Mohanji: Dear friends, 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 question comes from a listener who asks, “How to be totally unselfish?” So, on the face of it, for him or her, people may think that they’re quite unselfish, but deep down, they know that this isn’t 100% true. The heart cannot even feel 100% gratitude or 100% love. So, it’s not total. What can be done to correct the situation?
Mohanji: Nobody is unselfish. We all are selfish in an absolute sense. But in daily life, we can choose to be selfless, that’s our choice. Why did I say that we are all selfish? Only one main reason, because we are karmic beings. What is karma? Primarily, unfulfilled desires. Unfulfilled desires mean desires which seek fulfillment. That means it’s selfish pleasures or selfish fulfilment, contentment, completion. In that context, all of us are selfish, right from childhood. From birth, till death, we are pursuing the completion of our own unfulfilled desires. So, when you look at this, every moment, it’s our satisfaction, our gratification, whatever the activity is. It could be any kind of desire; minor, major, small, big, easy to fulfill, difficult to fulfill, any type of desire, you name it. But it’s all for personal gratification. Where is contentment? Inside us. Where is satisfaction? Inside us. Where is happiness? Inside us. Where is joy, bliss? Everything is inside us. It’s our satisfaction, it’s our gratification. That means we are selfish.
Then, there is this exaggerated version of selfishness, that is connected to things outside of us. Our need for things which are not ours, by merit. It means, we have a desire but we do not often deserve it. What comes to us is what we deserve not all that we desire. What we desire may happen at that time or may not happen as per our eligibility. Sometimes, what we desire happens immediately or sometimes in space and time, much later. A desire, if it is strong enough, if it cannot be fulfilled becomes a pending desire. And that’s the ingredient for further existence.
How can we change the selfishness which we display in the world outside? We can change the way we look at the world. We look at whatever is outside of us, as outside, even if that thing comes in our life or does not come in our life. End of the day, it’s only about a certain set of experience, regarding that object, regarding that person or in association with that person or situation.
Summing up, our life is a bundle of experiences of various levels, various times, various situations. Experiences are the essence of our existence. When we realize or when our awareness grows beyond the selfish feelings of ownership, we understand that end of the day it’s only experience. Like for example, you’ve got to have a place to stay, you need a place to stay, whether it’s a rented house, or it’s your own house. It really doesn’t make a difference as long as you are comfortable, you’re okay. A good place to stay is good enough. But the mind will definitely tell, “No, no, no, but you don’t own it, so you should own it. What if somebody asks you to leave.” Okay, those kinds of things, yes. But finally, when it all boils down, it’s your experience of being in one place or having the shelter. So, this is the way we can look at everything in life. You’re hungry; you have food. What food comes is not important. Did you like the food? If the experience is good, you should accept it.
Like that, if you look at life, narrow it down to the necessity level in terms of experience, then you should be okay. That takes you off the selfish attitude, “I must have it all. I should have better than other people.” Then the competition, the comparison, all those things will not happen; provided you’re happy, you’re contented. That doesn’t mean that you are lethargic. That’s not the point here. It’s not lethargy, it’s not that you don’t do anything at all and think that everything will fall on your lap, it won’t happen that way. But we need to work hard with full awareness, keeping the awareness intact. We should be fully aware, that we are only experiencing life here. We are not owning anything, we can’t own anything permanently. Awareness is the best antidote to tackle selfishness. And compulsive acts of selflessness totally takes it away, eradicates it.
Thank you for listening to this podcast. Contemplate on it. Do discuss with your friends. And let me know what you feel. If you have further questions do send them to me. Thank you.
This question has come from a listener. It’s about explanations on how to stay at the being level. We simply understand what we consist of. We have the physical body, and we have the mind, intellect, and ego as processors. And we have the subtle factor, which energizes all these faculties. In this context, the ego factor maintains doership and ownership of action. It also keeps the personality traits such as possessions and positions.
When we become aware of this, we tend to understand that it’s just an illusion that we have created during our waking state. But we are experiencing life even when we are sleeping, dreaming. When we realize that we have other dimensions, we also have other dimensions, which are equally important, and they also give us experiences, then we can take a step away from ownership of actions to beingness.
Beingness – this simply means just being aware of your words, your actions, and your existence in all planes and in all levels. How to exist in beingness forever or always? Very simple, be aware. Just be aware. Always be aware of all your actions, all your emotions, all the thoughts, all the words, and all the expressions. Everything is spontaneously happening at a particular time, or at different times, in different places, with different sets of people, and we are only gaining experiences out of them. Plus, we are also expressing ourselves in that context. So, through expressions and through experiences, we are having a thing called life. This is what we are… Numerous activities, numerous times, numerous places, different things, but at the same time, we are just experiencing and expressing, so that’s a static thing.
