Of course I have been campaigning against cruelty for a long time.
From Washington after the programmes in America, I was flying to South Africa. I reached Cape Town and they had arranged a chef to make specific food for me and that chef was Vegan. He was Vegan but I did not know at that time that he would also have fish which wasn’t quite vegan for me! (laughter). He was preparing good food and I enjoyed the food and then I asked him, “Why don’t you start a restaurant? If this food can be made and if you can serve such food, why don’t you start a restaurant?”. He was happy with the idea. I said I would help him. That’s when we blocked the web ID AhimsaVegan.com. Later on before I left, I told him to bring me a proper proposal of how he would like to do it. At that time, the idea was to do this on a moving bus, catering on wheels in Cape Town so you can move this bus to various locations and sell vegan food. It would be just 10 items on the menu and nothing too complicated. He came back with an idea and said, “I would like to add seafood to the menu!” (Laughter!). I didn’t take it forward!
That is when I came back to India and told Sumit about Ahimsa Vegan. Sumit had already started Madhuban Restaurant in Katra at that time. I asked him “Why don’t you look at having vegan food at the price of fast food?” He said, “It was impractical because the cost cannot be the same”. I said to him “ There will be a way of making the cost very close if not equal”. Meanwhile, if I remember right it was in Nashville or somewhere in the USA, that I went to a vegan restaurant called ‘The Plant‘. The average cost for a meal there was over $100. That is just a starter, main course and a dessert. I told Sumit, that if this is the kind of cost for a vegan meal out then it will be difficult for people come. Maybe you will get customers but everybody cannot afford this kind of price. Unless the vegan concept reaches the grass roots, it is not worthwhile. It is not good enough.
The Ahimsa project then started and Sumit and his team spent a lot of money researching it. If I am right, the last count was about 3.5million INRs they spent researching how to do it and then they hired some consultants and the consultants said “This won’t work!”. So I said let me meet them. I told them the concept I had in mind, something very close to Chipotle and similar kinds of fast food joints. Where you have a variety; a great salad bar and pita bread and then you serve it on a fast food basis so everyone can choose their meal and combination. That I thought would work because people want exclusivity, everybody could have their different tastes satisfied so it should work. Then the consultants said yes this idea could work. I said ‘Ok, roll it out!” So that is where it all began.
I later became very busy. I was not following the project up. The Vegan Café started in Shirdi and we inaugurated it in June 2016. Now I feel that if you look back after 5 years you will see lots of Ahimsa Vegan Cafe outlets in the world. This is my feeling because now we are on the track.
Every new venture endures start-up challenges and obstacles, everything will not be picture perfect in the beginning. Then you will make it. Nothing can be perfect, especially when it is something new and you want to make it unique.
I was explaining to Vijay only this morning that this café is a statement you have made to the world that you are taking this step. It is a sign of conviction. So what exactly is this conviction? It is not just to make profit. Yes, you must make profit otherwise you cannot start anything new but more than profit this project supports nature. For instance, if one person stops eating meat then 70 animals are saved every year. That is one aspect, if 70 animals are not cultivated or produced for meat then that much water and grain will be saved. More than half the world’s manufacturing produce is used for animal farming. It has a huge impact on water table depletion, climate change, global warming, everything is related to the farming of animals even deforestation. The effect is much wider than one would think initially. So you are making a huge statement by opening the café; just look at the effect, layer by layer of great effect! This is equal to hours of preaching! I do not like to preach things, which nobody can follow. You can create something or talk about something that nobody understands and people may think “Oh, this is great stuff!” I would like to be practical and I would like you to be practical. Give great food and make a statement with this food.
I was in Katra at Madhuban Restaurant. They have made great vegan food equivalents comparable to various (non-vegetarian) meals. They are fully vegan using, for instance, soya or other meat alternatives. Somebody said that if food like this can be provided then there is no need for meat. The taste of meat is what people are holding on to now, so if we are able to provide something alternative, which is equivalent to meat, this will help. We are globally addicted to taste and this is one of the bindings of life. We are addicted to taste and we feel that this is important. It is also the wrong notion that is cultivated into people that protein only comes from meat. This is a wrong concept.
There is a lot to do with this concept. It is not just about selling food. It is about creating a culture. Veganism is a culture, it is not about food – it is about a lifestyle. We should be very proud about what we do. We should be able to go out onto the rooftops and shout out about it and tell the world that we are proud to be vegans! This is something that is not just ethical. It is spiritual. When you are not being violent to the world outside, it has to start on the inside. You eat all sorts of stuff and then you preach non-violence outside, it just won’t work because your very cell is against it. Every cell has absorbed the violent aspect of your food. If your food, emotion, knowledge, if all these things are violent then how are we going to deliver to the world something that is non-violent, so it starts from here.
You are what you eat. You are what you think. You are what you speak.
So all these expressions are very important. That is why I said it is a culture. This culture has to continue. Grace will happen for sure because this is very close to nature. When you do good work, nature helps you and it is 90% selfless. I still say you must make profit, because there must be many, many more vegan cafes available to the public as an alternative to the public’s acquired habits – not chosen habits. It is probably not chosen habits all the time, it is acquired habits because society is created in this manner. These acquired habits have to change, and if you do not give an alternative it cannot change. So it is the current culture.
I wish this project great success and I put my weight behind it, my strength behind and I have no qualms in endorsing it because it is noble and ethical. It is the need of the times. You must give an alternative to people so that people can easily, without any excuse, change over to something ethical.
Great job Vijay! Neeshal, all of you, Mita, …, Rajshree, Anuradha as well!!
Anuradha is an establishment not a person. She has, with my limited acquaintance (I think we have met only twice), apart from being the Head of PETA, done a lot of work on the vegan front. There is a lot of work to do in the days to come. Apart from what you suggested, it’s a good idea that once a month you have a music event, have a buffet at a standard price to eat as much as you like, and you have music and she will sing. Good idea.
