Pareen (Host): Good morning! Good evening to you if you are joining us from across the world! Welcoming you all to 10 on 10 on 10, where we all come together on the 10th of every month at 10 O’clock to meditate for 10 minutes; to merge with our collective consciousness!
Today our guest, who is guiding us, is none other than the world-renowned humanitarian, Mohanji, who believes that Humanity is our religion and Ahimsa is the way to practice it. He has devoted his life to making people aware of the higher goals such as kindness, love, and compassion and continues to strive to do this, each day.
I am very grateful to him for agreeing to guide us through this meditation today. So without much ado, Mohanji, please take it away!
Mohanji: Thank you, Pareen. Good day to all you who are listening. Without much description, I will start with the meditation.
Mohanji starts the meditation process (3min-13.08)
Pareen: I can feel a wave of calm gushing through me. We have one or two questions which we would like to ask if it is allowed.
The first question is a lot of times; people are not in touch with the compassion that resides within them. Is there a way that we can assist people in looking within and finding that compassion within, especially when it comes to expressing it towards animals?
Mohanji: The best message you can give to the world is your life if you live it. Like we talk about Mahatma Gandhi, we talk about various great leaders or legends of the past, because they lived what they believed in. The preaching and talking about it to people may have very little effect. But when you live it, it has a great effect. The biggest lesson, we can give to the world is ourselves.
We have to invest in, what we believe in; that will become a message to the world.
Mohanji
So, if we really want the world to be compassionate, we should exercise it, and we should do it, and deliver it to the world, consistently. And also, sometimes when we express compassion and kindness, unconditionally, the society may not accept it. But society will remember it. Initially, people may ridicule; people may not appreciate it; people may not accept it. But eventually, people will honour it, saying that this man or this woman was consistent in his or her conviction.
Our biggest message, the greatest message is ourselves; how we live; what we believe in, and how much determination we have, in expressing our conviction.
Mohanji
Pareen: Yes. That’s indeed a powerful message! Be the change you want to see.
Mohanji: Yes
Pareen: This will be our final question. Today being the World mental health day, it’s really important that, as activists, we take care of our mental health. Our activism comes from a place of caring, a place of love. How can we give back to ourselves and keep reminding ourselves that we need to sometimes, maybe hit reset ourselves, as well?
Mohanji: Mental health has become a question in the world because we have become unnatural, most of the time. The society or the education system has created people who are conducive or compliant, to the social, religious or other structure we have. But we are not like that.
We are a flow; we are like a river. We are natural, like a child!
A small child, is always natural, always happy, being itself. The moment we started growing up, we decided that we are adults and hence have to behave in a certain way. We have to present ourselves in a certain way, maybe even in a hypocritical way; we can see the hypocrisy also. We are projecting what we are not in various situations. All this has made us unnatural. So, we have to get back to our natural state; being ourselves, being totally ourselves.
How do we measure that state? It’s very simple. When you are natural, you’re effortless. When you are unnatural, when you have to wear a mask, you have to make an effort for it. Like for example, anger is not natural. Anger is something that violates the inside, right? But love is natural; it doesn’t violate anything inside; Kindness is natural! Compassion is natural!
So, we have to go natural, and what expands you, what makes you happy, liberated, and free, that is exactly what we should perform.
And as I said earlier, not everybody may accept you as naturally as you are, because people bring expectations. This is their problem. We are not here to cater to the expectations of other people. We are here to demonstrate what we believe in; that is our expression. Our natural expression, or what we are, as we express it, that’s the most authentic thing. But if you try to be somebody else, if you try to pretend, if you try to adapt to some requirement of the society, which we are not; then it will all go crazy.
The basic reason for the mental or emotional fluctuations is because of these unnatural things; because of compulsions. We are compulsively doing things, or are compelled to follow certain principles or methods, which is not suitable for us. I always believe that mental health is a serious affair; we have to start from the school days.
When we put a lot of pressure on a child to study that which a child doesn’t have a taste for, a child is never natural. And we bring up a child to study for the sake of a job or career or money. The child has no time to be himself or herself. This is a fundamental issue. That is why we have to discuss mental health. Such a problem leads to depression and various complexes. It also leads to a feeling that life is not good; that life can never be justified, and so on. People commit suicide, right? All these extreme situations are happening because we have not identified the imbalances happening due to social pressure.
At the same time, in our old system, we had the balance. We know that children were taught what they are suitable for. They were not taught something as per the social needs. And such people lived well; a person likes to make clothes will make clothes; some person likes to do cobbler work, they will do that; someone will become a doctor. A person’s inclinations will take the person forward. So, this is important. We need to understand; everybody is unique. Nobody’s higher; nobody’s lower; nobody is equal. All of us are unique, and that uniqueness is exactly what makes our minds stable. Understanding that uniqueness, accepting that uniqueness, expressing that uniqueness, makes us stable. We deserve it; we have the right for it.
It is our responsibility as adults to take care of children, and also the society as every child is the property of society. Society has the responsibility; society has to bring up children to be as unique as possible so that the world will be brilliant. Whenever there is inequality, whenever there is mental imbalance; there is violence. We can cut down on all the violence and also set aside the religions and look at Humanity as the most important thing in the world. You know, it’s not about religious dogmas, it’s about Humanity.
And what we can do as human beings in the world, how we can take care of the world, how can we deliver a better world to the next generation. This should be our only objective in this world.
Pareen: Yes. Indeed, being true to ourselves and following that path and letting everyone else be on their journey as well.
Mohanji: Lead by example.
Pareen: Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us today.
Mohanji: Thank you for inviting me. And thanks to all of you for being here with us.
Many years ago, I think it was 14 years ago, when I used to write blogs, I was not known as Mohanji at that time. One young boy wrote to me. He was probably in his teens. He was walking towards his school. He found a small lamb tied to a post near the slaughterhouse, waiting to be slaughtered. He felt very bad. He did not know what to do. And when he came near the lamb, the lamb was trying to come to him, even though he was tied to the post. He was trying to come near him with the hope that he would be rescued. The boy went to the butcher. And he told the butcher, “I want to buy this lamb.” The butcher thought it was a joke. So, he told him a price which was very expensive. The boy asked the butcher, “Please, can you wait for me? I’ll bring the money.” The butcher jokingly said, “Okay, I’ll wait for you.”
PC: Google images – Lamb tied to a Post
He (the boy) didn’t go to school, he went back home. And he tried to get the money. He was not a rich boy. He tried to get bits and pieces of money which was not sufficient for buying that lamb. Then, he went to a shop in the neighbourhood from where he used to buy grocery. And he requested the shopkeeper, “Can you give me some money?” The shopkeeper said, “How much do you want?” He asked for whatever was the balance amount needed. The shopkeeper gave him the money. Thus he somehow found the money. He brought the money to the butcher, and the butcher had kept his promise. He did not slaughter that small lamb. He had kept his promise. Then he said, “There’s a great demand for lamb meat today. I can’t really sell this lamb to you because I don’t have any more lambs to the slaughter, I can’t give another lamb.” Then the boy started crying. He said, “I want this lamb. I’ve taken so much effort to bring this money to you.” And the butcher said, “I will give you this lamb”, and he took the money, a little bit less than what he had asked for.