The static thing about life is expressions and experiences. When we become a witness to both of these, we are already at the being level. ‘Being’ is being aware of every activity. Being aware of the consciousness which stays the same in the waking state, dream state, and deep sleep state. We are aware of the consciousness, which is beyond all these states. Even beyond the consciousness, we are being aware of the soul element, which, when it leaves the body, we call it a dead body. We have time here from birth until death. We have experiences out of this space, and we have expressions in this space. This is our life. When we are fully aware of our life in this context, and we are only witnessing it without judging, without criticizing, without comparing, without doing anything, or without having any doership or ownership, then you are free.
I will give you a story to prove this beingness. Saint Vyasa was meditating under a tree near the River Yamuna. And Lord Krishna and his people were on the other side. A group of people came to see Lord Krishna from the village, and they had carried a lot of sweetmeats to be given to Krishna, which Krishna loved. When they came close to the river, they realized the river was flooding, it was overflowing, swollen. And no boatman will take them to the other side, because it was dangerous. So, they decided to sit in front of Vyasa until he opened his eyes after the meditation to ask him what they could do now?
They waited a few hours; Vyasa opened his eyes and saw that a lot of people were sitting in front of him. He asked, “Where are you coming from? Why are you here? What do you want from me?” They explained their story. They came to see Krishna, Krishna was on the other side of the river, and they can’t cross because there was no boatman or boat, there was no boatman willing to take them there. So, they asked him, “What should we do now?” Vyasa asked, “Have you brought something for Krishna?” and they said, “Yes, we have a basket full of sweetmeats which Krishna loves, made out of ghee, made out milk and ghee which Krishna usually used to love. He said, “Show me.” They opened the basket and they showed him, and he started eating. They couldn’t say anything because this was Vyasa. He started eating. He ate almost half the basket, he was pretty hungry. And they couldn’t do anything; they were just looking in awe, and in embarrassment, because they couldn’t tell him please stop because we have to take it to Krishna. Once he finished almost half the basket, he closed it. He said okay now you take it, and come with me. He took them to the river banks of Yamuna. And he said, “If I have not eaten anything, let the river part.” And the river parted. The villagers were surprised. How come? He has been eating in front of our eyes and he’s eaten almost half the stuff from the basket. And he says I have not eaten anything let the river part, and it parted. How come? Anyway, Vyasa said, “Don’t wait – cross.” They crossed the river; they went to the other side and the river came back to its original form. Vyasa stayed on this side. And they were really reluctant to tell Krishna about this or tell Krishna that they haven’t brought anything, because they didn’t want to give Krishna half a basket. While they were walking towards Krishna’s Palace, they saw Krishna resting on a bench in a garden. He was sleeping. They waited. He woke up. Krishna saw them sitting in front of him. And he was excited to see them, his old friends. He asked, “Oh, when did you come? Welcome! I’m happy to see you. By the way, what have you brought?” They were trying to hide the basket and then they said, “Oh we brought some sweetmeats.” ‘Oh no, no, no, don’t give it to me now, I am full of the same thing.”
Saint Vyasa
That means when Vyasa was eating, Krishna’s belly was getting full. That means, in perfect beingness you are everything. So, Vyasa was consuming this in the consciousness of Krishna and Krishna’s belly was getting full. He said’ I’ve eaten the same thing; my belly is full of the same thing. I can’t eat that now but thank you for bringing me.” So that is what Vyasa said, “If I have not eaten. Let the river part,” and it parted because he had not eaten. Even though his body was consuming, his consciousness was merged in Krishna.
If your consciousness is completely merged in the Supreme Consciousness, or if your individual consciousness is completely merged with the Supreme Consciousness, you have no doership, you have no ownership, you have no karma. This is as simple as that.
I hope you have understood this point. Please think about it, ponder on it and try to imbibe it, try to feel it, or try to understand it in a deeper sense.
Welcome to another podcast. Today, we will discuss the subject – illusion. What is illusion? I’ll tell you a story. Probably, you can figure out some aspect of illusion. In Sanskrit, it is called Maya. Maya is a relative truth. Relative truth, it is a truth, but its relative. Relative truth means it has existence, only on a relative level; it doesn’t have existence on the absolute plane.
So, relative truth is what we experience most of the time when we are awake. When we are awake like the sun rises, the mind rises; when we wake up, the mind rises, and then we start perceiving the world around us. And when we sleep, the mind sets. Nothing around us is of importance. So what rises, and what sets, is the relative mind. The mind, which is connected to relative things. But we still have an element of satisfaction, an element of happiness, even in sleep.