This is just a phase. You should reach people. You should be in a position later to cater to airlines, cater to various star hotels. There will be various hotels who will be receptive yes? So, there can be numerous ways, not just catering to events. Ahimsa Vegan can be a regular supplier like a bakery making goods for other shops. They don’t have to store it in the shop, they can deliver to other shops.
When I read the VeganFirst article that you (Anuradha) had posted, it listed that there are many Vegan restaurants in London, so I said Ahimsa Vegan products should be in all these restaurants. You supply to all the restaurants things which are unique to you and you can probably get their unique products here too, so that way you help each other. Create a dialogue between the vegan community, think big, think out of the box. Anuradha has done so many things. For e.g. you can create spreads and packaged products. These can be Ahimsa Vegan branded and can be sold to supermarkets. So don’t stop at selling across the table.
Thank you for coming (Anuradha). (Applause)
[It was very tough for me to take 2 days off because I commit 10 days (every year) to Ganeshananda Giriji‘s trust, but this was essential and I thought it was my responsibility to be here in that manner. I do not know what communication you had had with the team, but when Vijay asked me to come, I said, “Yes, I will come”. I like to connect to the heart of the matter, technical stuff is not my job, so I am glad I am here and thank you for bringing me here.]
Q: Everybody’s talking about Sai Baba, but there isn’t much information about Nityananda.
M: Just like we are born, at a particular time, at a particular place, for some reason, all masters are born the same way. They have a perfect reason for taking birth in a particular frequency, for a particular duration. Everybody – all of us are the same, so masters are not different from us that way. When you become enlightened, and then after enlightenment, there is a consistent effort to dissolve our unit structure and become the ocean. Then there is usually no reason to come back and take another birth. You don’t have to come back.
Nityananda was found on a small street as a baby. Nobody knows about his parents. There was a snake protecting the baby. We are talking about Bhagavan Nityananda who left his body in 1961. (There is another Nithyananda – Paramahansa Nithyananda – who is in the body)
He was taken care of by a family and was displaying many miracles right from his childhood. I can talk about a few of his miracles.
… I The Ganga should flow here!
He traveled towards the north until he came to Bombay. On the way, he was settled in a place called Kanhangad. He was meditating there. As there was no water in that area, he said, “Why should the Ganga only flow in the north? The Ganga should flow here!“ Immediately water started flowing. That water is still there even today.
… II Catching up with the bus
One day, he was standing at the bus stop. He was trying to go somewhere. He never used to wear any clothes. He only wore underwear, that’s all. A bus was coming, and he waved at the bus to stop. The bus driver looked at him and thought, “This man is not wearing any clothes,“ and decided against stopping the bus. When the bus reached the next stop, the driver found Nityananda was standing there as well. Then the bus reached the third stop and again the driver found Nityananda was standing there the same way. Finally, the driver stopped and Nityananda got on it.
… III Miraculous touch
Another story, he was again standing at the bus stop. He saw one woman walking. He went ahead and caught her dress. People were angry. They were chasing him. He was shouting, “She’s healed! She’s healed!“ Nobody understood what he was saying. Then they asked this lady, “What was wrong?“ She said she had had breast cancer on both breasts. When Nityananda caught her dress, she was healed.
… IV Train tickets
Once he was traveling by train and he did not buy the ticket. So the ticket checker came and asked him,“Where is your ticket?“
Nityananda said, “What ticket?“
The ticket checker said “If you want to travel by this train, you must have a ticket. Can you show me a ticket?“
The ticket checker showed Nityananda a ticket and said, “It should look like this.“
Then he took one ticket from his underwear and gave it to the ticket checker.
The ticket checker asked him, “So you’re going from this particular stop to that particular stop?“
“No, I want to go further”, he said and took another one.
Finally, he gave the ticket checker all the tickets – about fifty tickets in all – right from where the train was starting to it’s final destination. The ticket checker was really surprised, “How can this man produce all these tickets and he’s only wearing underwear? There’s no way he can hide these tickets. And the tickets were all for that day, not a collection of the old tickets from the past!”
… V A pot of gold
There is always a group of people who talks bad about any master. The same thing was happening with Nityananda, too. Some people went and told the income tax authorities, the people who collect tax, saying, “This man is financing schools and so many institutions and he doesn’t have any income. How does he get this money!?“ So they said, “He is probably doing something illegal. Maybe he is printing money or maybe he is an agent laundering people’s black money.” So the income tax people came to Nityananda and asked him, “What’s your source of income? Show us where you got this money.“
Nityananda asked, “Who are you?“
They said, “We’re from the government. We’re income tax people. We want to know where you are getting the money.“
Then he said, “I pick it up from that pond,“ pointing to a water basin, “Whenever I need money, I pick it up from there.“
“Are you playing with us? Are you joking? We can arrest you. We’re powerful.“
Nityananda said, “I’m not joking. I’ll show you. Come with me.“
He took them to the pond. He jumped into the water and brought out a pot of gold. He said, “Whenever I need money, I go down, I pick one piece of gold and that is what I use.“
They could not do anything.
… VI A true master makes more masters
A true master makes more masters. He was a true master and most of his disciples became very powerful masters. This is a sign of a true master. It’s not one who teaches well. Anybody can teach well. But if you can create more masters, you’re a true master.
He was wandering and, finally, he reached Ganeshpuri. He used to sit there and ended up staying there for the rest of his life. A lot of people used to come and see him and they were very afraid to be near him because he sometimes slapped them or scolded them. He mostly scolded people. When he scolded people, big karmic blockages were removed. He would always be talking something to himself. So many people thought that he was probably mad.
Towards the end of his life, he wanted to go to the south where he came from. Then the people of Ganeshpuri said, “Guruji, you have lived here all your life. We would like you to leave your body here so that we can take care of it.” So he left his body there. Ganeshpuri is an amazing and a very powerful place.