PC: Google images – Butcher
The boy then bought that lamb and took the lamb home. He then wrote to me saying, “Mohanji, because of your stories. I did this today. I feel great, but then now I feel that a lot of lambs, cows and calves are slaughtered every day, what will I do?”
PC: Google Images – The boy with the lamb
I told him, “I am proud of you. You actually practised what you believed in. You rescued one lamb. That’s a big message to the world about your compassion. You can’t change the world easily. The world will be in its own way because it’s a taste which the world has cultivated over time. You cannot rescue all the lambs, and all the cows and calves, or all the animals which are being slaughtered. Millions of animals are slaughtered every day. We can’t rescue all of them. We can’t. A few compassionate people cannot change the world. But at least you have made this effort and that will travel. You have given a message to the world. And eventually, I’m sure you will set up a sanctuary, in which animals will be saved and people will be inspired by your activity.”
I was really impressed that my message worked on somebody and they literally acted on it. What I’m trying to say is that we are always talking about what is needed to be done in the world. How many people listen to it and forget it? How many people act on it? That makes the difference. When I say something, I say it with conviction. I’m sure of what I’m saying. I don’t insist that you should follow it. But if you follow it, there would be a transformation. This small boy had an inner transformation. He got the courage to do more for the animal kingdom, which is our duty, our responsibility.
So, (even though probably a thousand people would have read my blog), this small boy acted on it. And that made a big difference. When I see these pictures, and when I see this agony the animals go through during their last moments; I feel the world badly needs Ahimsa. Think about it.
Welcome to Mohanji Speaks. These are answers to questions from listeners. Thank you for sending them. Keep sending them. I will try to answer them as best as I can.
Speaker: This is the final podcast in a three-part podcast series on the topic of unconditional love, based on questions from a listener. This one concludes following on from the question, how does the unconditional love of a master operate?
Mohanji: The basic thing that chains us are our patterns, our inclinations, tendencies. That’s what we entertain. We fight to keep it. We don’t allow it to be broken. And that’s exactly what should go to connect to yourself. You are not your patterns. You are not your patterns; you are not your inclinations and tendencies. You’re not your desires, they all come and go. They don’t stay. So, once you understand that, just imagine your freedom.
When a master has understood this, that is what is mastery. He has understood life, he has understood the patterns, he has understood the likes and dislikes, inclinations, and all those things. When has he become freedom? When you become something, how do you look at the world? As you are, right? So, he has recognized what is real freedom. He sees the world as freedom, acceptance happens. So, he accepts everybody as they are, not as he wants them to be. That is their job. If a person wants to evolve beyond their mind, a Master is available as a benchmark. But Master never says, “Become me.” What will a Master say? “I’m available, like a mirror, you can look at me and find yourself.”
When you look at the mirror, you don’t see the mirror, you see yourself; the image in the mirror and the mirror stays neutral. A mirror never says, “You must look at me”, or “You must look at the mirror”, it’s your choice. You go and look at the mirror, you’ll find yourself; you see yourself as you are at that time. That’s exactly how the Master projects you back. Master gives you yourself as you are, at that time. You come to a Master with anger, the Master will reflect back anger. You come to a Master with love, the Master reflects back the love, as it is, as you are at that time, that’s what is getting reflected. Another time you come back with a lot of affection, love, care; a Master becomes that.
So, the Master will be a true mirror always, because he has no expectations. He is total freedom. Just like a mirror, he’s totally free. If your face is not acceptable to you, a mirror has nothing to do with it. Just like that, if you’re not really acceptable to yourself, the mirror will only project that, and you blame the mirror for your face? That is stupidity. That’s non-understanding. A Master operates that way like a true mirror, reflects you as you are without expectations. And mostly we don’t like a Master, because we don’t like our own face, not because the Master is bad. Master gives you what you are. Master reflects you as you are. Same thing. Society judges a Master, “Oh, you should not reflect exactly what he is, or she is, you should give something different.” That is said because society manipulates thoughts. General mind manipulates thoughts, which means pretense; pretension happens, right? Pretension. You have a thought, an original thought, you think again. Can I actually express this? Then your mind will say, “No, it’s inappropriate.” So, what happens? Manipulation happens. Society has masks, face caps, they mask and provide to the society, only what is acceptable, which is manipulation basically. But it is like a small child. You’re able to express to the world, your likes and dislikes, like small children, toddlers – they have no worries about society, they will cry if they need food. They want to sleep, they will sleep, they wouldn’t care what the society thinks. That’s the true innocent existence and a Master becomes like that.
When you have crossed over your mind, your attachment to the world outside, your likes and dislikes are in control, you have no particular interest with the world. But at the same time, you are enjoying the world unconditionally. Then the Master becomes innocent. That is mastery. A sign of mastery is innocence, like Shiva, we say Bolenath – innocent. Because he’s mastered everything. And he is spontaneous, flexible, flowing; that’s mastery. So, they can only reflect what is in front of them. They cannot be different. So, if you ask a Master, “Why are you doing like this? Why are you not trying to change people coming in front of you?” That’s not their problem. You don’t have to change anybody. You don’t have to convert anybody. You don’t have to transform anybody. You are the transformation. And that’s the message you’re giving to the world. You are contentment. You are peace. This message is what you are living and portraying. Looking at it, connecting deeply, integrating into their consciousness, anybody can change to the same state. That option and provision are given, but they are not sitting to convert anybody.
Conversion is a very, very ugly thing; you just change your shirt, inside you are the same. That is conversion. Here it is not that. Transformation.
Transformation is finding yourself. One who has found himself is a Master, and when connecting to that person, you found yourself, then you attained mastery. Who will connect to the Master completely, as he is? 1%. Rest are all coming with expectations, so they get only as per their capacities. That’s why conflict happens. Society accuses a Master because society expects things from the Master. It puts frames, saying that Master should be like this, talk like this, walk like this, behave like this, dress like this. But once you become freedom, you’re a flow, you are flexible. To maintain a frame, you need to have all those – mind, intellect, ego stuff. You have somehow crossed over.
So, how does the Master look at the world? Simple, as freedom; living, walking, talking freedom. Society may not understand that. Society is bound by social, moral, stuff. The society believes this is how it should be, somebody has read in some books etc. Individual uniqueness is never accepted or understood. Associated freedom is also not understood. I don’t mean that freedom means freedom to go and kill somebody. No, no violence. Ahimsa is ‘Paramo Dharma’, greatest Dharma is ahimsa, nonviolence, so that’s not the point here. Freedom is freedom from senses, freedom from the mind, freedom from intellect and ego, freedom from the world, outside world, detachment. This is freedom. A Master lives that, true Master. Not the people who have learned from books and teaching. Learning from books and teachings are different from experience. One drop of experience is better than a thousand books. So, when I say a Master, somebody who has experienced himself, found himself as a Master.
So, this is approximately the answer. Do discuss this with your friends. Contemplate on it and increase your awareness, step by step. Wish you great success in life.
