Connection to the real Master

Conversation with Mohanji from South America

Speaker: Good morning, Mohanji.

Mohanji: Nice to see you.

Speaker: Thank you so much Mohanji for being here with us. I’m so excited that I have a big smile, thank you again for being with us.

Mohanji: My pleasure, I am happy.

Connection with a spiritual family

Speaker: People are really very excited about being with you again. I tell them to connect to your heart, to connect to your eyes and then just to open themselves to your energy. Okay, so can we start with the questions?

Mohanji: I’m ready.

Speaker: Mohanji, as you know, Peru is one of the countries that is most hit in the world with the Covid-19 virus. We are still in a very strict lockdown with a curfew, and there are a lot of people who asked me questions about death because they have relatives, they have parents who died of Covid-19, and they have people around them who are suffering from it.

Actually, there were times when this country was number one in the world for the number of people dying on a day. Apparently, a lot of people have issues with the immune system, especially people from the jungle or from the mountains. The question is when people are dying from this or diseases like cancer, what can we say to the relatives, how can we ease their pain, especially when they are not spiritually oriented, or when they don’t have a deep connection with God?

Mohanji: I fully understand this. This situation is all over the world now. What makes or what brings pain is our connection to our parents, to our relatives, or other people? We feel a deep connection. We feel a kind of real bonding, and when they are not there, we feel devastated. This is irreplaceable. You cannot change it.

Let us take a scenario. If we have somebody unwell in our house, what will that person see? What they are suffering or what they are going through, you cannot change, because it’s already happening. But what would that person need from us, usually? They would need understanding, love, empathy, or companionship and support; these four things.

Expressing fear and sympathy may not work, because that will aggravate the situation. Expressing indifference also will not work, meaning ‘I don’t care’ that will not work. Just from your heart if you say and act accordingly, “I am with you, I love you, let’s fight it together” that will bring more power and energy to that person to fight; basically, survival is connected to a decision; to win the war.

Sometimes in such occasions, if you say God is helping you, etc., it may not work because the question they will ask is, then why did God give this to me first of all? So, let’s not talk about God too much. Let’s talk about us, as human beings, what we can do. We can make a big difference in society, and in people’s lives, with our attitude.

I get many messages from people not because they connect to me spiritually; because they say Mohanji, you are somebody whom we can trust. You are there like a rock, solid; you never change your mind. So, we love to see you; we love to connect with you because you are stable. Our stability is a very, very good gift we can give to our relationship, any relationship. Stability has a lot of value when everything else in the world is unstable. Many things in life now, in the world now we have no control, but we can choose to have an attitude of stability.

Moreover, in situations like Covid-19, most people you see are depressed; they’re not happy. If you meet ten people, and nine people are depressed, automatically you will feel depressed; because most of the energy exchange happening is taking you to a state of depression. This is to be very clearly understood – with whom you are interacting. It is important for you to connect to something stable, strong; you should make such friendships or connection to a person who’s very stable and strong; because you need somebody to hold on to so that you can give strength to other people.

This cannot be a picture on the wall; it should be a connection to a live person. I am not talking about God as such, but you need a person who is stable, so you can also be stable by connecting to that person; because this is important in today’s time. This is why I have been really working on connecting people globally as Mohanji family so that people can help each other to stabilise themselves. This has worked very well. So many of our people, whom Mirella you know already, are very stable despite things around not being stable. Bring a community together, not for activity; but for love.

The activity makes them come together easily, but the basis should be love. It is just simply staying together; just for the sake of love – togetherness and family. We all have our family; we were born in a particular family, and when we probably get married, it becomes a different family. In our life, different aspects of the family happen. But when you look back, you may see discontinuity many times and in many cases, but it is a family, which is connected unconditionally; it will never change; it’s always the same.