VII How he was operating was difficult to understand or record
There are many, many stories of Nityananda, but the thing is it’s difficult to even understand how he was operating. He was such a powerful master. When a master is very powerful and his operating levels are multi-dimensional, it’s difficult to record it. If there is a pattern, we can record it. For example, if he was in one place and was doing certain things in a certain order and miracles were happening, these can be documented. However, if a master is working on a much larger platform, through lots of people, improving standards of lives, it’s difficult to document.
And many people do not tell the truth. They only talk something bad. How many people say there was an amazing transformation happening in their life? Very few people. Most people say, “Oh, I went to him. He didn’t give it to me. So he isn’t good.” This is what you hear a lot. Even now, if you look at how people talk, they like to talk negative. How many people talk positive? This was also the case with Nityananda. A lot of people did not even understand him and therefore documentation was not perfect. That is why we don’t know many stories of him. These are the stories which were told by people to people. They did not write it down themselves and it was finally recorded after a few generations.
I can talk about my experience if you are not bored already 🙂
My experiences with Nityananda
My first experience with Nityananda – Guided by an invisible hand
I did not know anything about Nityananda, like most people. One day, I was writing a blog and his image came to my mind, for no reason. Of course, there is a reason, but at that time there was no apparent reason. His image came to my mind and I just put his picture and wrote, “Earth became better because he walked on it.“ I did not know why I wrote that. I had no particular idea or a plan, but within a couple of months, I reached Ganeshpuri. My original plan was to go to the samadhi of Baba Muktananda (his disciple who succeeded him) first, then to go to Nityananda’s samadhi. However the car took me directly to Nityananda’s samadhi because the driver did not know the way. The car stopped exactly at the place where Nityananda’s body was kept. They allowed me to come inside where only the priest can go even though it was not allowed for anyone to go inside. Furthermore, those people did not know me. However, they said, “You can come in,“ and I did. I touched the idol where his body is kept. That was an amazing experience for me.
My second experience with Nityananda –
Meeting Vimalananda, Nityananda’s disciple
There is a temple in the south called Mookambika. A bit high on the mountain where Adi Shankara did tapas (penance) and the Goddess appeared. She said, “What can I do for you?“
Adi Shankara said, “I would like you to come with me to my place so I can make a temple for you.”
The Goddess said, “Ok, you walk. I’ll come with you. But if you have one doubt in your mind, I will stop at that point and not go any further from there.” It means you should have so much faith in your mind that you should not doubt. If you doubt once, finished. Grace is gone.
Adi Shankara was walking and the Goddess was walking behind him. She was wearing anklets. The sound was coming, so Adi Shankara knew she was coming. After a while, the sound stopped. The Goddess was testing him. She held on to the anklets. Sound was not coming.
Adi Shankara walked for some more time, then a doubt entered, “Is she actually coming behind me?“ He turned and looked.
The Goddess said, “Doubt entered your mind. Grace is gone. Finished. I’m staying right here.“
That place is Mookambika Temple. That temple has been a heaven for many, many masters. Most masters including Sathya Sai Baba, have stayed there at that place. Sathya Sai Baba, Bhagavan Nityananda, Avadhoota Nadananda, etc. All these masters spent some time there, or they got something from there. Also, up the hill there is the spear of the goddess. Apparently the Goddess killed a demon there and there is a big spear sticking out into the sky. They tested the metal in the scientific labs. They could not find which metal it was made of. It is not from earth. That spear is still there. There are a few temples there as well.
So I was visiting these places and then I heard there is one disciple of Nityananda staying there. His name was Swami Vimalananda. He has also left his body. Do you know how I reached this person? It happened like this. I was visiting the Mookambika temple. When I came out, there were a few people standing, begging for food and money. I saw one guy who was wearing a good shirt. He looked clean like he had taken a bath. But he was also begging. I asked him, “Are you hungry?“ He said, “Yes.“ I said, “Come with me.“ I was going for breakfast. I took him for breakfast. I told him, “Eat whatever you want, I’ll pay the bill.“ He sat at a table, he ordered only one dish, ate it, then he came to me and said, “I’m fine.“ Then I said, “Go. I’ll pay.“ I asked him one question, “What about lunch? Do you want to take some food now for lunch? I can give you.“ He said, “No. Somebody will give me lunch.“ That means he is a true saint. He isn’t worried about the future. He’s only existing at that time. He is happy that he got food. If he did not get food, he would fast. That means he had actually become a saint. Not worried about the future at all. He did not want anything for lunch, the next meal. I was very intrigued to have seen him and he went soon after that.
Next day, the same thing happened. I was coming out of the temple, this man was standing there, I asked the same question, before he asked me, I asked him, “Are you hungry?“ He said, “Yes.“ I said, “Come with me.“ The same thing repeated.
That day I was planning to go to the river to take a bath. You have to go further down about a kilometer to where the river that flows. I wanted to take a bath there, so I was going towards that direction. Suddenly, I saw the board of a temple. I don’t know why but I just felt like turning there. There were a couple of people with me. One of them was taking pictures. We went in and when we reached the temple, there was a small platform. This man who had had breakfast with me was lying down there. He looked at me, he was very excited to see me and he said, “Oh, you have come here, go into the temple.” Then he said, “Swami Vimalananda who is a follower of Bhagavan Nityananda is there now, but he doesn’t see people. He is the same like Nityananda. His face is angry. You don’t know whether he likes you coming in or not.“
One person was taking pictures and later on when we checked, this person (who came for breakfast) was not in any of the pictures. There was no picture of this person. Who he was, nobody knew. His job was to bring me there. After that, even though I stayed two more days there, I never saw him. Only those two days during breakfast and third time here. Then he disappeared. He was nowhere, not even in the picture. Then we went into the temple, which was full of pictures of Nityananda. We worshipped there and I asked the priest, “Can we meet Vimalananda?“ He said,“Please wait, let me check.“ I said, “Just tell him Mohanji has come.“ If he can see through, then he will invite. Otherwise, if I am not eligible, I should not meet him. He called the three of us. By that time, he was very old and unwell. His leg was swollen and he was having tremendous pain. He asked me, “What do you want from me?“ I said, “Nothing, just your blessings.“
Then he said a few things about Nityananda. Nityananda told him, “I stayed three years in Mookambika, you stay thirty years.“ Before Nityananda left the body, Nityananda sent Vimalananda to this place where Vimalananda was presently staying. Vimalananda has stayed here for the last thirty years. When Nityananda said, “Go to Mookambika,“ He did not go. He did not want to leave his guru. He wanted to be around the guru.
