as a householder between 25 and 50 years of age, then live a life of contemplation afterwards. They discovered that for development of senses this is the best plan.

“All our systems are to ensure continuity of learning; learning must go on! That’s why rebirth is assured through the cremation and last rites so that learning is not discontinued. In Hindu dharma, break in learning is not tolerated. That’s why Piṃḍa dāna [an offering of balls of food for the departed. Literally: ‘body donation’] is done to ensure next birth. In Islam and Christianity, the soul waits eternally for the judgment day, so the learning is completely frozen. That’s a basic difference: our dharma guides while living as well as after death.

“In a broader sense, everything is a sensual pleasure. Wearing good clothes is a sensual thing: as people say, ‘they have a good dress “sense”‘. When someone goes to church and pray, even that they are doing with their senses, as they have enough sense to go to church and pray. It is better to be sensible than to be nonsensical.

“Look at Jesus Christ; what did he do wrong? He only ate good food in the last supper, had his hair oiled, and feet washed. Even that was enough to get Judas Iscariot jealous: How could he be the messiah? According to him, being messiah means don’t eat good food or put oil in your hair. Then he told the authorities who was Jesus and got him caught just for 30 silver coins. His thinking was exactly like the Christian priests of today: Instead of helping the poor, how dare he buy expensive oil? Why did he talk to Mary Magdalene? And it was acceptable to him to get Jesus hanged just for that! The priests of today have exactly the same mentality.

“This means that if you are getting ready to be a messiah, you should plan on starving to death, otherwise someone else will get you killed. Now see, nobody cares what happened to Judas, but imagine that zealots like him must have established the church organization. The basis of church was service of the poor. That means the original theme, or the sense of Jesus Christ, was totally lost! This is why Christ’s life looks fine to me, but not the organization’s. What’s wrong with eating good food? (laughs)

“Someone asked me, ‘How would you imagine an Indian youth to be like?.’ I answered: Someone who is standing in the fields barefoot, with loincloth around him, can talk fluent English with the American slang, and is also carrying a cellphone in his head-wrap. A youth who doesn’t leave his roots but has the knowledge of the entire world in his hands. That’s how I imagine an Indian youth to be like.

“An Indian mind is so great that if they stay connected to their roots, they can move the world. The current system established by Britishers, even though has constrained our talents and our creativity, it has taught has how to advance in the most adverse conditions, to do something big despite all the opposite conditions. It’s a miracle in itself. That’s why Indians anywhere in the world do better than the natives there, which means they’ll dominate in the future. And here I’ll quote Jesus the Christ, ‘Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the world’. We have only been proving our meekness in the past couple of thousands of years.

“This is free thinking, a yogi’s point of view. It is not subscribed to any particular caste, creed, or nation. It is an Earthman’s free thinking, an Earthman, who appreciates Nature, admires Nature, and with appreciating and admiring Nature who is also working hard to know his own nature. We are neither condemning or condoning anybody. ‘Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein Maange Sub Ki Khair, Na Kahu Say Dosti Na Kahu Say Bair’ [Saint Kabir’s couplet, meaning: ‘Kabir, standing in the marketplace, wishes everyone well. He has neither affiliation nor quarrel with anyone.’].”

[20110324-3] Dated: Jan 2002