A peep into spirituality

14 A Peep into Spirituality Divine Mother used to narrate a story to illustrate this. There was once a man who lived in a village. He was a very congenial and kind individual, always read to help anyone in need. His only drawback was that he was a prey to sleep. Even if he sat still for a few minutes, he would fall asleep. Sometimes there would be kirtans held at the village temple and the villagers would crowd in to listen. This individual too would be there but in a few minutes he would doze off as usual. The villagers felt very sorry for him for they knew that he had no other faults except this one. One day a sadhu visited the village and as usual this person fell asleep during his discourse. After the talk, all the villagers approached the holy man and prayed that he should suggest something that would bring good to this man. So the sadhu called him and advised him to do some sadhana like japa, bhajans, archana etc. But the poor man confessed that no sooner did he sit down that he was overtaken by sleep. Finally on enquiring repeatedly the man said that the only time he was fully awake was when he was taking a bath. Through his spiritual insight, the sadhu knew that this man was troubled by excessive sleep on account of some past karmas. He felt pity that such a good person was unable to do any sadhana for his own welfare on account of this drawback. So he hit upon a plan. He told the man to daily chant the entire Vishnu Sahasranama aloud while taking his bath. The man agreed to this. From the very next day, the moment he began his bath he would start chanting the litany of a thousand names of Vishnu. This went on for a number of years and not even once did the man miss his chanting.

15 A Peep into Spirituality After a few years the sadhu once again visited the village and was very happy and pleased to find that the man had kept up the chanting daily. The sadhu blessed him and departed. Within a few days, the man suddenly died. The corpse was bought out and as per the custom it had to bathed before being cremated. No sooner had the first drops of water touched its head than the body, to the shock of everyone, sat bolt upright and began to chant the Vishnu Sahasranama. Only after completing the entire litany did it fall down, dead!! Such was the miracle wrought by implicit obedience to the Guru’s instructions, brought about by exercising ones will power to carry out His behests. Will power is in everyone but it has to be used for the right purposes. Thus, by obeying the Guru, the disciple can bring about an equilibrium between good and bad within himself. The Guru tells the disciple how to perform actions without the sense of agency, i.e. without feeling that he is doing the actions. He makes the disciple understand that it is the divine power that makes him perform all actions. When this truth is understood by the shishya, his sense of ‘I’ merges in the Divine. The actions that flow from him in this state is real Karma yoga. Through Karma Yoga, one transcends both good and bad actions and is poised in the all pervading One Who alone is the prompter and executor of all actions. Actually ‘Yoga’ means ‘union’. The word comes from the Sanskrit root ‘Yug’ meaning ‘to join’.

16 A Peep into Spirituality Hence ‘Yoga’ means union with the Divine. When the jiva loses its individuality in the Supreme, there is no individual doer left. Whatever he does is divine activity, inspired and performed by the Divine. The Guru knows that every human being is essentially divine, although he may appear to be very bad. So He never discards anyone as useless. He gives hope to everyone. Today’s sinner can and does become tomorrow’s saint provided he follows whatever the Guru tells him to do. Divine Mother used to encourage everyone. She used to say that although a person may have ninety-nine bad qualities and only one virtue, that one virtue can be exploited to redeem him. Keeping good company i.e. satsang is an unfailing way of improving oneself. A thread has no smell of its own but when you use it to weave a garland of fragrant flowers, the aroma of the flowers is imparted to the thread. So too by constantly keeping company of the virtuous and the good, their qualities ‘rub in’ on a bad person and help to improve him. Everybody knows that the body is perishable. Yet the most amazing thing is that an ordinary human does not think so. Even after seeing so many people dying, he never thinks that one day, he will also perish. Ultimately, what he thinks is right because the Self does not die. But man makes the mistake of thinking that the Self is the body and by taking medicines and tonics tries to prolong the life of the body. The nature of the Self is Sat-chit-ananda i.e., ExistenceKnowledge-Bliss. ‘Sat’ means eternal spiritual existence which

17 A Peep into Spirituality does not depend on the body. ‘Chid’ means knowledge which is not confined to any one subject. It is knowledge of the totality. It is that by knowing which nothing else remains to be known. ‘Ananda’ is bliss which has no opposite like sorrow or misery. This ‘SatChid-Ananda’ is man’s real nature. But as long as he is attached to the body, he is guided by worldly instincts and he attributes these qualities of ‘Sat-Chid-Ananda’ to his worldly existence. That is why he wants his body to be immortal, he wants to have knowledge of worldly things and seek happiness from this perishable world. This confusion has to end. In order for a jiva to know his real nature, God has to help him through a medium. God is all-pervading and has no form of His own. So, he assumes the form of a human being and comes as the Guru to teach the jiva floundering in maya or ignorance its own real nature. The chief function of the Guru is to teach him that he is not the body and to make him get over the notion that he is the body. There are certain disciplines which the Guru outlines for the disciple to follow. These have to be resorted to by the disciple earnestly, sincerely and faithfully in order to know his real nature or identity with the Supreme One who is all - pervading. Man usually is not aware of his own breathing and he becomes aware of it only when someone else tells him that he is breathing. Similarly, man is the Self in reality but he is not aware of it. It is only when the Guru tells him about it that he becomes conscious of the same. The person who tells him that he is breathing is equivalent to the Guru. He knows what breath is and he can identify and point

18 A Peep into Spirituality out the same in others. In the same way, the Guru knows the Self and can identify the same in others. He is also capable of making another realize the Self which is all- pervading. Although the other person points out the fact that one is breathing, one is prone to forget this fact the very next moment because what he has heard is only the fact or the state of affairs and not yet experienced the truth really. He has not developed awareness of breath. When he gains experience, he becomes conscious of his own breath throughout or he becomes aware of the breath constantly. Likewise, when the Guru tells the disciple that he is the Atman, the disciple though accepting the fact, nevertheless usually forgets this truth almost at once because he has only heard the fact or truth and not experienced it. When the disciple experiences it, he becomes aware of it every moment of his existence i.e., ‘he realizes’. Constant awareness of ones own Self is Self Realization. This becomes possible by following the Guru’s dictum in toto. It is for this purpose that God at the time of birth has endowed the human being with the mind, intellect, memory or ego. The mind should be used to absorb the Guru’s words. The results accruing from following these words should be imprinted in the memory. The intelligence should be used to pursue the Guru’s teachings and the ego has to be correlated to the Ultimate One. The experience of ‘Soham’ is Self Realization. In the waking state, you are conscious of the perishable world through the faculties which are perishable (sense organs and sense objects). The dream state also is perishable because the dream vanishes when you wake up along with what was dreamt of. The

19 A Peep into Spirituality state of deep sleep is also not permanent because you wake up all on a sudden to this world full of sense objects. But there is the ‘I’ which is a witness to all these states and which says, ‘I have seen this, I have dreamt of this, I had deep dreamless sleep.’ ‘I’ is something apart from your body, mind, ego and memory and should be able to equate it with the all-pervading ‘I’ - Soham. To know and experience this ‘I’ is Self Realization. Every being breathes. Breath is correlated with the all pervading force, the vibrating life energy in the body. When the prana departs from the body, when breathing stops, the body dies. In the dead body, consciousness is present because it is all-pervading but the prana has stopped vibrating. If the prana leaves the body through the Brahmarandhra, (from where it had entered when the foetus was in the womb) it merges in all-pervading consciousness and there is no more re-birth for such a person. But if the prana is weighed down by the grave qualities of the individual, it has to be born again. People think that pranayama is merely control of breath. Breathing is not pranayama but it is an aspect of pranayama. Through breathing we draw in oxygen which nourishes the tissues of the body resulting in metabolism (constructive building up) and catabolism (destruction). When the breath stops the tissues get no nourishment and the body dies. But the Guru teaches His disciple how to control the prana through his breathing (which is an aspect of prana), bringing both metabolism and catabolism to a stand still, but the body continues to live and ultimately functions once again. That is how in the olden days, rishis were able to live for thousands