Nityananda asked, “Why are you standing here?“
Vimalananda said, “I don’t want to go.“
Nityananda said, “Get out of this place!“
Vimalananda said, “How can I go without you?“
Nityananda was covered with a blanket. He gave the blanket to him. He said, “This is me, take it. Go!“
Until now, he has been meditating on that blanket. When we went there, he was sitting on that blanket.
This is my second experience of Nityananda.
So I believe that NItyananda brought me to that temple to meet this Vimalananda.
My third experience with Nityananda
My third experience with Nityananda was more interesting. Nityananda had created many masters during his time. Whomever he touched became a master. I believe that he has a role to play in whatever I am today. Nityananda had one disciple called Rakhadi Baba. Rakhadi means he only used to wear ashes on his body. Rakhadi Baba had a very, very powerful disciple called Poornananda who succeeded him. I had never heard of Rakhadi Baba nor Poornananda. In 2014, some people and I were visiting one powerful place of Lord Dattatreya. One saint wanted to see me. The saint didn’t speak English. For me, it was very difficult to communicate with him because I couldn’t speak his language, but he said,“I want to meet Mohanji.“ He came to this place where we went. His lineage is Bhagawan Nitynanda, Rakhadi Baba, Poornananda, Sadananda, then this man whom I met, Thyagananda. Poornananda left his body on April 6th, 2000. Before he left his body, he took out the mala that he was wearing, gave it to Thyagananda, and said, “One day Mohanji will come. Give it to him.“
Fourteen years later, I got it. He left the body on 6th April 2000, and on 24th December 2014, I met Thyagananda and he gave me the mala. Tyagananda asked Poornananda, “How will I recognise Mohanji?“ He said, “Look into his third eye. You can see a blazing sun.“ When I entered the room where he was sitting, he looked at me and he choked. Tears came into his eyes, he could not speak for some time. While I was sitting there, Poornananda told him,“Transfer all your powers to Mohanji. He has big work to do in the world.“ He asked me, “Can I transfer it to you?“ So I kneeled down. He transferred his powers, gave me the mala, gave me the garment and then we left. Poornananda was wearing this mala for a long time, it was like an atomic bomb, it was so powerful.
That is one part of the story. There are more miracles associated with it, but I am talking about the lineage. Bhagawan Nityananda’s lineage came through Thyagananda to me.
My fourth experience with Nityananda
Then, in 2015 I met Avadhoota Nadananda. I think some of you have read the book, “Autobiography of an Avadhoota”. I was in Benares (aka Varanasi). One family who knew me invited me for breakfast. When I went for breakfast, they gave me a book written by Nadananda. That is how I came to know about him. When I looked at the picture, I saw a lot of energy on the face, very powerful. I asked them, “Who is this person?“ Then the person who gifted me the book said, “He is a very powerful master who is still in the body.“ I said, “I want to meet him.“ He said,“I don’t know where he is, but you can meet him“ and he gave me a contact number.
Nadananda never takes calls. So I was trying the number for a long time but couldn’t reach him. Then I thought, “Ok, I can’t meet him.” Then I travelled overseas conducting programmes in various parts of the world. When I came back, I found this book was sitting on my bed! Normally it would be on some shelf. But this was on my bed. Then I thought, “This book is sitting on my bed, that means I have to do something.” I called the number again. But he was not picking again. So I said, “Ok, leave it.” and I put the book on the shelf.
In December, I was filming in Shirdi for a film in which I was acting. Nadananda was staying about eight hours from Shirdi. I decided to meet him. We went to meet him, myself, Devi, Mila and a few other people. We already informed him that we were coming and he arranged a room for us. The room was next to where they store the grains and that place was full of rats. The bed was on the floor. You had to ask the rats, “Can I sleep a little bit?” 🙂 But we never felt anything. We were coming to meet a great master and we were all happy to sleep with the rats. I was hoping there were no snakes because when the rats come, the snakes get tempted to see what they were doing. 🙂
When I met Nadananda for the first time, he asked me, “Why have you come? What do you need from me?” I never go to any master for getting something. I just go empty and whatever happens, happens. If we go with expectation, we come with disappointment. So I never ever visit any master for something or expecting something. I just go, whatever happens, happens. Later on Nadananda said, “Your job was to come, our job is to fill in.“ The tradition operates that way. If a person comes, they never go empty-handed. Whatever possible, masters fill in. When I said I needed nothing, he said, “Mother will tell me why you are here. Nobody comes to see me without a reason.“
Next day we were all there and suddenly he came and said, “I want to honour Mohanji.” Then he gave me a shawl and a Sri Yantra (a sacred geometry depicting the Divine Mother), etc. I call him Guruji. I said, “Guruji, I don’t need any honour. I’m fine. I’m not expecting anybody to honour me. I’m ok.“ He said, “No, no. It’s an instruction.“ Later he wrote about it. He wrote when Mohanji came he liked me because I was empty and I never asked anything. Secondly, while he was sitting alone, Babaji told him, “We sent Mohanji to you. Take care of him.“ Then I came to know about the lineage, Bhagawan Nityananda, his disciple Maa Taramayee, then Avadhoota Nadananda. So again the lineage came back.
More or less a similar thing happened. Nadananda transferred his spiritual bank balance to me like Thyagananda did. You see, again the river started from NItyananda.
My fifth experience with Nityananda
One more channel came. This is a master who is not in the body. Nadananda is in his body. This Swami was living in a temple close to where Nityananda was living in Ganeshpuri. Apparently, this is the place where Nityananda came first before he went to the place where he stayed later in Ganeshpuri. This man was bent. Some of you may have seen his picture. His name was Vasudevan Swamy. He was worshipping the padukas (footwear) of Nityananda.