So, we are not dependent on any items or any things around us. Our happiness is not dependent on people, places, time, situations, experiences of external nature; we are not that, they are all outside. We are only completely inside when we are sleeping. But we are happy, we are happy with that sleep. There is a satisfaction that is happiness. When we wake up, if somebody asks, “Did you sleep well?” “Yeah, it was a beautiful sleep. It was enjoyable. I was happy.” What is enjoyable in that sleep? This is something which we must perceive so that we will somewhat understand the relative truth.
What we have outside is not always experience. We see so many things outside. Eyes see ears listen. So many things, so many factors we go through every day. But everything is not experienced, imagine there are so many people around. We are not experiencing everybody’s relationship.
I’ll tell you the story, and then I’ll talk further. There was one guy; he was meditating in Ganga, in freezing water for a long time, just to find out the truth of Maya, the illusion, or the relative truth. And finally, one day, God appeared and said, “Why are you meditating on something which is insignificant which you are experiencing and it may not be possible for your intellect to understand it. Why do you want to know?” Then he said, “I would like to know the depth of Maya, illusion.” God said, “In time, you will understand, let time, teach you this lesson.” God disappeared. He was disappointed because he thought that God will give him clarity, but he did not get it. So, while he was sitting there, his children came, he left for his home, and the children took care of him. He was living with his children, but at the same time, he had a deep urge to know the truth of Maya, illusion.
One day, when he was sitting outside on the porch of the house, he heard one beggar singing a song and walking outside on the road. And he had a glimpse of the beggar, he was in tatters. He had no clothes or very little clothes, fully dark and kind of shabby, not at all clean. And he felt a lot of disgust. And also, he felt this is very bad or something like that in his mind, and soon afterwards he died. So, his predominant thought at that time was disgust.
When he was reborn, he was born again, as a beggar. And he had no memory of his past life, and he was walking around, singing songs, just like he had a glimpse in the previous life. He went on like that, he married a woman, but she didn’t live for long. And meanwhile, she had a few children, children also died.
So, he was very sad, he was disoriented and he was wandering all the time. And one day, it so happened that he was wandering through one city and that King of that city had died, and they were trying to find a new king. So, the astrologers or the wise men told that the new king should be chosen by an elephant, by the Royal Palace elephant, a trained one, as it has the power to see who is divine. It was given a garland and the elephant was wandering through the streets, looking for the right person to be the next king. Then he put the garland around the neck of this beggar. Everybody was surprised, but they said this is the decision of God. Then they took this guy, they bathed him and they gave him fresh clothes and they coronated him, he became the king. And he married again, he had a few wives and he had children and all those things.
And he was ruling the country. He had some kind of inclination for a good rule, means without selfishness. He was a good king and he was having a good way to assess the good and the bad and make good decisions. So, everybody liked him. Eight or nine years went on like that. Meanwhile, one day he was walking in the garden outside his palace, and he heard a beggar singing, same like he used to do outside on the road. He immediately called the beggar, and he sat with him and he also started singing. All the palace people, the ministers and the people in the court, they saw this, and they were a bit disappointed. And they were saying, “oh, we did not know the past of this King, we must know.’ They went around their search and they found out that he was born in a beggar’s colony, and he was a beggar himself. This was his story. So, they were very disappointed. A couple of queens committed suicide knowing this. Some ministers also went away and there were so many calamities. This also made him very sad, so he also decided to jump into the fire and die. He jumped into the fire and died.
Suddenly the man who was meditating, or doing penance in the river got up. He realized the illusion, he realized what is untruth. The whole story, that means he’s still alive, but at the same time he saw him dying, him taking birth, him becoming a king; all this happened in about a minute. He realized it was a parallel reality, it was not true. It was a reality. So, God wanted to tell him what is reality and what is illusion.
Was this a reality? While he experienced, everything was real. He had sorrows, he had happiness, and he had everything. But now he realized that he’s not even dead, he’s still there. His sons have not picked him up. So, he was pretty much confused, he did not know what is real, what is untrue, what is not the truth. He was contemplating on it. And then he decided, “Okay, let me do penance again. Let me ask this question to the deity,” whom he was worshipping. And he started doing penance.
And while he was about to do that, one wandering man came to the place where he was sitting. Then he asked, “Who are you, where have you come from?” So, the wandering man said, “I was living in a city, there was a king who was a beggar, but we did not know he was a beggar. So, we coronated him as a king. He was ruling the country well, but later on, we realized that his background was not good, then we had a lot of problems in the country. Because of those problems, I decided to go wandering, because I had no other way to do.”