20 A Peep into Spirituality of years even without breathing when they were merged in Samadhi. We hear of Sage Valmiki and Sage Chyavana, both of whom were so absorbed in this state of Samadhi that they were unaware of the fact that anthills had built up on their bodies. In that state, since there is no intake of oxygen, metabolism (i.e. assimilation stops and hence there is no catabolism (excretion) either. It is a state of suspended animation, so to say. The body does not die, the mind ceases to function and one becomes poised in consciousness. The Guru Himself has to hold the disciple’s nose and teach him how to control the breath. If one tries to do it by oneself, one will suffer. The hazards of doing pranayama by reading books are great. The books give a certain formula for how many counts one should inhale, for how many counts one should hold ones breath and again for how many counts one should exhale. When the disciple tries to do this, his attention is on the counting, rather than on the breath, as it should be during pranayama. This is because the disciple’s mind can concentrate on only one thing at a time. That is why the Guru should be there to count for the disciple. Sometimes the disciple makes a mistake while counting. He may hold his breath for too long. This leads to the build up of carbon dioxide tension in the body. The result is that the central nervous system gets affected and ones health is ruined. This is because one is going against the natural functioning of the body which results in disease. Often, ones mental balance is lost. Knowing this, one should seek the help of a qualified Guru and not of books. The Guru not only shows one how to control the all-pervading prana which is the spiritual energy but takes one to Consciousness

21 A Peep into Spirituality from where the energy emerges and into which it merges again. Consciousness when it vibrates is prana and when it remains static, it remains as Consciousness. How one can attain freedom from birth and death through pranayama was explained by Swami Vivekananda through an interesting story about a minister to a king who having got into the bad books of the monarch was left to perish in a high tower. The minister’s wife was very devoted to her husband. At the dead of night she came to the tower, called to her husband and asked him whether she could help him in any way. The minister told her to come the next night with a beetle, some honey, a long silken thread, pack thread, stout twine and a long rope. The wife arrived the next night with all these articles. The minister then told her to tie the silken thread firmly to the beetle, smear some honey on its horns and set it free on the wall of the tower facing upwards. As expected, the beetle crawled up to where the minister was awaiting it at the top of the tower, carrying with it the silken thread. The minister caught hold of the thread and then instructed his wife to securely tie the pack thread to the other end of the silken thread. She did as she was told and the minister pulled it up. Next the twine was knotted to the lower end of the pack thread and the minister pulled up that too. Finally, the wife attached the rope to the twine and the minister pulled it up. Then, with the help of the rope, the minister escaped from the tower.

22 A Peep into Spirituality Swami Vivekananda then explained that by regulated breathing (which is symbolized by the silken thread) one can get hold of the nerve currents (pack thread). Then with the help of these currents one can conquer ones thoughts (twine) and finally through pranayama (rope) one attains freedom. A perishable person can give only perishable love or in other words, only affection, which is so called because it affects both the giver and the receiver. This affection has to be sublimed into love. Then the Self shines forth. For this, the mind must be come bouyant, like an aeroplane which soars high, flying against the gravity of the earth. Gravity is however essential, for it keeps the earth in shape as one integrated whole. But for gravity, the earth would fly apart into small pieces. Similarly, polarization is also necessary. The negative and positive magnetic poles on the earth keep it from disintegrating. In the same way, God created bad things only to keep the balance of the world. When Shiva was to marry Parvathi, all the gods and most of the sages began to converge in the high Himalayas to witness the great event. Fearing that the world would tilt and lose its balance, Shiva sent Sage Agastya south of the Vindhya mountains to maintain the equilibrium of the world. At the time of Shiva’s wedding all the gods were in a joyous and flippant mood. They were not resorting to spiritual disciplines. They were only wanting to enjoy themselves. Agastya, on the other hand was the very embodiment of tapas. Such was the power of his austerities that he alone could balance this desire of enjoyment

23 A Peep into Spirituality of the devas. It was for this reason that he was sent the South by Shiva. When desire for enjoyment increases and converges at a certain place, there should be an equal and opposite force to keep the balance. This balancing factor was Agastya. Not only was he imbued with the power of tapas but he had with him the power of sacrifice too. Although he wanted to witness the divine wedding, he sacrificed this wish and obeyed the Lord and went South, so as to keep the balance of the earth. Thus by his sacrifice and tapas shakti, he could keep the equilibrium of enjoyment and austerity in this world. Shiva was pleased with him and later He came along with Parvati to the South to grant darshan to the Sage. Everybody knows and feels the ‘I’ within but equates it with the body. The Guru tells the shishya ‘You are That’ or makes him assert ‘I am Brahman’. The disciple must have faith in the Guru’s words and do as he says, then he can realize himself. Dropping all other notions and catching on to what the Guru tells him is Self Realization. The Self is shrouded in the five veils of ignorance. The outermost veil is the body which is perishable and which stinks once life departs from it. The body is born, grows, decays and dies. This creation, preservation and destruction is done by you only. Destruction has to precede creation. To get out of this vicious circle one has to realize the Self, which is unborn and which is independent of the body which it dons for a specified work. This is how the allpervading consciousness becomes the Guru in human form, for the benefit of the laity.

24 A Peep into Spirituality Many paths have been prescribed for realizing the Self. But at a time man can practice or avail of only one method, be it jnana yoga, bhakti yoga or karma yoga. One should also worship only one deity at a time. This concept of ‘one’ or ‘unity’ has to be realized. It is the foundation of Self Realization. Rather, knowing and experiencing that unity alone exists and is eternal is itself Self Realization.

25 A Peep into Spirituality TALKS WITH DEVOTEES We are presenting in this chapter some of the questions posed to Poojya Sree Bhagwan by devotees at various times. These queries refer to general spiritual topics as well as personal problems faced by devotees in their sadhana and also in their personal lives. The answers and explanations given by Poojya Sree Bhagawan will definitely encourage the readers and provide them with a fillip in their own spiritual practices. Question: Why can we not rise in spirituality inspite of having received the Mahavakya from Divine Mother? Answer: For an ordinary person receiving the Mahavakya from Divine Mother is only a physical experience. He hears the sound of Her voice when She alliterates the Mahavakya, feels Her touch and also senses the divine fragrance of Her presence. The effulgence he sees during initiation is only momentary. Spirituality is beyond worldly experience and physical aspects which man is accustomed to and is able to comprehend. For example, we can understand

26 A Peep into Spirituality chemistry because it is a physical science and we are always in tune with worldly things and not spiritual aspects. As long as we are in Divine Mother’s physical orbit, we have an experience of light etc. because She is Divine. So She can remove our worldliness and give us spiritual experience. In Her physical presence the entire atmosphere vibrates with spirituality. If one can maintain oneself in the same state, one can bring back to memory the experience one had at the time of initiation. Otherwise, when one is away from Her orbit, one gets back into the rut of worldliness. Before imparting initiation She purifies the disciple by absorbing his demerits and elevating him to Her own stature. If a real mumukshu goes to Her and receives initiation he will immediately go into samadhi. One has to mentally maintain the state you experienced during meditation. Mother gave initiation only to show you your real nature. But realisation of your true nature is your job. Her grace is there to help you but you have to follow Her instructions. If you do so, no matter what your state in spirituality is She will definitely take you to the highest peak in spirituality. Divine Mother showed you your real nature as effulgence during initiation. But you do not have the mumukshatwa or intense aspiration to attain freedom or release from every type of limitation. You think only of worldly things and co-relate everything with worldly objects, so much so your relationship is limited only to worldly objects. This naturally results in gaining an experience which is tinged with worldliness and not the real experience (which is spiritual). Worldly experience is always transient and always relative - good / bad, better / worse. But spiritual experience is