Sri Vasudevan
One night, people threw stones at him. No stone hit him. The next time I went to him, I asked, “Swami, did you see who threw the stones? Did you complain to the police?“ He said, “No, no no, we should not look at who threw the stones because we will have anger towards them and our mind will get contaminated. We should not get contaminated. We should not see who is throwing stones. And we don’t have to tell the police, because their karma will take care of them. Why should we worry?“
Since then, he has also left the body.
The last time I met him he said two things. One,“ Mohanji, I always remember you. Every day, I think about you.“ Second, “Bhagawan NItyananda lives with you.“ He said these two things. These were more or less his last words to me.
In Conclusion
So this lineage came to me through various means, through various masters. And why don’t we know much about Bhagawan Nityananda? Especially when he created diamonds out of stones, i.e. out of normal people, he created masters. This is very difficult to see, very difficult to understand and very difficult to explain.
Sai Baba had done the same. He had created various masters. Every true master has created more masters. I think that’s about it, about Nityananda.
Being a Yogi – is being yourself. A Yogi is an aspiration and a state. Being a Yogi truly is being exactly what you are, beyond your ego, beyond your mind, beyond your intellect, going to the core, the essence of you where you are united with every aspect of creation. There is nothing apart from you. Every being, every atom in this Universe is connected and it works in synchronicity with the whole creation of the Universe. Furthermore, a Yogi is fully tuned and attuned into this consciousness. Lord Shiva is our aspiration, a representation of the universal consciousness, always merged in the consciousness which is the basis of creation and always being impartial, neutral and at the same time fully available as the energy, the source which creates the whole structure of existence.
Mohanji – painting by Palak Mehta
A Yogi is one who is connected to himself completely and a true Yogi is a true universal being. There is no selfishness. There is 100% commitment to the existence. There is no him, there is no Yogi, there is only beingness. When I say beingness, you are actually being one with the Supreme Consciousness which flows through you, into you and through you into all the beings around you. When you are absorbed into that consciousness, all the time, there is no ego, no body, no mind, you are fully integrated into the Supreme consciousness.
A Yogi is one who has gone beyond the gunas of existence. The gunas are the flavour which create a character, a constitution, something which makes you distinct from the world. Every being is a unique creation. All beings are unique. There are no two buffalos alike. There are no two beings alike. Every being is a different combination and all these combinations are important and that adds to the flavour of existence. This is not only about Earth – Earth is just one small tiny part of the whole cosmos. There are numerous, numerous locations in this universe. There are a lot of galaxies, stars, planets and satellites – quite a lot of things in this universe.
The moment you start feeling or connecting to the consciousness which is driving this whole machinery, you stop being you. You grow well beyond your limited frames and you merge into the consciousness of the society. There are numerous methods which ancient masters have codified and delivered to us, many of which are extinct. We never used them. Mostly in those days, it was only transmitted through word of mouth. It was never written. There were no scripts in print or in books. It was all written on leaves. So various things, great philosophies have already been eroded and later on various conflicts of humankind have destroyed quite a lot of substance.
Yet, what is known today as Yoga which means one who can aspire to be a Yogi by practising Yoga. Yoga is something which has survived the test of time because Yoga is nature. It can never be destroyed. Nature can never be destroyed. You may cut the trees or you may pollute the environment, but environment always restructures itself with or without human beings. So Yoga is something which has stood the test of time, this is because Yoga means being natural. A Yogi is natural. Everything amounts to being you, being natural and being one with the universal consciousness. This is a flow. This is life.
And what is life about? It is not about the paltry pleasures which we get from the outside world. Life is about being contented within and the expression of that contentment overflows from yourself into the world outside and it brightens up the world outside. That is exactly the life of a Yogi – a true Yogi. His beingness, his stature, his very existence overflows and brightens up the world outside. If each existence becomes such a glow, imagine a world full of happiness, full of glow – no competition, no anger, no jealousy, no hatred. There is no negativity of any kind. There is no comparison between people. We are all the same. Nobody is higher or lower. There is no duality. All you see is yourself in the other person. The moment you are connected to yourself in that mode, you are a true Yogi.
There is a saying,“If you consume food once a day, you are a Yogi. If you consume food twice a day, you are a Rogi i.e. a sick man. If you consume food three times a day, you are a Bhogi, i.e. a lustful person.“ There is a slight deviation to this adage. Some people say, if you eat food twice you are a Bhogi, and if you have food three times a day, you are a Rogi, a sick man. So when you are totally connected to your consciousness, when your energy flow is not wasted on paltry things outside, you won’t even need food. You will only consume what you essentially need. You won’t eat too much. You won’t eat in a kind of emotional way of eating. All our consumption, all our intake through mind, intellect, all this will be regularised so that health is maintained.
When the richness of the inner world glows through the eye lids…
Being a Yogi is being healthy. Being healthy is a state of mind. When your mind is healthy, your body is healthy. When your body is healthy, your mind is healthy. So being a Bhogi means your are lustful in eating, which makes you sick. It takes the health away. Being a Rogi, which is a later stage, is a state where you are consuming indiscriminately not only food, but also emotions, intellect, knowledge, information, etc. When you cram all these things inside, it really chokes you. It really makes you obese. It can make you physically, emotionally, or intellectually obese. All kinds of obesity limit your movement, limit your flexibility, limit your freedom.
I wish all of you who are reading this a great state of being a Yogi. Being a Yogi is an individual path. You can do this yourself. There is no need for any external influence. You are a Yogi by birth. You are a Yogi. All you have to do is just explore it, bring it out and then start feeling it. You are a Yogi by nature.
Q: With the new meditation, Bliss of Silence, people have had beautiful experiences. How often should we do that meditation?