Then he realized, “This is my story, this is a story which I saw, but I saw all this in one minute. While this man is telling that this really happened. So what is reality? Whether my story is right, whether what I saw is real, or how did I perceive this? It is about me he is talking about, but I have not gone anywhere. I’m sitting here, and I’m experiencing this from another person’s mouth.” Then he decided, “I must get this answer.” He did penance, and the deity came, and the deity said, “Look here, your mind cannot comprehend Maya. It’s not possible. What your intellect, your logic is trying to understand, only some reality is connected to what the brain can understand, but there is much, much more. There are much deeper dimensions to everything, you will not be able to understand’.”
Ramana Maharishi
Just like that, somebody asked Ramana Maharshi, if a person dies, will he come back in two years into another body? And Ramana Maharshi said, “Yes, he can come back in two years in another body, and he can also come back into a body tomorrow. At the same time, he would have probably already lived for 75 years.” That means he can come back into a body in two years from this death to new birth. At the same time, and parallelly, he could have probably lived about 75 years.
So, this is exactly what is the depth of illusion, or the relative truth. We have so many parallel existences, which we may not even know. And some of these existences could be creating an interconnecting effect on each life.
So, I leave you with this thought about illusion. Don’t be confused. If you’re confused, it only means that this is something which creates confusion. So, just look at it that way, and we can explore it later. But it’s not really something which you can comprehend with the normal, available intellect. Don’t worry; all the people who heard this story, even the masters are confused about this.
So, the depth of creation and the depth of illusion in the creation, parallel realities and all these things, they are all real. But we have nothing to do with it. For us, what is experienced, that’s what we are. Experience, as I said in the beginning, we are experiencing everything, as we are. Outside, there are so many things that can only be perception; everything will not become our experience. We meet a person, we get a thing, materials, places, time, and they all may not give us experiences. But we are the experience. That experience also remains with us, when we are sleeping, when the mind is set, still, we have experience. And that’s what we are.
So, that experience when everything sets, mind, senses, all the aspects of the waking state sleeps, that’s exactly what we are. That’s worth exploring. What are we?
So, this is a good question. I leave you with this question. It’s a bit longer today, but to tell the whole story, it took some time.
I leave this thought on your plate. Contemplate on it, and then we’ll talk further.
I had known about Sai Baba vaguely, more or less like I’ve known about various masters, but I did not connect with him until the early 2000s, and it was quite accidental – of course, there’s no coincidence, but just for the sake of explaining the feeling of how I met Him without planning – I would call it “accidental”. There was a filming happening, somewhere in Gujarat, on the coast. The questions were about, rather the filming was about Management, and I had come to this place for giving that interview. Actually, they were filming me walking on the beach, talking about various aspects of Management. This filming started in front of a small Shirdi Sai temple, a very small temple facing the sea with a full-size idol of Baba. I did not know much about Baba, but I prostrated, I mean, I touched my head at His feet, and we began the interview. It’s my habit to bow down to any Master, it doesn’t matter which path he follows. There are various idols of Masters, and I always make sure that I bow down to them, take their blessings and start. And that was the first time I bowed down to Sai Baba. This was in early 2000.
And then after this, I was going to Mumbai, and I visited Giri Traders. Usually I pick up books from there, but this time I said, “I don’t need any books, just give me one Sai Satcharita”. I don’t know why I said so. I bought Sai Satcharita and started reading it. Then I went to my house in the South, and while I was reading…I must have read about 14 chapters… Suddenly I got a call from Mumbai, for an interview by… if I remember well, it was Times of India, and they wanted to interview me for the charity activities that I do, in the name of Ammu, my daughter who passed away on 23rd August, 2000. So, I came for the interview to Mumbai, and then I proceeded to Shirdi. That was the first time I went to Shirdi.
I went in a bus, an overnight journey…and in the morning as I entered the temple, and I felt it was so familiar, I felt as if I had been there before. I had no reason to think like that; I had never come there physically in this life, but I felt that I had been there before, and it was so rejuvenating; there was something happening inside me, it’s like a lot of things changing, transforming, within me. I can’t put any words to that feeling, but I enjoyed that feeling, and then I returned. It was my first trip to Shirdi. But I felt an urge to go there again. The temple and Baba were pulling me back, asking me to come back, but it didn’t happen.