Today, I feel very sad, disappointed. A wild elephant walked into human habitat in search of food. Why does an elephant come into a human territory for food? Because there is no food in the forest. We have encroached into the forest, which belongs to wild animals, and we have made farms for our sake. The elephant that wandered in was alone, lonely, hungry. And she was pregnant. The human breed fed that elephant with a pineapple laden with explosives. The hungry elephant ate that pineapple, which exploded in her mouth. Acute agony, pain and disappointment. The elephant trusted people. She thought they genuinely cared because they gave her food. But the elephant did not understand the treachery, the betrayal of our species, it was badly hurt. It had a baby in its womb. It had to protect the baby. But it knew that it cannot eat food, it’s mouth is totally destroyed. It walked into a river, immersed itself in it, probably to appease the pain, and it died there. The elephant left the body, the soul left the body, it died. Who’s responsible?
We are responsible. What each person of the species does, the whole species is responsible. We are responsible for our insensitivity. The basic cause is hunger. The driving force is hunger. We have insensitively expanded our territories. We have encroached into every sphere; dividers, huge dividers, impregnable dividers. The beings of nature have one simple need: appeasing hunger.
The human greed has wiped out many species on earth. It is still wiping out many species on Earth. Today, it’s World Environment Day. There is no food in forests, there are no forests, so many forests are burned all over the world to create farms; to bring agony and suffering to every species. Human greed, human insensitivity; man is everywhere. 7.5 billion people, 7.5 billion hungry mouths, we are everywhere. Our life has become a spelling mistake. We have lost balance, we have degenerated. When we kill indiscriminately, it’s a sign of sheer degeneracy, it’s not the sign of refinement.
The sign of refinement is compassion, the sign of refinement is nurturing and caring, the sign of refinement is being sensitive to every being around us. Human insensitivity is choking people to death. Human insensitivity is blasting animals to death. Human insensitivity is waging wars. Human insensitivity is releasing viruses into the air, human insensitivity is destroying our own species. When the whole environment is destroyed, what will we do? How will we live? We are creating our own grave. Insensitivity has a huge price. It must not forget that.
In the same state of Kerala, a while ago, a poor, tribal, hungry man stole some food from the village because he was hungry. He was caught and beaten to death. The only reason why he stole some food was that he was hungry. We brand people as thieves. We brand people in the name of colour, caste, country. We brand people and kill them. Our insensitivity has no boundaries.
In mind, we have many boundaries, many barriers, we do not people if they are not like us. We do not like species if they are not useful to us. We breed to kill for our own taste, for our own selfish pleasure. We have a huge price to pay for our sensitivity. We, as a species has to pay a huge price. We cheat, we steal, we betray our own species. We have polluted the environment. We have made gadgets to torture, to kill every species. We have sophisticated machines; war machines, equipment that destroys. A refined generation will never do this. We call ourselves refined and we encroach and disturb families. We take children away from mothers in factory farms.
We wreak havoc in the life of everything. We wreak havoc in the life of all beings, and we call ourselves refined. We sit in air-conditioned offices, we sit in air-conditioned spaces and discuss nature, preservation, nurturing nature, but we do nothing about it. We plant trees, but we don’t nurture them; hypocrisy, insensitivity, human greed, there is a price to pay. There is a price huge price. When we continue to be insensitive, nature strikes back. Nature has put us in confinement by releasing a virus; an invisible virus to tackle a bigger virus called human beings.
Today, I may sound bitter and angry; that’s because time and again, we have spoken about the necessity of being nonviolent. Time and again, I have told Ahimsa, non-violence is necessary for our lives; for the sake of the world, for the sake of the next generations, for the sake of the future of Earth, but we do not understand. We are not understanding. We are not listening. We are still going to supermarkets and buying the dead bodies of babies, small babies of various species. And we believe this is okay. It is definitely not okay.
Every being has the same right to live on Earth. Human beings are not special. We are just one species on Earth. We cannot betray any other species; we cannot betray our own species. We can’t kill people of any species; we have no right. If we have to show our supremacy, it should be with compassion. If we consider human beings as more refined, it has to be through kindness, selflessness, unconditional love, sensitivity. Let there be a better world. We have to repent. We have to seek forgiveness from nature for our insensitivity. We have to educate the new generation, the coming generation, the importance of being sensitive and loving.
Hello, my dear friends. Welcome to Mohanji Speaks. Hope you are doing well. And I hope you’re enjoying the podcasts of the past.
Today, I have a question and this is based on my quote, “Never be apologetic to anyone for being natural and being your true self because you cannot be anything else, authentically.” This is a quote, based on an idea ‘On being yourself.’ So, the question that was asked is, “Can you please explain this?” Maybe this question brings out ego in people and they say, “I am like this, take it or leave it.”
This quote is very true. You cannot be apologetic for being yourself because you are unique; you are neither high, nor low, nor equal to anybody. You are unique. Having said that questions such as these come up; how would you work in the world? How is your disposition in the world? What is the right method? When you are operating from a place of humility, respect, kindness, compassion, unconditional love, and selflessness, there is no way you can go wrong. You do not have to be apologetic for being yourself because you’re yourself, and that’s how the world will look at you. And that’s the flavour you’re adding to the world. You can’t add any other flavour, because everybody else is already taken. So, your best expression is your natural expression in the world. Your best presentation is of yourself, your natural self without prejudices, without masks, and without pretensions.
When you are in this world as yourself, totally, you are actually placing your mark on Earth. People love others when they are being themselves. Not everybody will accept. It is certain that not everybody accepts all that we do. Some people will like it. Some people will dislike it. Whatever we do, there will be opinions. The world is full of opinions and opinions are based on individual views, individual ideas, concepts and theories and many other things.
The world is not unbiased; society is not unbiased. Why is it so? That is because society is looking at people through its eyes, through its spectacles. In this situation, what is the best you can do? The best way to approach it is to be yourself, with all your authenticity, your authentic self, which means your total self. You display your complete self, which is the highest of human potentials, such as compassion, kindness, Ahimsa which means nonviolence and respect. Respect, this means respect for everything; even a cup of water is respected, people are respected, everything on is earth is respected. If you live your life like this, your total authenticity will be well accepted. Arrogance will not be accepted. No one likes arrogant and egoistic people, those who are difficult to handle. You know, they sometimes are very tough to handle, because they are full of ego, pride, anger. You don’t like such people, right? Please stay away from them. You know, as such we are also always in a revenge mode, we are against things, we are fighting things and we do not accept things; we are at loggerheads with people and situations. When we are operating continuously and consistently in this manner, society will avoid us and say, “They are crazy people!” Or call one a crazy man. This is very important to understand. People accept you according to your disposition. Being rude, arrogant and unkind, doesn’t take one far in this world. But being kind, being compassionate, being loving, being respectful being humble, helps. So, your disposition is very important.
There is no compromise here. Good words, caring and nice conversations, humble and respectful behaviour, these carry a lot of weight. But at the same time, I still insist; never be apologetic to anyone for being natural, because it is your birthright to be natural. You are natural by birth and being your true self is important because you cannot be anything else. You are authentic, you have to be authentic. You are unique, you have to be unique; you will be unique; you will remain unique and authentic.