A spiritual family is very, very important. That is your immunity, and it’s your immunity in calamity. Here, the love is not conditional; if you are giving me something, I love you; it’s not like that, its love is unconditional. Whatever you are, whoever you are, it’s love that united us. And love will maintain us; love is our oxygen. Whatever you are, whoever you are, wherever you are from, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are educated or not educated, nothing matters. Just love, love brings everybody together.

During this time, we should know how to behave, because people will look at us. You are a spiritual person, and how will you be interacting with the world. Very simple – stability. Spirituality should be stability. When people look at you, and they see you being extremely stable; they may ask you, how can you be so stable, when everything is in calamities. That time you can say, “I have a family; that family is stable. I’m stable. This family needs nothing from me.” This is very important to understand, “My family needs nothing from me; I am everything to my family; my family is everything to me.” To have that connection, what do you need? Very simple, yesterday, today, tomorrow, day after, you should be connected the same way.

It’s very simple because all you need is consistency. Don’t keep changing your mind. Then you will be nowhere. In a time of calamity, stability and consistency have a lot of value. That tells you who you are and what you are. This is not to gain anything from anywhere. It is just to be immune to all the problems and calamities of the world.

And you should have deep conviction and faith. Conviction in what you believe in. You should believe in something, and you should have a firm conviction in what you believe, and you should have faith in that. What is the easiest and the most important thing in your life that you must believe in or you must have consistent conviction and faith in?

Maria: We have to trust in ourselves; some people say unconditional love; some people say love; some people say, love and family.

Mohanji: Good! Thank you for participating. The most authentic, the most original and the most reliable person you will ever find in your life is you. So, you should believe in yourself. You should have faith in yourself. You should have a deep conviction in yourself. This is very, very important. What is your investment in the family? Yourself, as you are.

What is your investment in society? In all your relationships, take anything. What is your investment? It’s you. Not something that you have, because that’s temporary; permanent investment is only you. So this is very simple, right? Not complicated spirituality, we don’t need complicated spirituality; it’s too much of noise. We need to know what the truth is. The truth is only you, only one thing; you.

When you were born, you realise there is a world around you, and when you die, the world is still around you, but you do not know there is a world. When you wake up in the morning, you know there is a world around you, and when you sleep, where is that world? So it’s all about you and your life. This is the secret. The secret is to find you and accept you and love you; self-acceptance, self-love, self-respect and then it goes into society. This is the only thing you can give to society.

What can I give you? Only myself. I cannot give another person; I cannot give any other thing which you may accept or reject. Society has only two faces, either they accept, or they reject. This is how the world works. So, what best can I give you is myself. When you see yourself in me, you will accept me. When you see me as a different person, you may reject me,  but if you see yourself in me, then you may accept me.

This is very important; this is the time to make the real family. The Covid situation has given you clarity. This is the real time to make a real family, stable family, together. It does not matter where you are living, but we can all be connected in energy; energetic connection. So there is something positive during Corona time.

Speaker: Just reading some of the comments… People who have never seen you, they say that they feel so much joy and happiness in their hearts.

Mohanji: It’s not seeing, we are connected, energy-wise we are related, and some people who are sensitive will feel it right away; immediately.

Spirituality and selfless service

Speaker: Mohanji, I would like if you could tell what is the relationship between spirituality and selfless service? Because there are a lot of people that just like sit and meditate, and that’s it. Then they tell me, but I’m meditating, and nothing is happening, what would you tell them?

Mohanji: Beautiful. We all have our orientation. We have a particular nature. We like some things, and we don’t like other things. What is that connected to? What is that based on? Our orientation, our being natural – naturality. So, that tells us that we have our original state or our originality; our naturality. We are original; we are natural; so we can only interact with the world, as we are. There’s no other way.

Likewise, we like certain subjects. Some people like science, some people like arts, some people like math, some people like to draw or paint. Some people like music. This is all connected to our orientation. The same applies to spirituality. Some people are very intelligent; they look at life through their brain; they need answers. Some people are very emotional; they see the world through their heart. And some people look at the outside world in the context of, what I can do for this world; and these people like to serve the world unconditionally. All these three people are spiritual.