A few weeks or months went by. I had lost my job and I was trying to figure out what to do next. I needed an income, I needed to have some money to survive, and I was separating from my first marriage, so many things were falling off from my path. In fact, from 2000, the time when my daughter died in a road accident, many things fell apart, my relationship, my marriage fell apart, then my possessions, whatever I had accumulated – that also got robbed, then the money which I had invested, the property owner decided not to build it and it was almost like a “status quo”, or a stagnant state. I almost lost that money. So, in a way, there was nothing.
At one point in time, in January 2000, I had my family, my wife, my daughter, my job, my income, possessions, everything…and in a few years, I had nothing. So, I was literally stripped of everything I had and I actually started feeling quite naked and alone in the world.
Experiencing the First Miracle of Sai Baba
One of my friends who I worked with earlier, who I knew for a long time, called me and he said he and a few others intend to set up a new business, a logistics company. I’ve always worked in shipping and logistics, from 1989 onwards. So, he said, “We’re setting up a logistics company, and we would like you to head it as CEO. I was unsure. It was a new company, new investment, a huge responsibility; you start building it up from the beginning. So, I was not so sure if this was easy or if I could make it a success. So, I politely refused that offer, but they insisted. And I gave some very silly excuses for not coming to Mumbai for this meeting, but they didn’t agree. They said, “No, you have to come!”
And all the people, the potential partners assembled in Bombay. I also came. When I came to Bombay, I came only for two days. I was buying a small piece of land… I had already bought it, in fact, but I had to pay some more money for a small piece of land near Pune. So I thought: “Okay, I’m coming for this meeting. After the meeting, I will proceed to Pune, pay the money and finish, finalize that contract, and then I’ll come back.” And I had already made up my mind not to take up this offer. So, I came, and they all had come to the airport to receive me. I only had one cabin bag. I didn’t carry anything much. I brought the cabin bag. I had this cheque for this property, my passport, and a few other documents which are needed for registering the land, and some clothes, that’s all; and a book, the Satcharita, which I was reading at the time.
I came to the airport. My friend who arranged this meeting, this connection, he had carried some cash to register this organization, to finalize the venture. So he brought that money, he had cash in his hand, so he asked me, “Can I put this money in your bag, and I’ll hold the bag?” I said, “No problem.” So, he put his money in the bag and he took the bag. Then we went for a discussion in the lounge of a hotel. We all sat there, and spoke a little bit. And then the next day we were to have a detailed discussion, so this was like a preliminary interaction. We agreed on what we had to discuss, what are the fundamentals, the name of the organization and all those things, and I found that I was slowly getting dragged into it, even though I had made up my mind not to go deeper. Something was pulling me into it, so I said, okay, let’s see where it leads. We concluded, decided to meet the next day, and left for the day.
My friend who had brought the money, and was carrying the money, took my bag. He had the bag and since I had a couple of other meetings to attend, I went elsewhere. In a little while, my friend called me and said that he lost the bag! He was supposed to meet me with the bag, in the evening, for dinner. But this was a couple of hours before the dinner and he told me he had lost the bag. My money, my passport, everything gone! Plus, his money ! He had left the bag in the boot of the car, got himself dropped at his destination and had forgotten to pick up the bag. He did not remember the name or the face of the driver, or the license number of the car. There are so many taxis in Bombay; it’s not easy to find this particular one. Also, he didn’t order the taxi; he had just hired a passing taxi from the road. We were in a confused state at that time, and I did not know what to do, how to get my passport back, and the money back, and the cheque book back. I was wondering, “What next?”
One of my friends who is deeply connected to Sai Baba called me. And he asked, “You don’t sound very enthusiastic, what’s wrong?” So, I told him that I had lost my bag, and that my cheque book and passport were in the bag! He was silent for a while, and then he said, “Baba will bring that back for you.” I thought he was just saying this to reassure me, so that I would not worry. But I was uncomfortable. Later all of us met for dinner. Although we assembled, none of us had an appetite because we were worried about the bag. We looked around, went back to where we took the taxi, and tried to trace the bag, but none had any clue and we did not know how we could find this taxi. We asked a few taxis in the area. “No”, they said, “You took a taxi from the road side; it might have been a passing taxi, not one from this taxi stand.” So, we didn’t know what to do, but we continued our search…
Finally, around midnight, after the dinner, we came to the hotel where we had been earlier. We had enquired with the receptionist and were told, “We don’t know, because the taxi was not arranged by the hotel.” Now we came back to the reception, and found that the receptionist had changed. It was a new face, a new person; we explained the situation, and they asked: “Are you staying here?” We explained that we had been there for just a meeting, a discussion and their response was, “If we find it, we will give it to you.” As we were coming out, the watchman of the hotel enquired, “Why are you leaving? Didn’t you find a room here?” We explained that we didn’t come for the room and that were looking for our lost our bag. Then he said: “Is it a blue bag? With red straps?” We chimed, “Yes!” “Come and see if this is it”, he added.