With this thought, I leave you to think it over. Discuss, if you like, amongst your friends and share it as much as you can and try to make the world a better place.
Today, I would like to talk about something which is boiling over in America, and it can boil over, all over the world and this has a root in outright discrimination, racism. Racism is something when some people feel they are superior and some people feel they are inferior. This is an aberration.
I have discussed the unity of consciousness, many times. We are all one, not only human beings, we have been experiencing various dimensions of speciesism. One of the examples is hunting; we decide that we can take some life because we are stronger. If it is for a dire necessity of survival, no problem, that’s understandable. But if it is for pleasure, taking life for our pleasure, or just for being trigger-happy, it’s not acceptable.
Today, we are seeing tremendous violence, all over America, and there is a big threat that this will spill over in many countries across the world. It can be a very serious situation, there can be riots; there has been a prediction that there will be riots. And this situation is not controllable. All the armies of the world may not be able to control it because armies are consisting of people. This is about people; this is about a situation which people created; manmade situation. It’s not easy. It’s not easy to solve, once the fire starts. We have seen that in forest fires, somebody lit a matchstick and it became a forest fire. Here, George Floyd was choked to death. He’s been telling, “I can’t breathe.” And that became a slogan today. People can’t breathe when people breathe over their neck. We are free beings, we are born free, we will die free.
I remember one incident, a small incident. But I felt at that time, “Is there discrimination in the world?” The ship I was travelling in was going towards Basra. So, you’ve got to wait at the mouth of Euphrates and Tigris River, waiting for permission from the American Navy. They will come on board, they will inspect the whole ship to ensure there is no contraband in the ship, and they’ll give permission. We were all asked to come to the deck, stand with hands up, while a young marine will point his machine gun on us, and we will all be standing with hands up until they complete the inspection. And this man was a very good looking, young man. And at one point in time, he started talking to us. Everybody, except the captain who was inside the ship; and all the people including the chief engineer and the chief mate were all outside, including me. And this young officer started talking, “So, do you have a family, where are you from?” and we were all from various nationalities. We had Russians, we had Asians, Indians like me, I think there was only one Indian, I was there, then the captain was British, so everybody, representation of the whole world. At one point in time, he had tears in his eyes, he said, “I really want to go home. I don’t like to do this.” And he almost cried. But then again, he suddenly remembered he’s doing a job and he collected himself. I was thinking, do we have to do like this? Do we have to point a gun at somebody at all? Love is a good solution. Love is good medicine, the best medicine rather. And everybody should feel at home, everywhere.
The kindness of the bishop transformed Jean Valjean in the book of Victor Hugo. I hope my pronunciation is right. I can’t pronounce French well. Victor Hugo demonstrated that kindness works much better than violence. A convict whom nobody wanted, was served well, with love by the bishop. Again, a convict when he displayed his insecurity by stealing the silver candle holders and the police caught him and brought him back to the church, the Bishop said, “I gave it to him. He didn’t steal.” That completely shook the convict from deep within; it completely shook him. And then he became kinder, more compassionate, more loving than the bishop ever was.
We can transform the world. We can transform the world with love. With sincere love, with compassion, with kindness, with understanding, with acceptance, and that’s exactly how we must transform the world. We have to transform the world this way. It’s not only people, we should not ever encourage speciesism. Speciesism is terrible. Imagine, all the species on Earth have to live in fear of one species; the human species, it’s unnatural. We have actually been living insensitively.
When you are patted down your whole body at the airports, you feel miserable. Why do we have to do that? Because we don’t trust people. We don’t trust people, we should have fewer policemen and more counsellors. I’ve told this in many, many forums. We should have fewer policemen, fewer prisons, fewer codes of law. We should have more counsellors, and we should prevent crime. If somebody is resorting to crime, it means there is anger, frustration, insecurity or some kind of aberration inside them, which they have picked up from somewhere. First of all, prevention is always better than cure; but if there is a need for a cure, of course, we have got to sort it out. Again, in a very kind way, not with aggression, not by choking and killing people, not by considering that somebody is inferior and somebody is superior. This world belongs to everybody, but everybody cannot have their own way in the world. It doesn’t work that way.
I used to travel a lot. I’d travel many times every month before the COVID situation. I was on flights most of the time. One time, I was travelling to a European country. This was in Europe and I was asked to step aside while I was going towards the flight. And two cops came and they checked me, I was wearing a seemingly strange dress for them. I was wearing my dhoti and kurta. And they checked my body, then they checked my bag. Then I asked them, “What do you want to know? What do you want to see?” They said, “No, random checking.” So, I asked them, “Is it the colour that’s bothering you?” So, they looked at me sternly. They were warning me not to speak. Maybe my hair, my colour bothered them, and they wanted to know.
The same thing happened one time when I was coming out of Munich airport. I picked up my bags, I was coming out, but then I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, two cops came and stood in front of me, I thought it’s by accident. So, I tried to go beyond them. They stopped me again, they said, “Where are you going?” I said, “To the city.” “Why are you coming here?” I said, “To meet some friends” because I had a few programs there; one program there, not few programs. So, they checked my passport, and then they verified that I have a visa, of course without a visa, I can’t come out of the airport. The Emigration has already stamped it. They asked a few more questions, and I told them, “You should come with me. I’ll introduce you to the people who have come to pick me up, they have already texted me that they are outside.” Then they said, “No, it’s not necessary.” And they allowed me to go. So, I was thinking that they pick up people who look strange. There is a lot of insecurity. There is a lot of doubt and non-acceptance, you know, you can’t be natural.
This is one of the things which Bharat (India) has always been proud of that we accepted everybody here. Before the invasions, think about a scenario where all the people who came here were well-accepted, well-loved, considered as our own. And this culture should spread all over the world. I have always believed in ‘One world one family’, and that’s what I always say, ‘One world one family.’ All are One. The unrest, the unhappiness caused by people, towards people should be totally eradicated, removed. We are all One.
And when I started travelling more and more to conduct programs, I realized that all the people are the same. Everybody has similar emotions, similar needs, not only people, people of all species. Everybody needs love. All they need is love. And genuine love, from the heart, not pretentious love for the sake of something. Genuine, sincere love. And we are capable of doing that, giving that. This is the right time to think, to feel, to display humanity. I always maintained humanity is our religion, and I have always maintained Ahimsa is the way. The rule of the law is Ahimsa, no violence. And we can not, and should not look at somebody as inferior to us, nor superior to us. Nobody in the world is superior nor inferior. We are all unique, beautiful flowers of existence, and we should remain fragrant and loving all the time.
So many people have been killed in the name of racism, in the name of religion, and various other factors. Wars are waged because some people decided they need more, even at the cost of other people’s inconvenience, including death, insensitivity, lack of respect. This is what’s bothered the world all these years. All these generations, even now, are suffering because of the suffocation, created by human minds. It’s all in human minds. We decide we are a superior race. We are a superior species. We can do anything we like. We can put animals in the laboratory and without anaesthesia, inflict wounds on them, give them pain, agony, frustration and death. We do the same in prisons. Millions of people were burnt alive, suffocated to death by regimes. Pol Pot decided bullets are expensive and precious, so he asked his soldiers to bang the heads of children on the walls, and on the trees, and kill them. These are human expressions. These are abnormal human expressions. We have seen it all; dictators, political greed, hunger for power, pseudo supremacy, feelings of supremacy, superiority complex.