In Sanskrit, for the intellectual or knowledge type people, it’s called Jnana Yoga. Jnana Yogis will want answers for every question; they will never be satisfied. Now, the other set is called Bhakti Yogis; they like the path of devotion. They like to pray and to have devotion as their path.  Then the other group is called Karma Yogis. Karma Yoga means they like to serve, and they have happiness because of service.

This is all purification, and everything helps purification; inner purification. Which is better? Which is not so good? Everything is good. So, what you are, that is how you will do, you will connect, nobody can change it.

PC: Google Images

Karma Yoga is selfless service, and when you do not have any desire with your activity, that means you don’t desire name, fame or money from this activity, it is called karma sanyaasa. That means renunciation; it’s like a person who has already given himself for it.

All of these are good. But, how you are, that’s the way you interact. Sometimes you are a mixture, you would like a little bit of chanting, you like to serve the society around you, and you may like to have some knowledge; so people have different mixtures. We are all different things.

This is the approximate picture. Let it be you, connect to yourself and what makes you peaceful, what makes you happy, what makes you contented, you can take that; you should follow that.

Don’t think what I’m doing is not right and what another person doing is right; it’s not so. What is good for you is good for you. This is a very simple benchmark. No comparison, no competition, because you are the truth. What you want to experience from the world is the reason for your birth.

Hanuman – The Disciple

Speaker: Alvaro, you remember Alvaro, who translated last time when we had a session; he’s organising an online yoga retreat, and he has a meeting with his team. He asked me how he can be like Hanuman?

Mohanji: Hanuman’s strength was his unshakable connection to Ram. It is not a vague idea; it is not to some invisible God. There was a man, whom Hanuman identified as an Avatar. He understood Ram is an Avatar and he dedicated his life to Ram completely; body, mind, intellect, and ego, everything to Ram.

First and foremost, we should know who we are connected to and why we are connected. Hanuman only concentrated on Ram. If you concentrate on one thing, continuously, consistently, you will become so powerful. Hanuman had full awareness. He told Ram, “I prefer to be your servant; so I can serve you. But please remember, inside, you and I are one; no separation.”

What happens today, the mind gets distracted; the mind is on many things – many people, many teachings, many books; so this concentration is not happening. That is why the result is not happening. When you concentrate on one Master, with all your heart, all your mind, body, everything connected, then you become the Master’s responsibility. Then you don’t have a responsibility, because you have already delivered yourself, which is what Hanuman did.

That kind of strength of being a disciple is missing in today’s world. It’s not easy. Because of the internet world, you see so many things, your mind is everywhere, and then the concentration is not happening, that’s why we are not progressing.

Hanuman had full clarity. This is very important for a clear disciple; full clarity. He knows this is Ram; this is an Avatar. I will not leave him, whatever happens. One point of contact is very important.

Focus on one thing! If that happens, and you are very clear, then you should avoid all doubts. Doubt is very dangerous because if you’re not sure, your mind is distracted. No doubt, no criticism, no comparison, just acceptance, this is my Master, I connect deeply.

Hanuman never asked Ram anything. He never asked Ram, “Please give me something.” He never asked, instead he served. Go ahead. You ask nothing from the Master, and you get the whole Master. When you have the whole Master, you have everything. When you ask something, it becomes too small. But Hanuman asked nothing, and he got Ram himself. Ram himself was his property. This is the strength of the relationship. When you want nothing from the other person, that relationship is so pure and innocent. Hanuman was fully aware of who Ram was. He had full clarity and awareness; clarity and surrender.

I keep always repeating, do not look at the Master as a human or a person. Look at the teachings, look at what he’s delivering, and then you will not be distracted. If you look at a Master, “Oh! He’s eating, drinking, sleeping; he’s just an ordinary man”, then we lose the track. This is a very big trap that we must understand when the Master is in the form of a person. If the Master is in the form of a person, you have to totally ignore the form and the related needs. You should look at the teachings and connect to the consciousness through the teachings; then you are stable. But if you’re looking at the person, you may be unstable. You understood this point.