27 A Peep into Spirituality eternal and always the same because it is an experience of the ultimate unity. You should recall how Divine Mother initiated you - Her proximity, Her whisper, Her touch and the knowledge She imparted to you. But the memory of this has become quite hazy now over the years. If one is able to recapitulate the experience one had on the occasion of ones initiation by Divine Mother, one will be able to experience again the living presence and proximity of Divine Mother in all Her physical glory and will be soaring in the ‘daharakasha’ (expanse of ones own consciousness). This is real experience, which is blissful, resplendent and eternal. But because of tamas an ordinary person is incapable of recalling the occasion of his initiation at the hands of Divine Mother. Is there no way out of this? Yes, there is. The best thing to do is to chant aloud the mantra imparted by Divine Mother Charanam Sharanam Ramambike Charanam Sharanam Trayambake This mantra has to be chanted daily three thousand times during Brahmamuhurta. In order to appear for an examination how hard one has to study! One has to burn midnight oil and even get up early in the morning and study. During the examination, you have to compete with ordinary human beings. In spirituality however, you have to compete with your inner foes like greed, laziness, anger, jealousy etc. So you have to get up early in the morning and do the japa as instructed by the Guru. Rising in the wee hours of the

28 A Peep into Spirituality morning is distasteful for the sleep loving jiva. He invariably over sleeps and when he gets up he thinks to himself ‘I have got up late today so let me skip chanting the mantra’. If however he wakes earlier than required he thinks ‘there is still some more time so let me sleep’. Such an attitude does not behove him. He has to get up in time and chant the mantra aloud. Why do I insist that the mantra should be chanted aloud? Everything in creation has come from the primal sound ‘Om.’ Its vibrations have brought forth the five elements of which everything is created. The ‘Om’ when chanted has to come from the region of ‘Para’ upto ‘Pashyanti,’ then to ‘Madhyama’ and finally as the audible sound through ‘Vaikhari’. The object of chanting the mantra aloud is to put you in tune with this ‘Om’. While chanting the mantra, the ears have to be tuned to the sound of the same i.e. you should be able to hear what you chant. When this is done with concentration, your eyes will automatically close and as you chant, every word of the mantra will spontaneously jump up before your vision. This means that you will able to visualize every word of the mantra automatically as you chant it. If this does not happen, it means that you are not concentrating enough and that mind is wandering all the time or is dull and merged in sleep. As you keep chanting with the mind focussed on the mantra, your voice will slowly become softer and the ears will strain to catch what you are chanting. Finally, when the mind takes over the chanting of the mantra you will be in tune with the Pranava ‘Om’,

29 A Peep into Spirituality for the mental chanting will destroy all inner obstacles and reorient one’ s entire mental makeup. This is called ‘mental chanting’. What novices resort to is only thinking of the mantra and not really chanting it, which does not hasten ones evolution. When a novice tries to chant the mantra mentally, other thoughts intervene and thus the continuity of the chanting is broken and he ends up only by imagining that he has chanted the mantra. During chanting, it is necessary in the beginning to close ones eyes so that you are not distracted by outer objects. But as you progress, automatically the eyes will close and your mind will become one pointed. Until then, you are disturbed by sounds like the doorbell or clanging of vessels etc. From pancha bhutas you get into the tanmatra state, i.e. your thoughts become more and more subtle. This is how you can progress. As you progress, your mental capacity becomes calm. Finally this mental state too is negated and you get into ‘Om’. In that state the ‘I’ is negated, the intellect is illumined, the mind becomes effulgent and the chitta is exhausted of all its impressions. Only the seeds of impressions remain and you become one with the ‘Om’. This is ‘Samprajnata Samadhi’, in which you merge in the object of your meditation which is tangible. Higher than this is ‘Asamprajnata Samadhi’, wherein you merge in the intangible Absolute. Question: What to do when we feel sleepy during japa? Answer: Divine Mother had advised that if you feel sleepy you should splash cold water on your face. She Herself resorted to this

30 A Peep into Spirituality during the period of Her sadhana. Actually, She is the ever wakeful Consciousness and sleep can never overtake Her. Yet, as a sadhaka She showed how one should overcome sleep. Question: Why was Divine Mother born on March 4th? Answer: Because She wanted all Her children to ‘March forth’ both in the mundane and the spiritual fields. To quote Divine Mother’s words, “Do not hesitate, do not fall back, do not even look behind, but march on and on towards the goal. One day or other this body will fall and be one with the dust out of which it is born ; then, why not use it to the best possible task, to the service of God and man, to seek the truth of existence, to know and realize who you are.” This can be attained through perseverence and self efforts. ‘God helps those who help themselves’ is the English axiom. There was once a cartman who used to ply his cart between villages and thus make a living. He had a son, a small boy, who would accompany him often. Being of a religious temperament, the cartman inculcated in his son faith in God and taught him various hymns and prayers of various deities. In course of time, the cartman died and it fell upon his son to ply the cart. One day, the cart got stuck in the mud and the son, who had now grown into a young man, was unable to take it out just by goading the bullocks, as is usually done. In this predicament, he got out of the cart and sitting under a tree, began to pray to various deities for help. But nothing happened. Finally, he began to invoke Hanuman, the god of strength, to come and extricate his cart from

31 A Peep into Spirituality the mire. Some time passed and just as the young man was losing hope, an old man a Rama bhakta appeared. He advised the cartman to chant the all powerful Name of Rama and put his shoulder to the wheel and push the cart, for, ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ The young cartman did as advised and very soon the cart was out of the mud. In the meantime, the old man had mysteriously disappeared. This old Rama bhakta was evidently Hanuman himself for it was his name the boy was chanting. But Hanuman wanted to project the greatness of the name of his deity Rama and did not want to supercede Him. That is why he told the cartman to chant Rama’s name and put in efforts to free the cart. The human being is always in a tamasic state which is characterised by lethargy, sleep and inadvertence. He has to shake himself out of this state and become more active (rajasic state). Then he can hope to achieve something in spirituality or mundane life. Question: Why does one feel sleepy during chanting of the mantra or meditation ? Answer: One feels sleepy because the mind becomes dull, disinterested and fatigued when it has nothing which can make it lively or exciting or arouse its interest when everything becomes monotonous, rigmarolic and boring. The mind is usually bored with mostly one type of information continuously. So it becomes dull and uninterested and fatigued and drowsy, not knowing what else do to keep itself active and awake.

32 A Peep into Spirituality At this stage when something else is offered to the mind it does not feel sleepy. People watch films late into the night without sleep. This is because the scenes keep changing and the mind does not get bored. In spirituality too if you keep on doing only one type of sadhana continuously for long periods e.g. singing bhajans or only doing japa, the mind gets bored for a newcomer. So the Guru gives a variety of sadhanas to the disciple to be practised. The novelty of the sadhanas does not force the mind onto the verge of boredom. If a student gets bored of studying only one subject, Geography, for instance, he should study History for some time, then English and then Maths. Then when he comes back to studying Geography, he will be interested in it once again. Physical tiredness alone is not the reason for sleep. It is essentially the mind which makes you want to sleep. Prisoners who are to be executed do not sleep for days together. They hope against hope to escape from prison or that the President will grant them amnesty. The mind’s nature is tamasic and in this state, in order to escape the monotony, boredom, drudgery and fatigue the only way is to retreat into sleep which is its original nature i.e. tamas. If the mind is not interested even when some other aspect of the japa is presented to it, it will not keep awake. So the important thing is to develop love for the mantra, for where there is love there one’s interest is awakened and sustained throughout. Hence one has to develop love for the mantra. Where there is love every moment is full of