We need counselling. The world should have lots of counsellors; people who can psychologically cure, and release people from these prisons of complexes, walls. We have created many walls. The mind is the biggest wall. The external expression of the walls that we have created, we can see everywhere; supremacy, caste, creed, country, culture, colour, community, religion, everywhere. We believe we are right, and everybody else is wrong, all of us believe. 7.5 billion people believe that we are the only right people; what we think is the right thing, and everybody else is wrong. And this causes a lot of pain in the world. Separation, suffocation. We can’t breathe, we can’t breathe.
It’s important to understand and this time is very important, very explosive time. People have had enough, they said enough is enough. Now it’s time, but then can violence change anything? No, it leaves more wounds. Violence always leaves wounds, at least in the mind. What is the solution? Harmony is the solution. How? Listening. People should listen. We should understand people, we should help people, appreciate people.
I started the Early Birds Club with this thing in my mind. I wanted to create a world family. One World, one family. This was my aim, and this is still my aim. Where we unite children with children, teenagers with teenagers, women with women; men with men and adults together. So, a global unification of unity through compassion, kindness, unconditional love; the highest of human expressions. When we consistently express non-violence in thoughts, words, action, we become a refined human being. And this is our birthright and this is what we are. Non-violence is our responsibility. Every child is the responsibility of society. It’s not just the parents. Society creates people, not the parents, they bring forth a generation, but society maintains them. When we have discrimination, we think that somebody is better than the other, through intellectual supremacy, emotional supremacy, financial supremacy, or just a superiority complex. This is the way the world has always been.
If you look at the history of mankind, why did we wage all these wars? What did we gain? Millions of people perished in wars. Millions of people died because of religions. Religion is supposed to unite people with God. But we are separating people, and discriminating people and looking at people in terms of religion, and thus dividing more and more. We have enough divisions in the world. And the attitude that if you do not believe what I believe in, I hate you; very wrong attitude. Its degeneracy of human existence, we have experienced that time and again. What we see today is the degeneracy of human consciousness to base levels of ignorance. Any violence, any kind of violence is rooted in ignorance. A compassionate mind cannot be violent. Non-violence is refinement; violence is ignorance, lack of refinement, degeneracy.
George Floyd is just an icon. An example. He is an example of the frustration of generations. He’s not the first one who died this way. There have been many before. But now it has reached a point where people said enough is enough. And authorities, governments, who have come out of people, cannot ignore it anymore. We do not know which way, a mob effect will turn. We don’t know. Like Marc Antony said in Julius Caesar, ‘Mischief, thou art afoot, take what course thou wilt’ means when the mob rises, what it will create, which way it will turn, nobody knows. No control. Nobody can control it.
It’s time to wake up. Wake up to ourselves, look at ourselves, accept ourselves, accept the world. There are no guests in the world. For a guest to happen, there should be a host. There are no hosts nor guests, everybody is at home here. This is everybody’s home; beyond species, beyond caste, creed, country, culture, colour, religions. We are humanity, only one religion, humanity; only one law, nonviolence; only one medicine, unconditional love; only one education, compassion. I urge you to think about it, and spread this message far and wide. We are one world. We are one family. Let us rise together for the sake of humanity and peace. Peace will not happen outside, until and unless peace happens inside. Peace is what we are. Peace is our birthright. But for peace to happen, awareness should happen. For peace to happen, we must understand that every being is important, on the Mother Earth. All are equal. No speciesism, no religion, no racism. We are all one. We just want a peaceful existence. We just want to love. We just want to be cared for. We like to be understood. We like to be appreciated. We just have to live. We want to live.
Having said that, I would like you to contemplate, introspect; how deep is your love? It is important. We all must understand that we are not aliens here. This is our home and we all should live harmoniously.
We have been witnessing the developments in the world. We have seen the economic meltdown taking root, taking its shape. We have seen how countries react. We have seen how people react and how depressing it is to be uncertain about anything. We are seeing all this. Are you witnessing this drama unfolding? Witness! It’s interesting to watch. It is also interesting to see what happens inside us.
Human greed or human selfishness has divided the world so much in the name of religion, in the name of language, in the name of so many other factors. But many of these divisions did not give any value to human existence, this is what I feel. I strongly feel that. Humanity has not improved over the years, in the last 50 years, hundred years, 150 years, or 200 years. We have over emphasized on religions, religious divisions and finally, we ended up looking at people in terms of religions, not humans, not a species. Essentially, we need to look at everything as one. Every species has its own value. Every human being is from one species – human species. So, what should be the right operating method? What should be the religion? Humanity! What is the right sign of refinement? Kindness, compassion, selflessness. So, if selfishness has divided the world, it takes selflessness to unite the world. This is a great time and opportunity to unite the world through selflessness, through goodness, through kindness, through unconditional love, through compassion. It is a very good opportunity.
Today, I heard that all the shopping malls are closed, all the film, movie theatres are closed, all the swimming pools and gyms are closed, and airports are almost closed with very few flights. When all these things are happening, it means most of our public, social gathering, locations and occasions are taken away.
How do we feel?
We feel bottled up. We feel suffocated. This feeling of suffocation should be used in a positive way.
Number one is Introspection. What in us is reacting to what? What is bothering us, what is affecting us?
Secondly, even if you have money, you do not know, you do not have avenues for spending it. This is suffocation. You may have many things to do but you can’t do it because transportation is affected, offices are closed. Communication systems are still working, but we do not know whether there will be a shutdown in communication systems also. I heard in some countries, there has been overwhelming communication and the systems got shut down, just crashed temporarily but that is suffocation. That is also suffocation.
Today fortunately, we can talk. I’m talking and you can listen, we are discussing. We are lucky to have that. But we do not know for how long. 100 years ago or 200 years ago, it was not possible to talk and feel each other so freely. Today we have it. But at the same time, we have all been gadget-oriented since the last 50 years. We have been depending on gadgets or gadgets have been ruling us, which accented our insensitivity, which accented our ability to be humans because we don’t have to meet people. We don’t need eye contacts. We don’t need to feel people’s emotions, how they feel. Instead, we are only focused on opinions and concepts – concepts of people, opinions of people. So, we eclipsed the truth with all these opinions and concepts; or opinions and concepts eclipsed the real reality – the truth, but we bought it. We bought what the social media is talking; we bought what the mainstream media is talking. We bought or we consumed, what the politicians are speaking, or the religious leaders are speaking. Most of these talks had a profit motive. There is a reason for those talks. That’s not probably benevolent for humanity, in the sense, that if divisions are happening with these conversations, they’re not benevolent for humanity. Selfishness causes divisions. It takes selflessness to cause unification and this is the time for unification.