We went into his cabin, and found the bag!! Apparently, the taxi driver found the bag, and dropped it at this hotel, believing it belonged to somebody from this hotel. Immediately, I opened the bag; there was no lock. On the top was the Sai Satcharita, and everything else was below it. In fact, the Sai Satcharita had been at the very bottom because I had put it in first and everything else later, on top of it. Yet, the Satcharita had moved and was on the top. It was almost like Baba’s signature, saying, “I brought it for you!”
Baba’s Physical Darshan in Dwarkamayee
Now, the next one was even more dramatic. I was working in an organization in Dubai, and they had arranged for a managers’ conference in Mumbai, for all the managers associated at various levels. I was the General Manager of that company. We all came to Mumbai. In those days, what I used to do is as follows, whenever I came to India, I would make it a point to visit Shirdi. So, I reach Mumbai, go straight to Shirdi, have Darshan, and then come back to Mumbai, or go for the next meeting. This was my routine then. On this trip, while I was sitting at the airport, the person who I referred to earlier, the one who said that Baba would bring my back to me, called.. I was sitting at the airport at that time, and he said “You seem to be travelling, where are you going?” So, I said: “To Shirdi, to see Baba, I’m at the airport.”, Again, he was silent for some time. Then he said: “Expect a big miracle!” I said, “Okay.” I did not know what miracle it would be, but I said: “Fine.”
And when somebody says something like “Expect a miracle,” your mind tends to be occupied with that thought. The same thing happened to me, I was only thinking about what miracle it would be, when it’ll be, how it’ll be. So, I was pretty much occupied with that thought, and after a while, I became more relaxed in that regard. I reached Mumbai, arranged for a taxi, and immediately travelled to Shirdi. In the morning after I reached, I freshened up. Those were days when we could make offerings to the Dhuni, which Baba had lit. Now it has been closed. I told the taxi driver: “Get me something nice, good, substantial, to offer to the Dhuni.” I have always liked to visit Dwarkamayee; it was a preferred spot for me because I always felt like Baba still sits there.
So, I was standing in the queue and there was one path to enter, another, to exit. They had laid down this procedure so as to avoid a crowd conglomerating and blocking the way. So you would enter via one gate, go through the Dwarkamayee space, and then exit through another gate. You can’t enter through the exit gate. There was a reasonably long queue to enter Dwarkamayee. So, I stood in the queue and I told the driver of the car to obtain some good offerings for the Dhuni while I stood in the queue. He brought me some materials as requested; I split it into two – gave one-half to him, and kept the remaining. I moved on, put my offerings in Dhuni, and was exiting. There were many people behind me, and in front of me.
Suddenly, I saw one man coming towards me from the opposite direction. At that point in time it didn’t occur to me that nobody could enter through the exit. But this man walked in and it was almost as if he was coming straight to me. And if I remember right, there was a young child with him, probably about five years of age, maybe the age of Ammu, when she left the body. He came, and held my hand on my biceps, my right hand. I can still feel the grip, it was a very strong grip, a strong man, a strong grip, and he held me. And he was wearing an outfit similar to this color. He looked like a Hindu priest. He held my hand, he pointed towards that small pillar, a very small pillar which is in Dwarkamayee. Baba used to lean on it when he used to sit near the Dhuni, he used to lean on it and it is still there. At that time it was open, now I think it’s covered. He said, “Sar idhar rakho!” “Put your head here!”
I obeyed. I immediately kneeled down, and touched my head on the pillar. Then he said: “Abhi jaao!” Both were commands, only these two. First you put your head here, then get up, leave. All this while, I must have been blocking the flow of pilgrims, because I’m stopping, I’m kneeling down, etc. but it didn’t feel so. People might have been going through me, or maybe I was transparent. I don’t know. And nobody else noticed this man and this child, and my activity did not hinder the flow of pilgrims, so nobody stopped me. And I walked out. And I don’t know where he went, in fact, I didn’t look further. Maybe he was there or probably he just dissolved. I don’t know. I didn’t think at that time about this.