33 A Peep into Spirituality expectation and hope. Love is God and vice versa - A person who loves God does not become fatigued. His mind does not get bored. Initially the sadhaka has no love. But he chants the mantra only because the Guru has told him to do so. Slowly, when his love for the Guru increases, he begins to take more interest in the chanting. Then gradually, he develops a taste for the mantra. All his boredom vanishes. He finds a new meaning in the mantra and experiences zeal and enthusiasm while chanting it. Whenever the mind feels drowsy, he remembers what the Guru has told him so lovingly and shakes himself out of that state. After some time, when the mind again feels drowsy, he again recalls the words of the Guru. In this way he does the japa for the Guru’s sake, to begin with. Thus, the mind can be trained to conquer sleep. In order to achieve something. one has to sacrifice what one likes most. Sleep is dear to everyone. When one feels sleepy, one does not want anything else, one just wants to sleep. By giving up sleep and doing japa during the early hours of the morning one can earn Divine Mother’s grace. But now a days, sadhakas want results without putting in any efforts. What is required is faith and mumukshatwa (ardent desire). This can be developed by anyone because basically desire is there in everyone. It has to be given the right direction. In order to get over desires for worldly objects, either you have to enjoy all your desires so that nothing is left to enjoy as is the common notion

34 A Peep into Spirituality (which is not tenable) or you have to develop dispassion (vairagya) the correct attitude. To begin with, renunciation has to be developed. But in renunciation, the mind is agitated. Renunciation is a negative attitude, whereas dispassion is a positive attitude of non attachment. In renunciation one has to repeatedly and consciously reject the desire for the object of attraction. But in dispassion the desire itself is absent. Even if the object is placed within easy reach, one does not want it. Such dispassion can be attained only through the Guru’s grace. Question: What is meant by mind over matter? Answer: The mind of even an ordinary human being is already concentrated. But it can concentrate only on one thing at a time. That is how now a days even operations can be performed by doctors without anaesthesia and the patient feels no pain because. He has been taught to focus the mind on something else. This proves that the mind can achieve anything. Actually, the entire creation has been brought forth by the mind. You can divert the mind anywhere you like. It requires strength, indomitable will and guts to do so. The ancient rishis were adepts in this. That is how, through sheer mental power, Sage Valmiki created Kusa as a twin of Lava (Sita’s son). We also read how Sage Vishwamitra could create a new heaven for King Trishanku.

35 A Peep into Spirituality At present, the mind of an ordinary person is spread over many external objects. It has to be foregathered and focussed on the Supreme. First the externalized faculties have to be internalized. The mind is fickle like a deer. When it is controlled, one can control everything else. The externalized faculties make one grave. If one can get over this gravity the mind becomes buoyant and then one can experience what the Turya state is. Man has been made to evolve relentlessly but he does not want to do it. When he sits for meditation, as long as he thinks ‘I am meditating’ or ‘I want to concentrate’, he is not really meditating. Meditation is spontaneous and voluntary. One cannot force oneself to meditate. People say that one should blanken ones mind ín order to meditate successfully. If you can blanken the mind, you have achieved everything and everything becomes easy! All efforts are there only to blanken the mind. But how to do this, is the problem. The mind cannot meditate on a nameless and formless entity initially. So one has to give it a concrete object to meditate upon, like the form of God or the Guru. How easily the mind is attracted by a beautiful object! When the mind is attracted, the intellect starts reasoning over it. Then the ego becomes convinced about its beauty. The experience which one gets out of this process is tucked away as a memory. This memory pops up suddenly and reminds one of the object one has seen. As long as the impression of the object remains in the memory, one is incapable of forgetting it. (For details refer to Death Unto Immortality, Pg 183)

36 A Peep into Spirituality Question: What is Self Realization? Answer: It is becoming aware of your true Self. You are breathing all twenty four hours of the day, but you are doing it unconsciously. You are not aware of your breathing until it is pointed out to you. Once you become aware of it, you can control it. Breathing is one aspect of Prana. This Prana is the life energy which pervades not only your body but all creation. In fact, everything that is created is an aspect of Prana. Through control of breath the Guru teaches you to become aware of this Prana. Through the Guru’s grace, when you become aware of the Prana you realize that your Prana is all-pervading and by controlling the Prana, you can control all created objects, Finally, you know Prana is only an aspect of yours. (For details refer to earlier pages of this booklet). Question: Why does a doubt come when Guru tells something? Answer: The mind is the doubting element. It keeps on questioning. Man is composed of mind, intellect, memory and egoism. It is the personalised ‘I’ or the egoism which makes you think that you are separate from the Guru. The Guru also has the mind, intellect, memory and egoism. Actually, if the disciple surrenders completely to the Guru, the egoism will not assert itself. In order to surrender, one must have love for the Guru. Then one accepts everything He tells as the truth. It is a natural human tendency to believe the person whom we love. So, by developing love for the Guru, the disciple has faith in His words, accepts them as the truth and contemplates on them. His mind becomes one with the Guru’s mind, his intellect merges with the Guru’s intellect and he is able to grasp

37 A Peep into Spirituality the significance of what the Guru tells. This happens because the Guru’s mind and intellect are one with Universal mind and intellect. The disciple’s mind and intellect are not separate from this Universal mind and intellect. So when the disciple surrenders to the Guru, his limited ‘I’ vanishes and he becomes one with the Guru in thought. When the disciple’s mind and intellect become merged in the Guru’s mind and intellect, he becomes one with the Supreme One, Who has come in the form of a Guru for his uplift. He has no doubts left. His questions and doubts, if any, are solved by contemplating on the Guru’s words. Human life is too short even to absorb what the Guru says so why waste time in doubting his words? Just accept them as the truth. Absorb whatever He says and then think over it deeply. In the olden days, children were taught to do so during the Gurukulavasa period and hence they could attain knowledge. The young minds of the children would accept and absorb anything that the Guru told them and thus they could easily reach the spiritual goal of life under the Guru’s tutelage. Question: What is mukti and moksha? Answer: Mukti and Moksha are quite different although the common notion is that they are the same. The difference can be explained by the Guru. When a person gets Moksha, he merges in Brahmadeva’s mind and remains there enjoying the fruits of his good actions until his punya is exhausted. Then he has to be born again on earth. It is just like going to a hill station and enjoying oneself. But once ones funds are exhausted, one has to come back home. Moksha is a state obtained after death.

38 A Peep into Spirituality On the other hand, Mukti is final liberation from the miseries of birth and death even when he walks on Earth. He who attains Mukti does not have to be reborn unless God wants him to manifest for the specific purpose of redeeming humanity. The conduct of a mukta purusha is outwardly the same as a satwic person; actions being calm and no desire for rewards. He casts away both good and evil, gets rid of selfishness and is incapable of doing evil. He is released from the unrest of the world. He is a challenge to the corrupting powers and cynical compromise of the authoritarian. His life is a witness to the validity of the ultimate values from which other social values are derived. He has no selfish aims of personal hopes. He is not disturbed by outward things. He accepts everything without attachment or repulsion. He covets nothing, is jealous of none. He has no desires and makes no demands. The difference between Mukti and Moksha can be explained by the following allegory. While cutting down a tree, if one only chops off the branches, the tree will continue to grow. But if one completely uproots it, it will never grow again. Moksha is like chopping off the branches but Mukti is akin to uprooting the tree. Moksha is a state and mukti is liberation. (For further details refer to ‘Kaivalya’ by the author, Pg 97) According to Divine Mother, Mukti again is of two typesJivanmukti and Videhamukti. To quote Divine Mother:-

39 A Peep into Spirituality “These two classifications of freedom, known as freedom in embodiment, Jivanmukti, and freedom from embodiment, Videhamukti, are mentioned from the standpoint of the body for the sake of instructing those whose identification is always with the body. For the Soul that has transcended the limitations of the body and the ego, which are but manifestations of Maya, there is in fact neither jivanmukti nor videhamukti, for it is eternally free. “Freedom, either in embodiment or from embodiment, has meaning only for one who is bound ; the liberated Soul realises that he was never under any state of bondage. He realises the illusoriness of illusion itself. Awakening into the spontaneity of Self is freedom. “Mukti, freedom, strictly speaking, is not an attainment, it is the eternal nature of Atman. The conceptions of a bondage and a freedom from bondage, are of and for the mind and not for the ever- free Self. “A king enjoys his royal glory only when there is a kingdom to rule and when there are subjects under him, or depending on him. When the kingdom and all subjects perish, how can one remain a king? Similarly, you should experience the supreme freedom, while living in the body. The Soul is the king. The body, the senses, the mind, intellect and ego and the objects of senses constitute the subjects. When all these are resolved in the state of Videhamukti, how can you be a king? When all these subjects live, you should shine as their king, as their master, remaining in their midst. So let jivanmukti be your ideal.” (Shanti Deepam Vol. 1 Pg. l38).