One virus has actually put a question mark in front of our eyes. What are you? What is life? Every animal on this earth has been asking humans this question all the time, non-verbally because they can’t talk. If any of the animals can talk, the stories they would say would literally shake us. We haven’t thought about that. The torture and the suffering of all the beings, even human beings for that matter, has been a cause for concern. Definitely.
And with this new economic meltdown, people are scrambling or the governments are scrambling to amass whatever they can hold on and help stabilize the economies. I believe that they will think twice before waging wars, otherwise, wars were rampant. There have been too many wars, too many complications. Too many things which were not good for humanity has been happening all the time. We have been quite insensitive about it. We’ve been quite unconcerned about it. We never cared about it.
So, this is indeed the time when you need to think. Introspect. Connect to yourself, feel yourself, ask questions to yourself, as to you versus this world that we use for our experiences. We are using this platform called world for our own experiences. We are using this unconsciously, almost taken it for granted. We never really cared how the earth feels because we are walking on it. It is time. It’s really time to think. It’s time to think beyond caste, country, culture, colour, community and religion. It is time. It is time to reconsider non-violence – Ahimsa – in thoughts, words, and actions. It’s time. That lifestyle of love, compassion, kindness is essential today. This is needed for the future of earth and the future of man on earth, future of human beings on earth because we never cared about forests. We never cared about ecology. We never actually built anything positive from this whole lifestyle. Instead, we have been demanding more and more. We have been screaming for rights, while we never talked about responsibilities.
It is our responsibility to take care of the nature. It is our responsibility to care about the human species. It’s our responsibility to care about all the species because we are supposedly a refined species. How do we know we are refined? If our attitude is that of unconscious insensitivity, we are not refined. Refinement should be visible through kindness, compassion and we should unite the world through love. Love is a very powerful tool. You can never underestimate it. Today, we cannot even hug a person or shake hands with a person. We can’t express humanity in this condition of virus. Look at what we have seen and what we are experiencing, right now. These are all warning bells. These are warning signs, signs of times. These are signs of times.
So, we all should reach out to all whom we can and spread the positivity. Bring the unity, bring humanity to life. Human beings should bring humanity. The right religion for human beings is humanity. You can worship any way you like, based on your gunas. How is your disposition? How is your orientation? How is your inclination? You can worship any God, any religion, doesn’t matter; but humanity first, beyond religions. Religions cannot save you in these kinds of times, humanity can. Humanity should be expressed through no wars, no discord, no division; this is important.
Now again, we are experiencing a few days of isolation. We are experiencing restrictions. We are experiencing so many things which should give us a good amount of realization. It should lead to transformation.
In my life, I have never told anybody that I’m enlightened. I have never told anybody I am their guru or I am the master or I am a great personality or I have any greatness. All of us have greatness. All of us have realizations sitting in us but it needs an environment, a kind of silence, a kind of stability, to awaken it. And this is the time when you’re getting it.
First and foremost, you as a human being versus the world is the first level of realization. How much of dependency we have on materials, people, relations, locations, time, spaces, and activities. Look at the levels of dependency! That’s reflected in the levels of suffocation, when it’s not accessible. This is the first point.
Second point – look within and see what’s getting affected within you, because of non-availability of many of these things.
The third point is – are you affected the same way when you are sleeping, when you are dreaming, etc. So, this is only during the waking state when your identifications are strong.
Human beings have three predominant energy disposition or energy expressions. It’s called Iccha Shakti, Jnana Shakti, and Kriya Shakti. Iccha Shakti is willpower. Jnana Shakti is the power of knowledge and Kriya Shakti is the power of action. If these are balanced, your life is effective. When I say effective life, it is the life where you live as a human being, an epitome of kindness and compassion, unconditional love, selflessness, living for the world. That is what I say effective life. It is not living for oneself – eating, drinking, sleeping, procrastinating, asking more and more from Earth, talking or shouting rights and having no responsibilities. That is not human existence. I do not call that a refined existence.
So, Iccha Shakti is the power of will. Its source is vision. Kriya Shakti is the power of action. Its source is faith, belief. If you do not have faith and belief in your action, it is weak action. Likewise, if you do not have power of will – will power combined with the will for action, the actions are not effective. We have power of knowledge that has to come from truth, the source is truth. So, source is truth for the knowledge, while source is belief, faith for action.
Root yourself in some faith – one faith – one particular thing which you really trust to have faith, whichever, it doesn’t matter. You are comfortable; you should be feeling good with it. Root yourself there. When you root yourself on one particular belief system – belief, faith – that will strengthen your will for action. Whenever we say, “Oh, I’m not feeling like doing it, I have inertia, I can’t do it,” it’s a sign that there is no belief, proper root belief, well rooted belief, that is a sign. So, it is time you rooted yourself on proper, effective belief system. You can have a belief in one man whom you want to trust as a person who’s stable, or a system, or yourself. You should have faith in something. That’s your choice. You can choose. Nobody is higher, nobody is lower. Nobody is equal. Everybody is unique. Please remember, we are master material. We have Iccha Shakti, Jnana Shakti and Kriya Shakti; power of knowledge, power of will and power of action. This is in us. If there is imbalance, we are ineffective in this world. So, truth is the root or the cause or the source for the power of knowledge. Vision is the source for the power of will. You should have a proper vision, higher vision, larger vision and that vision will help you in your journey further because you have clarity. If vision is perfect, clarity is sure. This will happen. And then Kriya Shakti, believe in your vision, trust it and act on it. Just think because your heart is beating, you will make many hearts happy without expectation, without prejudice. You have no enemies. Enmity is an aberration. It is a perversion. We always look at enemies. That’s a perversion. That’s not true. Just because we disagree, are they enemies? If somebody hates you, is that your problem? That’s something sitting in them. We should not be worried about enemies. We should not be worried about obstacles. We should always look at purpose. What is the purpose, the highest good for the world, the goodness factor that you can give into this world? That’s your purpose. That should be the purpose of humankind. That is humanity.
If you have that vision, if you believe in that vision, if you source from the truth of selflessness, truth which is selflessness, compassion, kindness, unconditional love, that’s the reflection of the truth. God, whichever form you are worshiping, doesn’t matter; God is truth. God is omnipresent. God needs nothing from you. God does not punish. We should never fear God. We should love God and express godliness through kindness, compassion, unconditional love, forgiveness; letting go of the past, letting go of bad emotions, letting go of everything negative. Focus on positive. Focus on truth. Act, act right now. Tomorrow, we do not know. All you have is today; this time, this space, this opportunity. We have never seen tomorrow. Nobody has seen tomorrow. Tomorrow will happen, that time you realize it is happening.
So come on, get on, and rejuvenate people. As Vivekananda said, awake. Arise. Get on with your right action. I love you. I’m with you.
Peace is your birthright. So is freedom. Freedom exists when your expectation levels are low. Freedom is when you need less from the world.
Q:I’m trying to see everyone as Mohanji and treat them with love and respect. But when they say and do things that are unlike Mohanji, it becomes very challenging, how can I overcome this?