Many people that time, connected to Ram as a king, as a warrior, as a husband of Sita, in various forms, various levels, people connected. But Hanuman connected to Ram as the Supreme Consciousness; this is the difference. He was not distracted by Ram eating, drinking, sleeping, talking and fighting. He was not distracted by anything. He was only connecting to him as consciousness. Just imagine, if you connect to a Master as only consciousness, you will become that. Where you park your mind, you become that.

Who is a Master? There is a Master inside all of us. Understand this very clearly. There is a Master inside all of us. The true education or true teaching is to bring that Master out. This Master is simply quiet, silent inside us. We all have a Master inside, our true Master.

In Sanskrit, it’s called Atma tattva, which means soul factor. We have a soul inside, that is the energy, which is stable and running just like electricity, which is going through all the gadgets. When the electricity goes to a washing machine, it performs as a washing machine. When the electricity goes to a refrigerator, it performs as a refrigerator. When the electricity goes to light, it behaves like light. But electricity is the same. Like that, inside us, inside all of us, we have this energy particle; energy factor. This energy factor is not visible. You cannot feel it with your gross mind. It activates our mind; it activates our senses; it activates our brain; it activates the whole body, just like electricity. But we can’t find it; we cannot see electricity, right? Just like that, we cannot find it.

So, how can you find it? How can you find the soul factor? Through silence. When you become silent; when you start accepting yourself, respecting yourself, loving yourself, connecting with yourself continuously for a period of time, then you start feeling the energy moving inside you. You can use Kriya, you can use meditation, you can use anything, you have so many methods. But the main thing is you are consistent. It’s about you. Catch one technique to come inside you. Go inside.

What is the aim of all these techniques? Why do we have meditation? Why do we have Kriya Yoga? It’s all to find the Master inside. Who’s the Master? Who’s the real Master inside us? You can use the knowledge path; you can use the devotion path; you can use the service path; it is all to find who our true Master is. When you really, really concentrate on yourself; going within, finally, you’ll find the Master – the soul factor, the energy factor, which is running your show.

Speaker: I’m sorry I was reading the question, and I didn’t hear. Could you repeat, please?

Mohanji: When you consistently concentrate on going inside, eventually you will find the Master inside; the soul factor which is running the show, which is making you function. If the soul goes from the body, we call it a dead body. Correct?

So, we are essentially this Master. We are the Master inside, but not the mind, or the ego Master. Ego tells us, “Oh! I’m better than other people; I’m a Master”, not like that. The real Master, the electricity inside, is making this whole thing function and experience the world. We find that person, and then you understood the Master. When you have actually understood your Master, you have become a Master. Very simple.

That means when you have understood the source inside you; the source which is activating you, making you function, making you experience the world, once you see that person, or see that energy, you have understood the real Master inside you, then you become the Master. So, somebody who has understood the Master, the real Master inside, He is a Master. The answer to the question, who is a Master – somebody who has recognised, understood, experienced the Master inside, is a Master.

Ram was an avatar. He came with full awareness. He knew why he was born, what was his job, what he was supposed to do, he knew the purpose of life. He knew who he was, so he was a Master. Since Ram knew his purpose of existence, he lived only that. Since Ram had full clarity about his existence, and about his life; in every twist and turn, in every level, he understood. And he was cool about it. He was not affected.

When you have clarity, you become cool. When you have confusion, you become angry, you become upset, you start hating and all those things. Whenever you have confusion, think about somebody sitting inside you, who has no confusion. The Master sitting inside is cool always.

Coming back to Alvaro’s question, you want to be like Hanumanji. First, create one point of contact. Remove all your doubts, confusions, jealousy, all those things connected to that and focus on that contact. Imagine Hanuman is your mind; when the mind is connected to the source, the mind becomes the source.