40 A Peep into Spirituality Question: Why is a Guru required when so much spiritual literature exists which can guide the sadhaka? Answer: The scriptures on spiritual literature are only pointers to the Reality. They are just like signposts on a road, indicating in which direction the sadhaka has to proceed. But the Guru is like a guide who has Himself traversed the path indicated by the scriptures and leads the sadhaka along the same path safely. Having Himself traversed the path, He knows all the obstacles and pitfalls on the way and hence teaches the sadhaka how to overcome them. If you are visiting the place for the first time and have to go to the house of your friend there, you can of course procure a map of the city and try to find your way to the destination. But how much easier and pleasant it would be if your friend himself arrived at the station to pick you up and take you home! In the same way, you can try to reach the goal by reading the scriptures but that is difficult for the field of spirituality is new to you. But if you have a Guru who is residing in the kingdom of spirituality, so to say, He takes you by the hand right upto the goal. Thus, by following a Guru one reaches the goal much faster. Divine Mother used to say that the scriptures are like a forest of medicinal herbs. But which herb can cure your disease is known only to an expert physician. The Guru is the physician Who culls the knowledge of the scriptures and gives it to the disciple to cure his ‘bhavaroga’. Again, the scriptures depict the subtle truths in simple language. But to interpret the same, is given only to a Guru.

41 A Peep into Spirituality Once there lived a businessman who was very pious and generous. In his lifetime he helped a number of people and also built a temple for the diety of the village in which he lived. After a few years, as he lay on his deathbed, he called his sons and told them to look after the business after him. He also told them that he had hidden a vast treasure to be used when times were hard. The location of the treasure was to be found in his old account books. After their father’s death the sons began to look after the business which prospered. Thus years passed and then Laxmi Devi turned her back on them. They incurred huge losses in their business and things came to such a state that they had hardly enough to feed their families. At that time they remembered the father’s words about a hidden treasure. They brought out all the old, musty account books and began to read each page carefully. Finally, after much searching, they found a cryptic message in the corner of the page which stated that they should dig the ‘kalasha’, steeple of the temple he had built at a particular time on a particular day of a certain lunar month. The sons were jubilant, for this day which was indicated was close at hand. They waited impatiently for the day to dawn and hurried to the temple with pickaxes, hammers and spades to demolish the steeple. They even put a scaffolding so that as soon as the appointed hour arrived they could begin demolishing the kalasha and get the treasure. The villagers were aghast at this and began to criticize the sons for wanting to demolish the temple so lovingly built by their father.

42 A Peep into Spirituality Just then, a friend of the father was passing by and was shocked at what he saw and heard. He called the sons of his friend and demanded an explanation. The sons told him about the message in the accounts books. The friend asked to see the message himself and as he read it, a smile spread over his face. He told the sons to wait for the appointed time and that he would then show them where the treasure was. At the exact time indicated the friend looked at where the shadow of the kalasha fell on the ground and told the sons to dig there. Just as he had expected, they unearthed the treasure there! How did the friend know that the treasure was hidden in the ground and not in the kalasha? He understood that the word ‘dig’ meant that the treasure was located somewhere in the ground and that ‘kalasha’ indicated that the right spot was where the shadow of the kalasha fell on the ground. This hidden meaning had escaped the sons. In the same way, people read the scriptures but fail to understand the esoteric meaning of what has been depicted therein. It is only the Guru Who can interpret and explain these things correctly. To take an example from the scriptures, the real meaning of the ‘rasakrida’ which the Lord played with the gopis has not been understood properly by the laity. The Lord signifies the Paramatman amd the gopis are the jivas. In the ‘rasakrida,’ we are told that the gopis were so absorbed in Krishna that they were oblivious of each other’s presence. When the jiva merges in the Parmatman, it does not even feel the presence of any others.

43 A Peep into Spirituality Says Divine Mother “Sadguru reveals the heart of the scriptures, the science of Brahma vidya and the disciplines of Yoga. “Through silence, words and ideal conduct, Guru instructs and inspires the disciple. But the disciple should have yearning for release. He should enquire into the nature of bondage. He should observe nishtha in the practice of disciplines. He should tread the path of virtue “The Guru enlightens you on the doctrine of reflection, ‘bimba-pratibimba tattwa’. He makes you aware of your intrinsic relation with God. He awakes you to the consciousness of the nondual Reality. “The oil and wick alone are not sufficient for a lamp to glow. The lamp should be lighted with a flame. When the flame is brought into contact with the wick, the latter catches fire and the two flames glow brightly as a single flame. Analogous to this is the principle of initiation. ‘Upadesha Diksha’. Wick is the buddhi, the external flame is the Guruvakya. When this wick of buddhi is placed in contact with the flame of the Guruvakya, the former glows with spiritual illumination. “Guru bears the burden of leading you to the goal. But you should fulfil the dharma of ideal discipleship. Have faith in the Guru’s words. Surrender completely. Rejoice in virtue. Walk in the light of Guru’s instruction and the inner path will become radiant, cleared of all obstacles, smooth, uniformly sweet and easy to tread. What a lovely path it is! How blissful, how exhilarating,

44 A Peep into Spirituality how inspiring, is the path that opens up when you submit to Guru’s guidance! “Merge your will in Guru’s Will. Open your heart to the Guru. Confess your mistakes and misdeeds without reservation Thereby, your heart will become pure; sublime sentiments will dawn; devotion will spring up and you will feel the rapture of communion with your own higher self.” (Shanti Deepam, Vol. 9, No.1.,Message.) Again Divine Mother explains, “Acharya Devo Bhava”, may your spiritual preceptor be God unto you, is a Vedic commandment. “The personality of the Guru eludes the understanding of the deluded minds. The Guru, absorbed in Brahman, shines verily as the formless Truth Itself. “The term ‘Sadguru’ is itself suggestive of the nature and function of the Guru. ‘Sat’ means Brahman, ‘Gu’ signifies avidya, ignorance of ones true nature. ‘Ru’ signifies spiritual illumination, jnana. He who becomes one with Sadvastu, the Brahman who destroys the disciple’s ignorance by awakening jnana that is dormant in him, is the Sadguru. He is the Teacher, the leader, the inspirer, the exemplar in spiritual life, the revealer of the hidden path, the saviour of the souls, all in one. “The Realised Guru and the Witness within, are one and the self-same Reality. But unless you propitiate the Guru through devotion and pure conduct, the Witness will not reveal Himself to you. This is the law.