M: That’s as per your call. The Power of Purity meditation is the most important one, because it’s inner cleansing, unhooking. Other meditations are all to elevate your awareness. So inner cleansing is an important process because you keep on cleansing your inside, the stored data. If you don’t do that, then there’s accumulation because we are unconsciously accumulating so many things. You can practise this meditation as often as you like, once a week or every day, it’s up to you.
When the richness of the inner world glows through the eye lids…
HEALING
Q: Pranam Mohanji. What are the ways of healing the mind, body, which practice is good?
M: Healing is our natural process. If you look at all the beings, there is a power to heal built into the system. We all have the power to heal ourselves. The only blocking factor is the mind. That’s why I keep repeating, “In the university of life, there is only one examination, which is mind”. So mind is the factor which is preventing healing, otherwise we heal by nature.
Every time you go to bed to sleep, you are getting healed, you are getting refreshed. So healing is a process which happens spontaneously if you do not block it and the only blocking factor is our mind. If you look at animals, hardly anybody goes and treats them unless they are domestic, but they heal themselves. If they’re wounded, they nurture and heal themselves. Likewise, all of us have the power to heal. The main aspect is that you must rest efficiently. Rest means rest from the mind too. Not just physical rest. For example, if we are sitting down watching TV, we are not resting. We are actually active. Mind is active. Rest means actual cut off from everything. You should be cut off from the Internet and mobile phones. We should detach from all aspects of our existence which take us external. Then we come to complete silence mode and that’s probably sleep. Just sleep it off. Sleep, rest, even reduce the thought process. If thoughts are happening, just watch them, but don’t participate in them. Just sleep, rest and relax. Then the healing happens spontaneously.
If you eat more food than you need or you eat food after a certain time in the day, especially in the evening time, whatever we consume is getting stored in our body. So if you do not consume food after sunset (let’s say 6 pm), then the body uses the rest of the time for healing and detoxing. The body usually does its job. So healing is our natural process only if you allow it to happen. Healing is happening while we are sleeping as well. Especially during the deep sleep state, when the body is rejuvenating, the body is also healing. Otherwise, we will be very tired every day. If you do not heal yourself, you will be very tired. People have sleep apnea and all those things because of accumulated tedium. If you usually go through the process of life, sufficient rest, sufficient food, sufficient activity, then there will be no ailment, you don’t even need the healing. We don’t do that. Our mind is overactive and that mind is actually preventing the healing. Otherwise, healing happens to you. That’s your nature. Outside healers are inducing, helping, creating that bridge between you and the possibility of healing. Healing is happening only when you agree with it. You should agree with the healing and the healer and you should have faith in the healer. Then healing happens. Otherwise, any healer from outside cannot do much.
Q: Are you healing while you are dreaming in a dream state?
M: Not necessarily and it depends actually because dream state according to me is equal to waking state. We are very much alive and active and we are actually experiencing something. Whenever you are experiencing something, there is an element of mind involved. So I wouldn’t say that it’s absolute rest. It’s probably not 100% rest. We need to be cut off from everything and only then healing takes place. Because the body then has nothing else to do. Otherwise, mind intervenes in everything. Waking state and dreaming state are very similar states. The only difference is the body is suspended, quiet. Other systems are working as per normal. But you cannot categorise them as complete waking state existence because in the dream state there are highs and lows. There are some deeper aspects where you are getting cleansed, like when you sometimes penetrate into the primitive consciousness and dig out memories in dreams and that gets released. So that can be considered as healing. We can’t say that dream state is a totally non-healing state. It is possible that you can be healed there as well.
M: Music is like a tranquilizer, it moderates you, it aligns you. I mean, depending on which music, sometimes music aggravates your situation. But usually nice, calm, very quiet, soothing music, especially chants, for example, are all therapeutic. Veda chanting and all those kind of stuff are all therapeutic. So there is a lot of meaning to it. But music, as it involves the mind and makes it quiet or aligns it, is all therapeutic.
M: I suggest you do meditation after yoga. Firstly, physical, then mental. So it will always be better to do meditation after yoga. Yoga should actually increase your awareness of the body. It actually aligns your system so that you can meditate better. Meditation is a state you achieve when your mind is tranquil. When you are doing yoga, you are actually being in tune with your body. You are in tune with the body, the body becomes quiet. Or, the body is actually allowing the expansion. Then it’s easier for the mind to take over. Not in a calamitous way. The mind sometimes becomes too agitated when the body is not so happy. Yoga always helps to align the body, then a meditation would help better. That’s my opinion.
DEEP SLEEP
Q: When you are in deep sleep, is whatever you see, seen by the consciousness or the mind?
M: In deep sleep, the mind is totally absent and you cannot even see. There is no mind to process the data in deep sleep time. That’s the time when the soul has all the freedom because the whole system is suspended. So whatever interactions, especially astral interactions, interactions with masters and similar things which we experience during deep sleep, that’s translated as a dream when you wake up. Because the mind cannot process it. The mind doesn’t know. The mind doesn’t differentiate or understand. So it’s your native consciousness which is alive, not the mind. Especially the mind we are talking about, which is the waking state mind.
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
Q: Why are you celebrating your birthday?
M: This question should go to the people who are celebrating, the UK team should answer this, ”Why are you celebrating my birthday?”
Audience: We are celebrating out of love for you.
M: I know.
You know, there are a few reasons for celebrating any day, not just a birthday. Firstly, it’s a reminder of something auspicious or something good. We even remember various occasions, happenings or the events of the past, and that has significance because sometimes a reminder is necessary to have certain confirmations of our existence. Otherwise, we forget. Secondly, it is out of love. Love, gratitude, as Vijay (from the UK team) said, are reasons for celebrating any Master’s birthday. Because the generations are appreciating what they have contributed to the world. Usually, what a person who is liberated contributes to the world has a sustained effect for a few generations or at least it goes on. So this is a celebration for themselves.