When the mind is connected to an addiction, then the mind becomes an addiction. The mind nurtures and holds addictions. If your addiction is your Master, 100% sure, you will become the Master. But you should not doubt; you should not blame. You should not compare, criticise, judge. Take your time to find the Master; you can take any number of years to find the Master. But once you find him, stay connected; make the Master your addiction. That means your heart, your soul, your body is given to the Master, and then you become the Master. That is why Hanuman became so powerful. In Hanuman’s case, it is said that even the hair on his body was chanting Ram, every cell had Ram inside. Ram, Ram all the time; that is addiction. Totally addicted to the Master!

Many people like to connect to a Master who is not in a physical body. What is the problem with connecting to somebody who is not in the body? Somebody who is not in the body, who has died and gone, but we know his teachings, we hear his teachings through books. When we connect to that kind of Master, what is the main problem? It is okay, it is not a problem for the sake of living, but for transformation, for connection, what is the problem?

The teachings that we know of a great Master today are usually interpretations. That means 30% is teaching, 70% is interpretation, imagination. It may not be the same what the Master said. The original teachings, nobody knows. Interpretations are what we listen to. Based on interpretations, people who are talking, or people who are interpreting may not have the same frequency as the Master. As I said earlier, in every generation, there are Masters who have mastered or who have understood ‘who is the Master’, experienced the real Master inside us. The Masters of the past are definitely authentic. Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, they are all authentic. And the Masters who have found themselves in this life also, are authentic. So it is your choice, preferably connect to somebody in the body, so that they can tell you where you’re going wrong easily. And it is the toughest to connect to a living Master. Mirella, can vouch for it.

Speaker: Yes.

Mohanji: What happens when you connect to a real Master directly? Your identifications, which is maintained by the ego, starts breaking. So, the fastest track is always through a living Master, but I’m not saying that a non-living Master is inferior. Not at all. They are good but follow your own heart, not the interpretations.

If you really like to be Hanumanji, you should be steadfast, clear in connection. Nothing else matters; nothing else. Only Ram matters, only the Master, your own connected Master, and that Master should be Ram for you. If you’re Hanumanji, who you are connected to should be Ram. Not that he is Ram, but the same way, and focus. And then you become that, become the Master, then you become very powerful, and you will know that; all your ego is lost. You have become completely free; you will experience tremendous power and freedom.

Now the question. What’s your question?

Speaker: Javier and Krishna have asked these two questions. It is about ego. If the ego is there, it is not helping us to find the Master that is within us, and what to do with a mind that is jumping all around and it’s very difficult to concentrate on one Master?

Mohanji: That’s a habit; pattern. We talk about not being able to concentrate, mind running after something; these are patterns which we have created. You need to tame your mind. You need to concentrate on one person, one method, one practice, one teaching, one path based on your orientation, what suits you.

Ego is there for everybody. You cannot run away from the ego. Ego is part of our system. Surrender your ego to the Master. “I leave it to you.” That is why a living Master has value. Master will squeeze your ego, and make you free. You can only follow what suits you; otherwise, it will not work.

If you are in the path of knowledge, you can only follow a Guru in the path of knowledge. Some people can only follow devotion, bhakti, that is their path. Some people can follow service, that is their path. We are all a mixture. What is predominant in you, that’s your right path. Understand what you are, what is your orientation; this is very important. Then you walk the path. And where you have parked your mind, that’s what you will become.

Understand this clearly. All our life, we are making prison cells for ourselves, our activity, our relationship, our possessions, our positions; they have made prison cells for us, they have bound us. Every relationship has restricted or made our boundaries, restricted our walking space. Every possession and position has restricted us. Can you see that? If you look at all our lives, whether you’re working, whether you are a family person, whether you are in a society, whatever you are, all these name and fame, and the possessions and positions, they all made us cages, prison cells. So, it is our job to be free. This is your spirituality.