M: I think the first part is the right part. You see everybody as Mohanji but do not place any conditions. The first part of the statement is fine, but the second part has conditions; but no one person can behave exactly like another. So we can’t expect that everyone will behave just as we want. Remove the conditions and say “let this person behave just as he wishes to, no problem. It is another expression of Mohanji.” When we do not have conditions, when we do not have expectations, we will have a life, which is more complete; instead when we have expectations, we will have almost equal amount of disappointments. This world is a mixture of various things. It is also a mystery. We don’t know why certain behavior pattern happens in people, although of course, there is a root for it. As we interact in the society, we do not understand why certain people behave in certain ways. They have their past to work on. And their expressions are connected to their past. We can’t do anything about it. The only thing you can do is stop being affected. When I say stop being affected, it means that all these things are happening. However, at the same time, nothing touches you. It means your expectation level is extremely low. If something happens, that is good; but if it is not happening, that is alright too. You can’t predict anyone’s behavior pattern.
I have seen that in my life too; you do your best but some people turn around, say it was not good enough and leave. At times they even talk poorly about you. Jesus healed many lepers, (those suffering from leprosy). In those days, there was no cure for leprosy. When people contracted the disease they were left in caves with the doors sealed, because there was no cure. Jesus healed them. Many were healed, but none of them stopped to turn back and say, “Thank you”! They were busy merging into the society as healthy people! This is society. You may respect the society you live in, there’s no guarantee that society will respect you. You may honor the society, there is no guarantee that society will honor you; you may love the society, but there is no guarantee that society will love you too!
However, when you are not expecting any of these, you experience freedom. It’s your birthright to experience freedom and freedom can be experienced only when our expectation levels are very low. Please understand that whatever we do, we usually also place our expectations alongside. So the effect of that activity is diluted immediately.
When we expect a result, our actions are weak, because we are focused on the result rather than the action. Instead, forget about the result and focus on the action.
What will happen? You will have no stress connected to the result. Do your job well, to the best of your ability; do your homework before you start the work and do it perfectly. Leave what happens as a result of the action to destiny. This way you can be free.
So, definitely look at everybody as Mohanji if you love Mohanji, but without any conditions. Hence I said the first part of the question is beautiful, you look at everybody as Mohanji. You will then try to love and respect them. The second part is connected to expectation, “Because they are not behaving the same way as Mohanji, I have disappointments.” Such disappointments are caused by expectations or conditions and they have to be removed. In fact one has to be trained to remove such expectations; to think, “I do my best. But I don’t expect anything back”. Again, don’t allow people to treat you as a doormat. When you see that someone looks at you as a potential doormat, withdraw from there. Say, “I’m not here to be a doormat, I will do whatever I can to serve you but I’m an individual.” Whenever you feel that you’re suffocated with a place or an activity or an environment, move away and be peaceful.
Peace is your birthright. So is freedom. Freedom exists when your expectation levels are low. Freedom is when you need less from the world.
You have every right to be free,
Every right to be contented,
Every right to be relaxed in this life.
Q: My dog is suffering. And my vet recommends that we euthanize him, I don’t feel comfortable with this decision. Can we make a decision on when our pets could die?
M: I think you don’t have to take any decision in this case. Every being that is born has a plan of death. Do you think that we will exist in the body forever? We will also die! Every being that is born will die. We can’t look at a dog or a cat or any other being connected to us in our life as our property. They are not! They are beings that came to your life because of a karmic collaboration. They took birth at a certain time and will die at certain time. You have no control over it. If you decide to kill them because they are sick, will you do the same to your family members? Suppose someone in your family is unwell and the doctor says that he is not sure if he will be able to cure that person, will you kill him too? Every being has the right to live, as long as it takes. Every being goes through pleasures and pains of life, like us. The need is for extraordinary patience, compassion and kindness.
I do not take any decision on killing any life. That is not the way we should handle life. We should allow everything to be natural. If a dog had been out in the street/nature, it will go through the natural process of life. Life is a flow. Every being connected to us is equal to us, it is not that we can make a decision for them.
Unfortunately, the veterinary doctors and various institutions, only focus on securing the life of human beings. A person I know told me that he had pet birds and one bird was unwell. He took this bird to a doctor and the doctor killed the bird since it was not well! He then suggested that my friend could buy another bird to replace it, as if it is just another object or property! They don’t have that feeling of life in expression!
Hence those of us who are walking the path of spirituality should have extraordinary levels of compassion and we should always nurture life. Also, we should not, ever, promote or support any kind of destruction. That is why I am completely against abortions. I’m completely against any kind of artificial or compulsive killing. I propagate vegan for the very same reason; no torture, no killing. I don’t agree that we have right to do that.
When we cannot create life and give birth to a similar species (I am not talking of womb birth here), we also do not have the right to kill. When we cannot give life, we cannot give death either. This is my feeling.
Q: Along the same topic, how to remain non-violent when I’m dealing with pests and bugs? Is it okay to terminate some of them in order to live hygienically?
M: Well, there are two points we should consider here. One is that everyone has instincts i.e. animals, birds and humans. The primary instinct is the instinct of survival. Then we have intelligence. Intelligence is predominantly for human beings. Most animals operate at the level of a three-year-old human child. As for instincts, there are two to three variations. Most of our behavior patterns are connected to instincts; we have the instinct for survival, for food and for self-protection. We need food to survive. You can see that all the birds and animals possess this self-protection mode. Thus all that we do to try to prevent insects from entering the house is related to self-protection. I would say that self-protection is our right. We must protect ourselves because self-protection is part of the instinctual mode in every species. This is my opinion.
Q: So I read somewhere on Facebook, that when an individual does your Aarati, it helps energize everyone connected to you and the tradition. How does it do that?
M: Every Aarati is a purifier. When we wave the lamp, it purifies the environment and the energy of the place becomes better. It is also an expression of gratitude. Gratitude opens us up for the grace to flow. The nature of an Aarati is to rejuvenate the whole area. Hence rejuvenation happens wherever you are. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that if you do Aarati in one place, people at another place are benefited. I doubt it. It is more a local thing. It helps purify the environment in that area. With continuous performance of Aarati you will see a palpable difference in the entire energy of the room.
Q: Does enlightenment happen to the soul or the mind?
M: Enlightenment is a state that already exists; only the mind factor and the “I” factor – “I” means ego, mind and intellect put together, are not allowing us to believe it. “Enlightenment” is just being aware of something that already exists; it is not something which comes from outside. Hence enlightenment is our natural state; it is what we are, already.
Mind matter consists of mind, intellect and ego and it works in its own way, with the external world. Since we travel with these senses and the mind matter to the outside world, when we look at ourselves, in terms of me and mine, me as an individual and mine as in, my property, my wealth, my relationship, and so on, we do not feel that oneness or fullness.
That is why I say that when you are fully connected to yourself, that is, mind, body, intellect and ego and spirit are all together, what you experience is fullness and completion. That is the state of enlightenment, where you feel yourself in everything, you don’t see any difference, you will not criticize or judge, you will not have prejudices, you will not hate anybody, and you will not take revenge. This happens when you are fully within yourself. You see people, birds, animals and places as expressions. Also you will feel, you will know that you are one with everything, there is no separation. Also there’ll be no egocentric ownership, there’ll be no ownership based on “mine”. Mind dissolves at the state of no thought, which is Nirvichara Samadhi.