45 A Peep into Spirituality “Rare indeed is the advent of the Sadguru. He does not advertise Himself. He does not invite seekers. He does not seek favours from society, king or God. He is desirelessness personified. Even if one meets a sage, there is no guarantee that he will be recognised. The profundity of the sage’s wisdom is hidden behind his mystifying simplicity. “Implicitly obey your Guru. Expose yourselves to Him. Confess to Him your mental states, your weaknesses, your mistakes and your misdeeds. Guru is the protecting power. Fear not. Surrender to the Guru is the easiest, the safest, the quickest means to Realization.” (Santi Dipam, Volume 13, No. 1, Message) Question: Is the Guru partial in imparting knowledge to His disciples? Answer: The disciple should approach the Guru for knowledge. Only then does the Guru impart the secrets of spirituality to him. When one is thirsty, one asks for water. Similarly, when one thirsts for knowledge, the Guru imparts it to the shishya. Hayagriva was Sage Agastya’s Guru, but He did not reveal to Agastya the holy Lalitha Sahasranama although the sage’s wife, Lopamudra was an adept in it. Finally, when Agastya asked Hayagriva for the same, He was only too willing to impart it to his deserving disciple. Spiritual knowledge is to be given only to one who thirsts for it. Hayagriva knew that Agastya was fit to receive this Sahasranama and he was only waiting for Agastya to ask him. Knowledge is not to be given to all and sundry. It is to be given to a

46 A Peep into Spirituality worthy person who thirsts for it. Knowledge is not to be given to one who is sinful or faithless or a Gurudrohi. Agastya was a fit vessel to receive the knowledge of Lalitha Sahasranama but until he asked for it, Hayagriva could not give it to him. When he did ask, Hayagriva was only too happy to oblige. The shishya should approach the Guru often and get his doubts cleared. The visit to the Guru should not be confined merely to Gurupoormima. Poornima is fullness. Every time the disciple goes to the Guru, he becomes full spiritually. The Guru loves the shishya and wants to transform him into Himself by pouring Himself into the disciple, so to speak, out of extreme love for the disciple. Regarding the duty of the disciple Divine Mother says, “ To be earnest in quest, to be devoted to the Guru, to be loyal to Guru’s teaching, to have shraddha in the Guruvakya, to submit and surrender completely to the Guru and tread the path as prescribed by the Guru: this is the duty of a disciple.” (Shanti Deepam Vol .9, Pg 93) At first, the Guru is a stranger to the disciple. As the disciple goes often to meet Him, he feels that the Guru loves him. Then when an intimacy develops between them the disciple knows that the Guru loves him. He too begins to love the Guru and finally surrenders to Him. This is akin to Self Realization. But to reach the Highest, the disciple has to give back to the Guru the knowledge he has obtained from Him. For, as long as the sense of possession persists, duality exists. (More details in ‘Death Unto Immortality’, Pg l51)

47 A Peep into Spirituality Question: Is there such a thing as heaven or hell? Answer: Heaven and hell are only mental creations. Your body goes through heaven or hell here, on earth itself. Because you attach yourself to the body, you suffer the pangs of hell or the enjoyments of heavan according to your karma. Question : What is the form of God? Answer: God is perfection He does not have any particular form. He exists as you, as her, as him etc. What form can you give Him? That is why He is called formless. One of the forms of God is Sree Rama, The meaning of the word Rama is one who makes you happy or full - ‘Ramayatay Ramah’. So any entity which can gjve you happiness and make you perfect is Rama, ‘Rama’, thus, is not only the son of Dasharatha, Then, Rama is said to be carrying the bow called ‘Kodanda’. Kodanda signifies the universal dharma through which He establishes dharma, So an entity which establishes dharma through a dharmic life is ‘Kodanda dhari’ Therefore, God cannot be confined to any form. He is pure energy. He can manifest as a flash or a roar or anything else. But whatever be the form of manifestation, the quantum remains the same. It is always full. It expresses itself in different forms. That is why God is referred to as ‘poornam’. The Upanishadic statement “Poornamada poornam idam purnaat purnam-udacchatay Poornasya poornamaadaaya poornamevaava-shishyatay”

48 A Peep into Spirituality explains this very well. It means, “This is whole / full, that is full. When the full is taken from the full, what remains is also full.” (For details on ‘Poornam’ see elsewhere in this booklet) Question: Is God like the colour of the flame of a deepam? Answer: He is like the colour of the flame, effulgent. When the Guru initiates you He shows you the effulgent nature, of your Atman (Self). To begin with you see this effulgence within yourself. The scriptures say that the Atman is of the size of ones thumb ‘angustha matra purusham’. As one evolves spiritually, one sees that one is in the effulgence - so vast does it become and finally merges in the effulgence. During initiation the Guru shows the disciple the effulgence within himself, but the effulgence fades after some time because man is born in tamas or otherwise, he would be a manifestation of God. The manifestations are full of Shuddha Satwa. Divine Mother has no prarabdha. Her body contains only the Motherly principle. In the olden days, the bodiless voice of God was heard by the devotees. But in the present age, nobody will believe in a mere voice. That is why God has to appear in a form. Thus, different forms of God have appeared from time to time. Every individual has an affinity to a certain form of God. As he begins to love a particular divine form more and more, that form slowly becomes translucent and finally, transparent and then the devotee realizes the real form and nature of God which is effulgence.

49 A Peep into Spirituality Question: Why do famines, earthquakes etc. happen? Answer: Because of collective sins. But even if there is one good person in that area, the famine etc. will vanish. Once upon a time there was a king, who was noble and just and a lover of his subjects. Peace and prosperity reigned in his kingdom. But unfortunately, once there was a big famine which continued for a number of years as a result of which all the subjects were suffering greatly. The king consulted some sages to find out how this situation could be remedied. The wise men advised him that the only solution was to offer a ‘Naramedha yaga’. That is a sacrifice in which a human being is offered as oblation. This was the only way to bring down rain they said. They also cautioned that the human victim should offer himself willingly for only then would the yaga bear fruit. The king called an assembly of all the citizens and informed them of his intention to perform this yaga for the welfare of the kingdom. He appealed for a willing human victim. But who would be willing to forfeit his life for the welfare of others! There was absolute silence in the great assembly as no one offered to sacrifice himself. The king was in despair. Just then a small boy of about twelve stood up and loudly declared that he was willing to offer himself into the sacrificial fire for the welfare of his brethren. The king was moved to tears to see the selfless spirit of this young lad. The day of the sacrifice dawned. The rituals began. At the appropriate time this young boy was brought to the yajna kunda dressed in special robes The vast congregation watched with bated breath as he joined his hands and prayed to Lord Indra to send

50 A Peep into Spirituality down the life gjving rain in exchange for his life. Then with utmost composure the boy leapt into the flames. At that moment, a miracle occurred. Lord Indra emerged from the fire bringing the boy along with him. He praised his courage and selflessness and declared that in a place where such a selfless person dwells there would never be any drought or famine. At his words dark clouds gathered in the sky and the rain came down in torrents Thus by his sacrificing nature the boy was able to bring down rain and save the lives of all the inhabitants of the kingdom. Question: How to control the mind? Answer: According to Divine Mother, the mind is a bundle of thoughts arising out of the agitation of the chitta (memory). The impressions in the chitta are your own experiences; these are the reactions of your actions through thought, word and deed. So the reactions in your mind are of your own making. The Universal mind of which your mind is a fragment, is thus tainted by your tamasic actions and rajasic attitude and it is very difficult for you to control your mind. However, the mind could be controlled by the grace of the Guru and by following His loving instructions meticulously. The Guru also gives you the power (if you follow His behests) to think positively and constructively. Thus when the mind is filled with good and positive thoughts the onrush of bad and destructive thoughts is stemmed and ultimately the mind becomes sattwic i.e good natured.