Being free is spirituality. It doesn’t mean that we are not in the society, we do not have possessions, and we do not have positions; but having the awareness that this is not what we are. We are free in silence, and the only thing that is free inside, which is enjoying the freedom, is the soul factor.

A true Master will never bind you. The real relationship, which gives you freedom is your relationship with a true Master. Don’t compare a cult with the true path. This is a different path. One is towards brightness; one is binding. A cult is binding; they bind people with fear. We have to be free from all fears. A true spiritual path is a path of freedom. A true spiritual path brings you to yourself. A true Master brings you to yourself. That is the true path. So it’s easy to understand what is a true path and what is a cult. A cult binds you with fear. Here, there is no fear. You don’t have to be afraid of yourself, and you are the path.

So, to be Hanuman, very easy, is to be connected, permanently. If you want to be a Master; there are two ways. One is to connect to somebody, who has found the Master inside and settled in that awareness, or you have to find it yourself inside. Both are okay.

Speaker: I’m receiving messages that we should finish. We are 35 minutes over your time.

Mohanji: Is there a burning question? Is there a very important question? I would like to answer and then go.

Self-acceptance

Speaker: Yes, there is a burning question. She wrote to me several times here, and it is about how to accept myself 100%.

Mohanji: The simple answer is, you have no choice. You are the only person whom you cannot avoid. You are the only person whom you cannot escape from. If you understand that real freedom is freedom from the senses and not freedom of the senses and the mind, you will start accepting yourself better.

Real freedom is freedom from the senses and the mind; that means you’re not tempted by too many things outside. You are happy with what is inside, your Atma Tatwa, or principles.

The second level is gratitude, very, very powerful. When you start appreciating electricity, water, food, and everything like oxygen, start having gratitude for everything in your life, then you start appreciating yourself also. Take one decision. You will not take anything for granted.

Maria Rosa has a question.

Duality

Speaker: How to overcome duality that we have in those moments when we lose the connection with our Master?

Mohanji: Well, it’s always like that. We have to come back consistently. There will be times when you are detached, again, you come back. Again, you detach automatically, and again you come back. This journey is like that. It cannot be a hundred per cent consistent in the beginning. After a while, your top priority becomes the Master. Your only connection will be to the Master, or your only interest is the Master, then you become the Master, then you don’t have duality.

Mohanji: Clear? Is Maria Rosa happy?

Speaker: Perfect. Oh yes.

Speaker: Thank you so much Mohanji. It’s been an enormous pleasure. I think this conversation is going to help a lot of people. Thank you so much.

Mohanji: Love you all. At the end of the day, only love remains.

Please check the video link here

Transcribed by Seema Jamakhandi

Proofread by Shyama Jeyaseelan

Importance of lineage

Hello, my dear friends, hope you’re doing well.

Now in India, the Pitru Paksha is happening. That’s a time to remember the ancestors and offer them our gratitude. How do we do that? How do we express gratitude to the departed? We usually do it through certain rituals, through specific mantras and rituals together, conducted by priests who know the methods. We also serve food to all the beings around us, starting with ants and insects, to people and all the species of the animal/bird kingdom as much as we can.

Pitru Paksh Ritual

There’s nothing better than feeding the hungry. You know that, and we do that. Now, let’s think about the Science behind, Science, as in S-c-i-e-n-c-e, and not s-i-g-n, behind this thought process. It’s important to know. We are inheritors, all of us. What have we inherited? First of all, we have inherited ourselves. Where did we come from? From two people, father and mother. So, we have inherited ourselves from them. So, if you think backwards, who is our father and mother? They are the representation of the lineage that we came from. As we have inherited ourselves from the lineage, we have inherited our parents as a living representation of our lineage. This is very important to understand. So, when you take care of your father and mother, you are taking care of the lineage. Suppose you look after your father and mother with love, care, genuine devotion and genuine love, that automatically transmits or transfers your gratitude to the lineage, because most of the people in the lineage probably are not existing now. Many people, like your grandparents or grandparents of your grandparents, they would have all gone. How can you express gratitude to them?
How can you express kindness, love, compassion, respect? You can’t because they are not there. The right thing to do is to consider your father and mother as the living representation of your lineage and respect them. Express gratitude, express love and kindness. Do whatever you can for them.