Most of the activities in each country are feeding the poor people, taking care of the animals, birds, fish, all these kind of things are happening. These are all confirmations of the understanding of the teachings, which means we understood, we appreciated it and we are adapting it to our lives. So when that happens, individual life gets more clarified. More clarity happens in everybody’s life. That is the reason for this kind of celebration. For example, look at any of the Masters of the past or Masters who are in the body today. Nobody celebrates the birthday by giving them gifts. Most of the people celebrate the birthday by taking care of the people who are in need, or the birds or animals. So that becomes an occasion for implementing the teaching. These are the basic reasons for celebrating a master’s birthday.
It’s not that you should do that for only one day. That one day becomes a strong reminder. Like, people celebrate Christmas i.e. the birth of Christ, then Janmashtami i.e. Lord Krishna’s birthday. All these are celebrations because these are all events which can really make you remember what we are here for and also remember the teachings. A Master is only worth based on his or her teachings. Otherwise, a person who has existed and meditated and left without even moving or interacting in the society. We wouldn’t know them. But somebody who has actually taken pains to come to the society and live with people and guide them, in whichever capacity possible, the best gift that person can get is that people live the teachings. You cannot give anything better than that to the Master. When you actually live the teachings, this celebration becomes a part of it. You actually remember, as well as you’re expressing and that gives more value to the society or the beings around you. So, overall, the world becomes a better place through such celebrations.
BLESSING OTHERS THROUGH MOHANJI’S ENERGY OF LOVE
Q: Is there a way of blessing other people or animals through your energy?
M: Love. Just keep expressing love and compassion spontaneously all the time. Not just feeding them. Of course, you should do that. But just loving them and doing whatever you can for them. That’s the way to be. Also, that’s the right way to live a life. It is through compassion that you can show your seeming supremacy, as there is no supremacy per se. Have an existence of compassion. Furthermore, if we feel we have more power, let that be expressed as kindness to the world. The more we express whatever we have or whatever our capacities are, as compassion and kindness, we become very, very powerful. The world becomes a better place. If we have a strength of some kind, that strength should be translated into kindness and delivered to the world. Then we become complete and the world becomes a better place. This is exactly the message and teaching most of the masters have given over a period of time. Later on, interpretations changed. We started to discriminate based on caste, creed, culture, colour, etc. Those are all aberrations of mind. There is no caste, creed, culture, colour, etc. There is not even another person. It’s only you. It’s all your expressions, so if you’re feeding animals or birds or anybody, it is just your expressions. They are all your expressions.
M: Yes, via Lhasa is slightly more expensive. It’s taking a few more days. I don’t think many people are going via Lhasa. Many people are still going via Nepalganj. If we have more people, we are looking at hiring our own helicopters and flights and stuff like that. I am definitely traveling via Lhasa and that’s mainly for exploration purpose. We are looking at the Lhasa option this year. There is a difference in cost, and there is also a difference in the number of days. via Lhasa will take more days.
SIGNIFICANCE OF MACHU PICCHU
Q: Can you tell us about the significance of Machu Picchu?
M: Kailash is Shiva, male energy. Machu Picchu is Shakti, the feminine energy. So usually they say that there is a completion in going to both of these places. So we are looking to visit both Kailash and Machu Picchu every year now. Machu Picchu is probably not as tough as Kailash. But it has got a great significance as the power center. It is said that a lot of beings from other locations have come there and are coming there. Still, some of the beings are drawn there. Some of them even supported the Mayan civilisation. This is what is told, this is the history. Apart from that, it’s the Shakti energy. So if you go there, you get highly rejuvenated in the Shakti path – iccha shakti, jnana shakti, kriya shakti – the power of will, the power of knowledge, the power of action. These are two power points which we would like to visit every year.
Also, we are looking at Badrinath, I think after Kailash. The original plan, which I don’t know whether we can work out, is to walk the path of the Pandavas who left their kingdom and walked up via Badrinath to Swargarohan. Nobody can go to Swargarohan because it’s a kind of hypothetical location where it is said Yudhisthira just vanished – which means he didn’t really walk up there. I saw some pictures. There are very hard rocks, you cannot even move there, but we can walk up to there, beyond that. If we are looking at the trekking there, it’s very, very tough. The climate is also not so good in that area but we are seriously considering it. Anyway, there will be a Badrinath trip.
So there are basically three pilgrimages – Badrinath, Kailash, Machu Picchu. This is what is planned this year and for the coming years, hopefully.
MEDITATIONS
Q: There are four meditations now. How are we going to practise them?
M: Power of Purity is the main meditation because that’s inner cleansing, unhooking from the past, releasing or eliminating all the memories which are bothering you or the concepts which are blocking you. So Power of Purity is the most important one. These meditations elevate you to the next level. So you can practise it once a week or whenever you are free. But if you regularize on Power of Purity, it will give you sufficient strength. If you honestly bless people, and those people who have harmed you and those people who have come into your life and done bad things and stuff, you release everybody, then you will be very free.
The main point is to choose freedom and peace. Regardless of what others have done and are doing for you or against you. If you choose freedom and peace, it is important to let go and release. Because this is your inner world. For that, Power of Purity is the most powerful and most effective. That’s why a lot of people are having experiences. After practising Power of Purity for a few days, they are sometimes getting healed. Sometimes, they have a good sleep and various changes. That’s because when you unhook, you release the blockages and then you are much better – more free. 360 Degrees meditation is to anchor you into your spine. That’s quite good for centering. Then the other two meditations are Blossoms of Love and Bliss of Silence. These are all delivered to me. So it is not that I am releasing it one way or the other. When I get it, I pass it on. These meditations are meant to elevate the awareness.
So, coming back to your question, I feel The Power of Purity should be practised every day because it is like taking bath, it’s an internal purification. The other meditations you do as per your feeling. You can practise one of them once a week or every day, or every second day. It might help.