I came out and we were going to Mumbai for the program, and the taxi driver who was behind me did not even know about this. He didn’t bother me with questions. He didn’t know, he didn’t ask me why I knelt down, etc…… He didn’t ask me anything. It’s almost as if he passed me also, he went ahead. So, it was a very surreal experience. Once I came out, I decided to leave and I called this friend who had told me about the miracle. I said, “There has been no miracle.” I was expecting something to fall from the sky or materialization, or something similar. But there was nothing. So, I asked him: “Where is this miracle you are talking about? I didn’t feel anything.” Then he said, “Baba came and met you, what else you need?” So, sitting some place so far away, he understood the happenings at Shirdi. It was not crazy, it was not an illusion, it was real, and it was true. Baba had come, and he knew about it.
That was a magnificent experience, and I would say a transformative experience too. It’s not only the connection, the subtlety, or the realization of the truth that Baba is alive and visibly active, tangible. Not just that He ensures that transformation is given to those who are connected to Him. True spirituality is transformative spirituality, that which transforms you.
We follow rituals, we follow Gurus, we follow various activities and we think we are spiritual. But unless transformation happens in life, it is just an activity. Many of us feel that we are spiritual and we often stay in that illusion for a long time. To come out of it is not easy, and even when somebody tells you, “Why are you doing these rituals if it is not transformative?” We will reject the person, not the ritual and still prefer to be in the comfort zone. This was a hardcore experience for me, where I started entering into the world of silence. Transformation means fewer thoughts. Fewer thoughts mean your mind is still. Thoughts are materials projected by the mind. Mind has no thoughts, mind is always still, but thoughts come from Samskaras, from the inherent impressions. They come as thoughts and mind projects them. When mind projects them, you are bound to be influenced by them. You are influenced by what is sitting in you.
So here, with Baba’s presence, when Baba held my hand, and asked me to touch my head on that pillar where He used to lean His spine, basically I was touching my head on His spine.Spine is the stairway to heaven, and heaven means complete silence of the mind, a state where you have no desires, no thoughts, you are absolutely still…as Shiva. As silent as Shiva – this is the ultimate transformation, Samadhi. So, I was literally surprised, or pleasantly surprised that without calling, Masters support you.
How can a Master support you when you don’t call? Your call is your eligibility. Your eligibility is your conviction with consistency and complete selflessness. Conviction in yourself and your path with consistency and total selflessness. It’s not in what you do; it’s in what you are. So, this makes you eligible for the intervention of the frequencies that can make a change in your life, whether that be living or non-living, it does not matter.
So, this happened and I was on my way. While in the car, I was thinking: “My god, it was Baba!” I could not even touch His feet. I was feeling so stupid. Baba came, met me, made me do whatever I did, yet I did not understand it was Baba, and I could not touch His feet. This was bothering me for a long time. Then awareness happened. What was meant to happen happened the way it did. It’s not what you want to do. It’s how it was meant to be. Or everything in life is how it is meant to be. A place, a situation, an effect, and an understanding, or awareness during that activity, this is all predetermined. Eligibility happens, activity happens. If eligibility is not there, activity is not there. Something very simple.
The Mystical Experience of Being in Shirdi
This was a very different experience that I had, about being in Shirdi when I was not in Shirdi. I was not even thinking of Shirdi at that time. I was flying from Munich in Germany to Belgrade in Serbia. It was 2010, if I remember right. That’s the time when the Icelandic volcano erupted. This Icelandic volcano spewed ashes into the sky, and as you may recall, most of the aircrafts were not flying during that time. They were grounded, and many, trips were cancelled or suspended. I did not know about it. Although I knew that a volcano has erupted in Iceland, and was spewing ash into the sky, I did not the gravity or seriousness of the situation.
I was at the airport to fly to Belgrade and nobody told me anything. I saw some cancellations on the display board but I didn’t think it was because of the ash in the air. I got my boarding pass, walked to the gate and the flight took off. All along I suspected nothing. After the flight took off, there was an announcement that the volcanic ash is disrupting the pathway, hence the flight was being re-routed via Austria and a two and half hour delay was expected. We had taken off and were mid-air with nothing much to do. Then again, the Captain spoke informing us that they had not obtained confirmation for using Austrian airspace. But he was certain to get it. He asked us to sit back and enjoy. We would reach our destination but with a three hour delay. I said to me, “Fine, it’s okay”
I pushed my seat back and relaxed, when suddenly I saw myself in Shirdi. It was not a dream, it was a physical experience. Baba was sitting, and I could actually see from the… it was as if I was inside the idol of Baba, looking at the entire Samadhi area; people were coming, lots of people, hundreds of them were coming towards the idol and were passing through both ways. I could see the stream of people. I could even identify the colors of the clothes that they were wearing the men, the women and the children; I could see the groups of people coming in and going out. And I was inside the idol of Baba, looking at the people, at the pilgrims, and in my heart, I felt overwhelming love and compassion. It is difficult to explain, it was not just love, it was an overwhelming compassion for all those who were coming, and also there a kind of energy flowing out from me to them. I could feel that the entire area – the idol in the middle, and all around, like a globe, a big bubble of energy. Thus, people were entering through this energy, (just like your car goes through a car wash) walked through the energy, and when they exited, it was almost as if they had taken a bath, their aura was cleansed. So, people entered with various colors of aura, but when they went out, it was all crystal aura, transparent, which means, complete cleansing happened, similar to a car wash, as I explained earlier. They enter, go through the two sides in the queue, come in front of Baba, bow down, and go out completely refreshed. I don’t know how many lifetimes of karma have been cleansed this way. And I was thinking, “Oh, my God, Baba is cleansing hundreds of people every day!” And my heart was expanding, almost to the point that I felt that it was exploding. I felt, “Oh, this is how Baba is working!” In fact, Baba gave me a glimpse of how he functions.