When mind dissolves, mind matter also dissolves, and then you start seeing only the truth. The truth is that life goes without the past, present and future, which means there is no dimensional shift, no dimensional difference. Also you are one with this whole life, you are life! You become life; you are no longer in the relative mode, such as me and you, this and that, etc. That will end and you will start seeing the perpetual life, which is static and stable. That is your state of enlightenment.
Q: If the environment is of low frequency, and we cannot avoid the environment or people, how does one cope so not to succumb to these low frequencies such as drugs, alcohol, sensual pleasures, and other terrestrial traps?
M: You can’t control the frequencies that happen in this world. They are at random. But when you start chanting, are connected to your inside, you are occupied within; you will be less affected by the society around you and will be very stable. Nothing can affect you. Those who chant, feel their inside and are stable inside cannot be affected by the outside society.
Today is Easter… when Pilate told Jesus, if you repent for what you said, I will save you, I’ll release you, Jesus said,” No, I meant what I said”. That kind of fearlessness and stability comes from settling within. The only place you can actually settle down and stay stable is within you. Wherever you settle down outside, it is only temporary, that is, until your death.
Q: Is there a sound in silence?
M: Yes, the sound of silence is silence itself. And if you’re talking about physical sounds, which the ears respond to, all the sounds have come out of Silence and all the sounds will dissolve back into silence. So the Sound of Silence is silence itself. The Sound of Silence is the stability which we experience, the contentment, the peacefulness that cannot be explained and the fulfillment.
Q: When we ask God for something, it shows that we are lacking that aspect. But in the Vedic way of worship, when we make the sankalpa, we need to mention why we are doing that sadhana and ask for blessings. Isn’t that an expression of lack?
M: Firstly, is God outside of you? (chuckles) That is a question you need to ask yourself. When you believe that God sits outside, how will you settle inside? The whole point is about settling inside. So, you should clearly understand that God is within and that one aspect of God is already there called the soul aspect, 33% soul aspect. If you really understand the soul aspect and also understand that the God aspect already exists within and you start connecting to it, you will reach the vibrations or frequencies that already exist. When you start existing in those frequencies and you perform homa/ havan (fire ceremony) or tarpan (offering to ancestors), what you’re doing is, you are offering to the fire, whatever you have stored unconsciously. What you have stored unconsciously is something like your cache memory that you now consciously offer to the fire, through each mantra or invocation of the deity. The fire consumes it and releases you from it. So when you look at God outside of you and say, “God, please do something”, we are only expressing our ignorance!
In the Vedic tradition, we have sankalpas, because we are identifying and recognizing the various aspects of existence, such as Earth, wind, water, fire, air and ether. Our great tradition of masters have told us that there is One Supreme Consciousness which is Para Brahma. This Supreme Consciousness has two aspects, the form/ the manifested aspect, and the unmanifested aspect. Both put together is God. So what is tangible, what is intangible, what is created, what is uncreated – all of it is God. Thus God is vast and unfathomable, and you cannot put God into any kind of frame.
Then they said there are 33 crore or 330 million dimensions possible of that God. This means God can take any form, any nature, any emotion, and any frequency possible. From that awareness, the deities were created based on ideals, idols made out of ideals. Ideals can be experienced by you, and by us. Each ideal, each experience has a form, it can be created into a form. So the great masters made forms, frequencies, mantras, structure (structure is like our nervous system), yantras, duration and also worship method. The worship method is the way in which we can preserve it, keep it safe. Thus 330 million aspects were created.
Next the question happened – how can one worship 330 million deities? It’s humanly not possible! They said, “Worship the 33% in you, which is the soul aspect”; the soul aspect is your real aspect. That’s the permanent aspect. 33% is the body or the physical, 33% is mind matter (mind, intellect and ego) and both are temporary, but the soul aspect is permanent. So worship the soul aspect. That way you worship the 330 million aspects of the Supreme consciousness.
In other words, this 33% represent both the manifested and the manifested, “Shivoham”, “I am Shiva”. Based on this, we created the whole structure of existence.
When you understand this clearly, the only place you need to settle down is within and the experience is of absolute stillness and silence, with no sound, and no movement; this stillness is the state of Shiva. We worship Shiva outside or we think about Shiva, knowing fully well that Shiva is within and we already have it. All of us, the 7.5 billion people, the birds, the animals – all beings have it! Hence we are not greater than anyone or less than anyone, no guru, no disciple, nothing! Everyone is the same! It is this awareness and understanding that we need to have when we walk this path. Then, we will not criticize, we will not judge, we will not try to compare, we are all the same.
When you really understand this aspect, you will not be begging. You can only ask for something that you do not have. But what is that you do not have is the question? After all, we are talking about some material things or some positions or possessions. These are temporary anyway because you cannot carry them when you die. You have to leave behind all your possessions and relationships. You can’t carry anything forward. Then what can you actually ask for?
This question will arise in your mind. Then, you will be offering what is stored without your understanding, your cache memory. You will be offering these to the fire one by one and thus emptying yourself. Your entire life will be spent on complete emptying, where you are not accumulating, you’re not collecting, you’re not asking, you are emptying!
In this mode of emptying, you become one with a supreme consciousness, this is liberation. This is complete dissolution.
Above explains the entire process. Now in this mode, the Vedic structure has given us directions, how to do it, how to do sankalpas, “sankalpas” means intentions, how to offer, what to offer, and so on. All the materials that you offer in the fire have something to do with our inside. Everything has a symbolic role to play, while we are offering into the fire.
Through the symbols we are offering what is sitting inside us, such as anger, hatred, jealousy, revenge, pride, ego and other emotions. We offer these to the fire and then finally nothing, not even the mind exists. You are then completely empty. You are also completely free and very powerful. And you are being one with the supreme consciousness.Aham Brahmasmi – I am Brahma. There is no Aham also, Aham is I; there is no “I”, even “I” doesn’t exist; only Brahma exists. This means that the drop does not exist; only the ocean exists. In that mode, you’re totally free. This is path that we are walking.
The path of liberation, the path of complete dissolution, doesn’t stop at enlightenment, because enlightenment is only one part of total dissolution. Total dissolution is where you are completely the ocean and you are experiencing yourself as the ocean all the time, not temporarily, not for some time, but all the time. This is the path, this is the destination. Also, this destination already exists within. You already have it, we are the destination already. We have already arrived! The mind matter has to be dissolved.
During this process, if you keep asking for material things, it is a sign of the mind trying to stay alive. All your fears, your prejudices, likes and dislikes are but signs of the mind trying to stay alive! But you are not the mind. You are well beyond the mind. When you truly understand this, you also understand this whole tapestry. It is so simple and so pure. There’s nothing to distract you from this.
Total dissolution is where you are completely the ocean and you are experiencing yourself as the ocean all the time, not temporarily, not for some time, but all the time.
Q: So I read somewhere on Facebook, that when an individual does your Aarati, it helps energize everyone connected to you and the tradition. How does it do that? 
Thus Spake Mohanji 