51 A Peep into Spirituality Under these circumstances, since it is incapable of emanating any unproductive and negative thoughts, it looks upto you for guidance. Thus the mind could be got under your control. The chitta also, since it cannot find an outlet for its outpouring of the accumulated tendencies slowly gets dried up. When the chitta becomes devoid of anything that is bad or unproductive, it slowly gets illumined and ultimately chitta becomes Chaitanya. How does this happen? The mind is full of good thoughts the reactions of which again come into the chitta. These reactions are good so the chitta is illumined. Just as the Supreme One has the mind, buddhi, chitta and ahankara but is still unattached to them, so also when your chitta becomes Chaitanya you too are unattached to your mind, intellect, memory and ego thus bringing out your relation with the Supreme. (For details about the mind refer to “ Death Unto Immortality”, Pg 183) Question: How can one know God? Answer: The literature, great minds and great souls concur that God is all-pervading, self-existant, effulgence, knowledge and bliss. But most of these are beyond sense perceptions. Even as there is an origin for everything that is existing in this universe, so also there is an origin for the existence of the universe. But since this is beyond the capacity of the senses and sense organs one has to follow with utmost faith the instructions of a Guru Who has realised the Immensity that is known as God which He says is possible only through untainted effulgent knowledge. Guru is none

52 A Peep into Spirituality other than the personification of this Almighty Supreme Immensity or God in a human form, speaking our language and moving amidst us for our own uplift from this quagmire of worldly tendencies which are always tying us down to this world. By following His directions, we get over our base tendencies of mind and memory, learn how to negate our ego through discrimination by our intellect. When this is achieved, all the four get sublimed and reach the state of Guru’s level, when we are able to comprehend what God is and also perceive Him in everything that exists. Although God appears to us in human form as the Guru in order to guide us towards Himself, He is beyond form and beyond name. Thus God is an Entity which strives to bring back to Its fold the self alienated individual (known as the jivatman) by giving him His own knowledge in the form of a visible, personalised form known as Guru. The Guru Himself is the visible God. A saying of Saint Kabir is relevant here: Guru Gobind do khaday kakay lagu paaya Balahaari Guru apana Gobind diyo bataaya meaning “When Guru and God are standing together whose Feet should I touch first? (Naturally the Guru’s because) my Guru is so powerful that he has shown me God.” Question: Can a married person attain Realization? Answer: Yes, most certainly. He / she too can observe Brahmacharya. Every night when a person goes to sleep, he becomes dead to the world, so to say. So when he awakes the next day, it is as though he has got a new birth. So irrespective of his previous day (birth), he

53 A Peep into Spirituality can observe brahmacharya in this new birth and strive for spiritual attainment. When one sleeps only the Self (I) is there. One should never think that ones wife is a hindrance in spirituality. She is there to help one both in worldly and spiritual pursuits. When one evolves a little, one will begin to look upon ones wife as a companion and not as a wife. Then one will start loving her in the real sense. This is the state of a Vanaprastha. Finally, one reaches the state of Sanyasa. One knows what is love and who is the beloved wherein one sees oneself in the wife. This can be attained even in Grihasthashram. The wife is there only to guide and help one. This one realizes when one rises in spirituality. The wife’s thought is only about ones improvement. She fuses herself with the husband. Spirituality is not difficult for one who has a dependable wife. The Guru never tells one to leave the wife. Question: Does anxiety exist or is it imaginary? Answer: It is only imaginary. It does not exist as such. It is an extrapolation based on certain past events which have given you uneasy and anxious moments. Similarly there are some moments in ones life which give one happiness. Both happiness and anxiety depend on ones mental make up, for, what may make one happy may cause anxiety to another.

54 A Peep into Spirituality One should understand that whatever takes place is because of the wish and will of the Supreme. Everything has to happen. according to Him. Man is a feeble and fragile creature although he has evolved upto the human level and once he realises this state of his, he will surrender himself willingly before the might of the Supreme and will understand that he is only a pawn in this great game of existence and whatever takes place is because of the wish and will of the Almighty Supreme. When he knows that he has no part in bringing about an action or a reaction, he will be calm and collected and he will not be mentally agitated also. Fear and anxiety will not haunt him. His mind will be calm. Even under adverse circumstances, he will maintain mental equipoise and will carry on with his work totally undisturbed, remaining completely detached. But the usual tendency of a human being is to extrapolate his past into the future, forgetting the present altogether. One should know that that the past has already become beyond his control and the future is not in his hands. Also, he may project so many things about it in his mind as a solution for his past. So, both these aspects are beyond his power so to say. Yet he is worried about his past and anxious about his future, both in the present. A wise one will certainly muse over this. So the best thing would be never to get agitated over the past and never to get excited over the future also and try to go about calmly and with collected composure of all the faculties-mind, memory, intellect and ego. This is possible only through the guidance

55 A Peep into Spirituality of a Guru Who assures one that he is beyond past, present and future also. Question: How to stabilize the mind? Answer: Fill the mind and chitta with thoughts of the Guru and God, then the mind will become steady and the chitta will exhaust itself. If you keep ruminating over the past, you will be ruined. Actually, the past does not exist, so if you hold on to it, you will fall. Just think of the present and depend upon your Guru. He will lead you to the goal, just as Krishna charioteered Arjuna to victory. Arjuna represents the jiva and Lord Krishna, the Guru. The body is the chariot and the anthakarana (mind, intellect, memory and ego) represents the horses of the chariot. Discrimination is the reins. Whatever the Guru does is for ones own good. So think of the Guru all through. When you think of Him all through, your mind is also filled with the Guru and ultimately you become the Guru Himself, the mind becomes serene, poised in stability and becomes one with the Guru. Question: How to get rid of the ego? Answer: In order to get rid of the egoism you must first of all know what the ego is. The ego is the sense of ‘I’ or exaggerated individualism which makes one feel that one is separate from others. This ego is actually an epitomy of the Universal ‘I’ or ‘Soham’ of the Supreme Being which has been confined and attached to the body. Because of this attachment, the ego considers itself as separate from other creatures. On the other hand, the Universal ‘I’ encompasses the entire creation.

56 A Peep into Spirituality The ego not merely separates one from others but also from God, making one feel that one is a puny mortal instead of the allpervading, Eternal One. In other words, when the Universal ‘I’ gets itself attached to and entrapped in a body, with a mind, intellect and memory, because of Maya, it forgets its real nature and considers itself as an individual having his own likes and dislikes, opinions and preferences. In fact the ego is the very basis of ones personality. This ego is the root cause of all misery for it gives rise to vanity, jealousy, anger, greed, malice, infatuation etc. It poses as the doer of actions and hence has to be born repeatedly to bear the consequences of those actions. Thus, the ego has to be got rid of. One way to achieve this is to starve the ego. The ego thrives on praise. If praise is not forthcoming from others, the ego shamelessly blows its own trumpet, so to say. It boasts of it’s own achievements and expects others to laud its efforts and accomplishments. When the ego is starved of praise, it initially tries to assert itself to gain the attention of others. It even rebels. But when it knows that its tantrums are being ignored, it finally calms down. But this is a negative method. A more positive way of getting rid of the ego is to develop humility. This comes to one naturally when one is in the presence of one who is more powerful or stronger than oneself. How humble an employee is before his boss! Similarly, one shọuld know the magnitude and might of God/Guru and ones own smallness and helplessnesss. This will make one humble in His presence. Also, when one realises that God/Guru is always watching ones thoughts, words and actions and that He is more powerful than one is, one will automatically become humble.

57 A Peep into Spirituality Yet another way of getting rid of the ego is by expanding it so much that instead of ‘aham’ it becomes ‘Soham.’ For this one has to be initiated by a Guru into the secret of ones own real nature. Only then can one equate ones small ‘I’ to ‘Soham’. In the final stages of this sadhana, ‘aham’ just merges in God and what remains is ‘Soham.’ For a bhakta, humility comes naturally for he considers himself as the servant of the Lord. Moreover, in the onrush of love for the deity, the ego gets washed away merging the bhakta in the Bhagwan. He is so full of the Lord that there is no place for a separate assertive ‘I’ in him . He has only a so called harmless ego - like a serpent whose fangs have been removed. This ‘ego’ is ego only in name. It is actually an instrument in God’s hands. The memory is a storehouse of impressions. It is a great hindrance. You should be devoid of memory, i.e., the memory should be exhausted of its impressions. The mind should stop. Actually the mind does not exist as such. The continuous stream of thoughts and emotions arising from the chitta (memory) is the mind. This stream should stop. This can happen only when the memory empties itself of the impressions. When the memory and the mind vanish, the jiva knows that God dwells in the intellect. The cave of the intellect is the heart. Divine Mother is in the heart. She guides the jiva from there. You should have the conviction that Divine Mother is everywhere. Some people think, “What will happen if I do not go to the temple?”. Mother is not confined to the temple. You can go to the temple but there you should tune yourself