AWARENESS (ADVANCED) RETREAT
M: Now we are going to the Advanced Retreat. In earlier retreats, we usually had some new people and some old i.e. people who have been connected with me for a while. In the Advanced Retreat, we will only have senior people who have been with me or attended our programmes for at least the last three years. In the Advanced Retreat, we are focusing on the body, mind, intellect, ego, spirit. For five or six days, we will be focusing on this. Physical, emotional, intellectual, personality based, as well as spiritually based. These are the five aspects we are covering. Each level is like a kosha, a sheath. We are trying to penetrate into each layer so that the final me aspect, the subtle aspect, the sukshma comes.
When you connect to the subtle, then you are connected to the consciousness. So we are now attempting to go deeper and deeper. All these later meditations are connected to those aspects where you are being aware of your physical, emotional, then intellectual and personality. If you just introspect in each level itself, the need for the body (food, water and other things), the need for the mind and emotion kosha, then the intellect (knowledge and other aspects), then the personality. We are very, very bound by the personality, by the image that we portray to the world. We are very much suffocated, like analysis, watching and guarding this personality that we convey to the world. And the world looks at us based on our personality, what we portray. So we are safeguarding that all the time. Then the spiritual aspect. The spiritual aspect is also mostly concept based. Are we actually connecting to the spirit that is the Soul? Only when you start connecting to your own soul do you actually become spiritual. Your relationship with your soul is spirituality.
But mostly what we do is we are activity oriented and we call it spirituality. If our nature is going to a church, mosque or other places of worship or places of power, we think we are spiritual. Again, we are still entertaining the mind. In all these things, if transformation does not happen, it’s not spirituality. Spirituality means your connection with your spirit. Then your external factors are only suggestions. The internal factor will be the only reality. Even now it is a reality. Only what is inside, what you consume, what you take inside, that is your only reality. Everything else is external. It means all that is external are just suggestions. They only help you to connect to something which is already inside you. Our Advanced Retreat is starting on 24th February 2017, on Shivarathri which is also one aspect of the retreat. That is why we made this retreat very strict. We screen people and only those who really want to take one step forward are taken in. Because it’s serious stuff. If you are only serious about being spiritual, you need to move forward. Otherwise, we are stuck in the activity and we believe we are spiritual. Of course, there will be experiences. Experiences are coming mostly on the mental level.
Q: Are you going to conduct any more Advanced Retreats?
M: An advanced retreat requires a lot of preparation. So I don’t think we can do more than one or two per year. After this one, we don’t plan on doing a similar one this year. Because there’s a lot of screening and preparation. An advanced retreat is a process. There are so many things which help people to go within. So we are creating the whole environment and the whole system in such a way that people can really penetrate into themselves. Cutting down on external activities and things in a drastic way so they are forced to go within. It is mostly silence oriented. I need a place for silence. It’s not easy to do this in a city. Cities are usually crowded and so many temptations are all around. So we need to do it in a remote place.
Andrevlje is a very good location for that because it’s away from the crowd. You’ve been there, so you know. If we get such a place, we can do it. But it takes at least seven full days. You should actually count nine – one day to come, one day to go plus seven full days and then we need a similar location as well. The problem is that we don’t have too many retreats. Senior people and new people all come for the general retreats. For the advanced retreat, we can only have senior people. So again it’s a problem – their time and everything. I don’t want to bring new people on this retreat because it’s more concentrated and more. They should know me, otherwise they would not enjoy it. If they are used to me, used to my style, then I can deliver. It means there should be a consistency in relationship. Fresh people may not have that. They are looking at every master, going to every programme, so mind is distracted anyway. So I cannot bring them to one location, one path and just proceed forward. We need a lot of consistency, that is the main thing missing in many of the spiritual practitioners. Once there is consistency, we can deliver quite a bit of stuff. It is not only in my case. Every master will tell you the same thing. If they are consistent then something can be given, but what can we do?
Q: How do we unhook or let go?
M: Definitely when you let go, when you unhook, it always helps. For example, you keep hatred towards somebody who has hurt you, victimised you about something or cheated you. So if you keep that hatred, you are neither releasing that person nor releasing yourself. Instead, from your side, clear it off your mind. You can always choose to keep your inner space clean or empty and you must. So when you release everything from your system, it automatically helps the other person to release from their system. This is one thing.
Secondly, it is very important to release lumps or clumps of “negative” energy rather than hold it. Energy can never be negative, but its use sometimes becomes negative. If you have bad feelings, it’s the same energy which is being used for negative effect. If you have knowingly or unknowingly hurt your parents and if they are in the body, you must do whatever you can for them within your capacity. Imagine they are not in the body. Take care of all people, consider them as your parents or consider them as your relatives, whatever. Then do whatever you can for them. So in a way, in consciousness, everything gets erased. So it is important for you to let go which is the purpose of the Power of Purity meditation.
Thirdly, you should also help the helpless so that whatever wrong you might have done in the past gets erased. For e.g. if you could not take care of your child well, you take care of the children outside such as abandoned children. Today I was watching a film that mentioned that every year there are on an average one million abandoned children in London in the UK alone. The channel where they have posted this video on Youtube is called Real Stories. I think you should look at it. ACT Foundation should do something about it. It is an investigation on the children who are thrown out onto the streets and there are so many 14, 15-year-olds. . The usual causes for a child being left in the street are parents splitting, divorcing or the parents cannot take care of the child any more. They say in London that the government is finding it difficult to take care of them. So when you take care of them in whichever way, even if you are educating them, giving them food, guidance or even meditation for that matter, adding value to those people’s lives, who have nobody, automatically so many things get cleansed in your lineage path, i.e. from your ancestral line. This is what we call a great child – a child who has done something for the lineage. Not just accumulating wealth, actually accumulating wealth will not help, but being good, doing good, cleanses the path to the past and the future generations, that will be the biggest gift you can give with your existence. That will be the highest gift you are delivering with your existence because all the people in the lineage on the parents’ side (both father’s and mother’s side) as well as their children to come, will be benefitted. They will have a better life. Actually, it is a responsibility and duty of every citizen, every individual to be socially worthwhile – to be rich inside and express it outside.
Thus Spake Mohanji 