Suddenly, I came back to my body. The announcement said, “Prepare for landing, in thirty minutes we’re landing.” And we reached thirty minutes before time; not two and a half hours late, thirty minutes before the landing time, which is practically impossible! Even if we had taken the straight path, we would not have reached thirty minutes earlier! Those who were supposed to pick me up had not arrived. I came out of the airport and waited for them. And they said: “You came early!” I have no clue how I reached early. Probably even Lufthansa may not know how we reached! If we had gone via Austria, it was an additional two and a half hours; I don’t know which direction we took, I did not hear anything. All I recall is that I experienced the state of being Baba in the Samadhi Mandir. And when I came to my body, became Mohanji again, I had already arrived!
So, this was a very, very transforming experience for me. The overwhelming compassion, with no discrimination between men, women, children; various types of people, various karmic combinations come to Shirdi, to Baba. Baba cleanses them without discrimination. He just gives everybody as much as they can take.
Baba’s Gift of His Padas
I decided to make a Shirdi Baba Temple on a property I had. A gentleman I know, who was a businessman, used to visit Shirdi very often. We made a small plan, and I requested him, “When you go to Shirdi, next time, could you please surrender this plan at Baba’s feet and take His blessings.” Unfortunately, the plan wasn’t ready when he was leaving for Shirdi. So I said, “When you go there, please surrender to Baba, saying that Mohanji is planning this, kindly bless and make it happen”. He did as requested. When he came back to his car, just before he entered it, a person approached him and gave him a packet, which was quite heavy. He took the packet and asked, “Where is this from?” The man said: “Baba sent this.” He was an ordinary looking man, a Maharashtrian and middle-aged. My friend tried to give him some money, but he had disappeared.
He brought the packet along and visited us. It was Padas (feet) of Baba and it was kept in our prayer room of the house in which my parents live. All these events transpired before the temple happened. The Padas remained there and obviously, it was Baba who sent it. Our project didn’t happen. At about the same time, I had started a company for marketing herbal medicines… it was an early 2004 or 2005, and we were winding it up, because it was not going as per plan. Shares of the company had been distributed to many people and we had been ordered by the Court to surrender all the shares in order to close the company. But we could not trace a few shareholders and hence could not obtain all the shares. And we couldn’t close the company without surrendering them to the court. We were extremely worried since the company had recurring expenses and we had to close it.
The court had given us until 8 AM of a set date by which time we had to surrender everything. The previous evening, we did not know what to do. The next morning, when my father opened the Puja room, on this Feet of Baba, was a packet. My father did not know who left the packet there and no one else could have left it there too. He opened it and found all the shares. The shares were in order, from number 1 to the final number of shares we had issued! All the shares in proper order! He called out for me and said, “This has come!” I said, “Please take it to the Chartered Accountant, and give it to him.” He took it to the Chartered Accountant, gave it to him, and he counted and said, “Oh! Everything is in order.” He went to the court, submitted it and closed the company! That is when I decided, this is Baba, the Feet (Padas) are Baba, and it’s Baba’s presence. I can’t keep it at home like this. Around the same time, Mr. Sunil, Sujatha and family were building a temple in Venoli Village in Palakkad. I donated the Padas to the temple, and it now sits there, it’s still blessing people. It’s a beautiful temple too!
These are all just signs of how Baba works, the hundreds of ways in which he is working all the time. Presence without presence. You can see Baba. When a person becomes Presence, that’s when he expresses being God.
Transcribed by Tijana Sladoje Proofread by Vidya Rajagopalan
Thus Spake Mohanji 