58 A Peep into Spirituality to the holy vibrations (which have been set up by the pure and evolved souls who visit the temple) whereby you can go nearer to Divine Mother. Five sheaths separate the jiva from Divine Mother Who is in his heart. Each kosha is subtler than its preceeding one. These veils have to be tom asunder, not one by one, but all together Then the jiva merges with Divine Mother. The best way to do this is to keep chanting the Sharąna Mantra, come what may. Thoughts arise because of the samskaras in the chitta. These samskaras cannot be got rid of merely through Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga is carrying on ones work without expecting anything in return. But even the thought that , ‘I am not expecting anything’, should not be there. Question: When someone criticizes me, I feel bad. I chant the mantra and calm down but the thought recurs after some time. Why is it so? Answer: That is because the event is in your memory, so chant the mantra and try to eliminate it from the memory. Or think that Divine Mother is there in your critic and She is advising you, then you will have no hatred towards him / her. When I was in college one of the Professors who was a Christian began to criticize Lord Krishna for having so many wives. This was something I could not bear. So I asked him how he could worship Christ whose mother was a virgin and whose father was unknown. Naturally, the Professor was furious and reported me to

59 A Peep into Spirituality the Principal. The latter was very understanding and appreciated my stand. Some years later Divine Mother once asked me if I had said such things about Jesus. When I replied Her in the affirmative She said, “You should not have said this. You call me as God. Your professor calls Christ as God. God is only one which means by calling Jesus otherwise, you are calling me the same. Would you like that?”. Divine Mother’s words opened my eyes to the fact that God is one and so we should never criticize any God. Now I myself can explain how Christ was born to a virgin. Everything can be created by the mind. We hear that Brahmadeva created the Sanakadi rishis through his mental power. They were his ‘manasa putras’. Again we read of how Brahamadeva created Santoshi Mata by a mere sankalpa because Ganapati wanted to have a sister who could tie a rakhi onto his wrist. This proves that for creating offspring one need not have physical contact. In the case of Jesus, He being all-pervading and all powerful, could manifest in Virgin Mary as her child. Question: When You talk, Bhagwan, spirituality appears to be very simple and easy but when it comes to the matter of practising it, it is difficult, isn’t it? Answer: According to Divine Mother, “Spirituality is not a halfhearted pursuit. It is a serious affair. It is profound quest of Self. It is all- absorbing sadhana for purification. It is life devoted to the highest purpose, namely, God experience. It requires response

60 A Peep into Spirituality from your entire personality. You must keep God as the ideal and dharma as the actual principle of action. You must persist in striving, unmindful of the obstacles, the trials and tests, temporary defeats and passing phases of disappointments. “The first and foremost instruction is constant remembrance of God, the remembrance of his all-seeing presence and all-doing power. God consciousness is spiritual experience, the experience of the one undivided atman. Till that is achieved, remembrance is only a sadhana on the mental level, When the mind is above the gunas remembrance becomes experience, When you forget God, you fall at once a victim to the snare of Maya. You become a slave of the mind. God-Knower alone is the true master. Living secure in the fort of God-remembrance, you must tread the path of spiritual life, converting even the duties of your swadharma into a mode of sadhana. “The Name is accepted as a support for the initial sadhana of smarana. But people in ignorance say that they repeat the name constantly and that they always remember God. Mechanical repetition is not smarana. If one can remember God always without any break, then he is not a sadhaka, he is a siddha. Smarana is living in the presence of God. When every action of yours is done as an offering to God without the ego, illusion and desire, when every chanting of God’s Name becomes a devout invocation of His grace, when every thought is pure as an unsmelt flower fit to be offered at God’s altar, then and then alone one can be said to be living in the remembrance of God.

61 A Peep into Spirituality “Rising above the levels of ‘vaikhari,’ ‘madhyama’ and ‘pashyanti’ the Mantra should reach the state of ‘para’, the state of transcending silence. Transcending the realm of the gunas, devotion should become actual experience of the Supreme. Advancing from the state of mental discipline, dispassion shines as a spontaneous spiritual attribute, ‘paravairagyam’. This is a state of mind that has attained absorption in the Ultimate Reality. God experience and self experience are the same. This is brought about by the blessings of the Guru. As long as one is in the physical presence of the Guru, one feels that one has understood everything that He has said about spirituality and its practise. But when one is away from Guru’s physical orbit, one realises how hard it is to practise what the Guru has told. The reason for this is as Mother has pointed out, “By God’s grace one comes across the Guru. By Guru’s favour one receives the upadesha. As a matter of discipline one follows the routine of meditation yet the complaint is that the mind refuses to become calm and collected. The reason is, vairagyam has not come. Abhyasa alone is not enough. Vairagyam is necessary. Vairagyam is not negative escapism from life’s responsibilities. It is not deserting home and society and retiring into the solitude of caves. Vairagyam is a sublime state of detachment and desireless equipoise, coming from the firm conviction that all objects are perishable, all pleasures are evanescent. Your mind is now on the fleeting pleasures and perishable things. Your identification is with the physical body and the passing mental modes. In this state of identification with the unreal, how can one enjoy the peace of meditative absorption? Desire for objects must

62 A Peep into Spirituality become desire for God-experience. Identification with the body and the modes, must be replaced by identification with the Atman. Then detachment from the objects, inwardness of mind and contemplation of Atman, all become possible.” Because of the strong spiritual vibrations which emanate from the Guru the shishya experiences in his physical presence an elevated state wherein he feels confident that he can practise everything that the Guru has told him. But it is only after he leaves the Guru’s physical presence that his desires pounce on him once again and due to lack of vairagyam, as Mother has explained, he is unable to save himself from their clutches. Thus when the mind is constantly absorbed in worldly things how can he practice spirituality? But the words of the Guru never go in vain. Once spoken, they always remain in the atmosphere and when the mind and intellect of the disciple become purified, he is able to once again recapture them and put them into practice. The words of spiritual instructions spoken by Divine Mother to Her disciples are imperishable. Those words, full of Her force are still resounding in the atmosphere. That force, does not get weakened or even dissipated with the passage of time. Just by listening to the Guru you get knowledge. Kalyan, the disciple of Swami Ramdas had heard the Dasbodh only once when the Guru dictated it to him. After that, his time was spent in the service of the Guru. Yet, when questioned, he was able to give the right answers regarding the contents of verses chosen at random from the book. The Guru is essential even to understand the literature. Otherwise, some of the statements appear to be contradictory.

63 A Peep into Spirituality Actually because a layman or a novice is not able to view everything in the correct context the statements and even the truths appear to be contradictory which could be correctly interpreted by a wise one. The Guru never leaves you to your fate. He does everything for your salvation. Although He may not be visible to you, He is always with you. That is why you should never question or test the Guru after you become His disciple. How can a disciple whose intellect is so puny test the Guru Who is limitless? Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was tested by Vivekananda, who put a coin of small denomination under Ramakrishna’s seat. Being all - knowing, Ramakrishna knew it was there, yet he sat on it and then exclaimed that he was feeling a burning sensation all over the body. Vivekananda was doubting his Guru’s greatness at times. After Ramakrishna left the body, Vivekananda went to Pavhari Baba with the intention of taking initiation. Just then Ramakrishna appeared before him and kept gazing at him; only then did Vivekananda intuit Ramakrishna’s greatness. When Vivekananda first came to Ramakrishna, he asked “Have you seen God?” to which Ramakrishna replied, “Yes, I see God as I am seeing you”. This impressed Vivekananda. What Ramakrishna meant was that he saw God in himself and also in Vivekananda too. There is a notion that by coming to the Guru, one does have to bear any more difficulties or troubles of the world. You have to bear your prarabdha, even though you may be advanced in spirituality and