Many of us are working outside our houses; we are not even in our hometown. We may not even be in our neighborhood where we can go and meet them. They’re probably far away, flights away. So how can you make sure your father and mother are happy, and they’re taken care of? You need to hire support. You got to hire support; use a part of your resources to ensure that your parents are happy.

So, it is our responsibility to look after our father and mother because they represent our lineage. When you look after them, and they are pleased, the lineage is pleased. That’s the only thing you can do about your lineage, at any given point in time.

If your grandparents are existing, take care of them as well. Look out for them, make them happy, provide as best as you can within your given capacity for them. As I said earlier, we are inheritors. We did not happen by ourselves. So, when you inherit, you’re also responsible. Inheritance comes with responsibility. People are doing all sorts of things, just for the sake of wealth; sometimes things which are totally inappropriate for the sake of wealth. That’s very harmful to the lineage, not only for the person.
Remember, your children are going to inherit from you. What are you going to pass on to your children? If you do not clean up your lineage as best as you could, you would be passing on contamination to your children. They will have a heavy burden of bad karma, i.e., bad actions. Bad representation of anything is a heavy burden on ourselves. We need to clean it up; we need to clean our thoughts; we need to clean our actions. We need to clean up everything like we clean up our house every day. This is not just this one time; as long as you are alive, as long as you are active, as long as you have the capacity, you must take care of our lineage.

Same with children. Children are also a continuation of our lineage. We must take care of them. So, our responsibility is not just to take care of ourselves. As a refined species, with the capacity to understand and assimilate the subtle, even the capacity to experience the supreme consciousness, we must behave accordingly.

We have inherited two major things from our lineage. One is the subtle, and one is the gross. We all know the gross. Gross consists of wealth, property, name, fame, and whatever we have inherited from our lineage. What is subtle? Subtle are the aspirations, desires, good and bad things they did in society, that residual effect – they all come in the lineage. Everything is inheritance. You cannot just say I will only have property and wealth, but I don’t need anything else from anybody. That’s not true. It’s like a huge treasury where whatever actions each person has done has left a residue or a kind of bank balance, which all the lineage members inherit. It especially goes to the people who are leaders of the clan, the eldest people or the decision-makers and those kinds of people will probably get a larger share. But as a principle, it goes to everybody. The good and the bad that you do definitely go to your children in essence form along with the gross inheritance that you transfer. So, the subtle is also transferring or getting transferred, as is gross. Both are getting transferred.

Pitru Paksha is the right time, considered as per the astrological calculations, to express gratitude and respect to the lineage, so that it lightens the inherited subtle aspects. It makes the residue of the good and bad actions of our ancestors slightly lighter, which will, in fact, reflect in your own life as a lightness of existence. So, what can we do? There are rituals, as I said in the beginning, conducted by priests, all the rituals are expressions of gratitude and expressions of respect. And that automatically makes things lighter. It’s not about one person. Don’t think that I’m doing it for my ancestor. Of course, you are doing it for your ancestor because there should be a point of contact; some representation, which you can connect to and do something. For that purpose, you are doing it for the departed, the known departed. But there are many unknown departed in your own lineage; probably you don’t even know them, but they are all getting benefitted.

So, it’s like a conduit, a pipe. When you do it, do the proper stuff, it goes to everybody. Just like the good and the bad which your lineage did has come to you. And what you do or what they did, along with what you do, goes to your children. So, this is the approximate picture. Then through feeding the poor, feeding the hungry, you dilute yourself, that’s basically sharing your wealth, with the underprivileged. Even all the species around, they all deserve to be happy, contented. So, we help them to be happy and contented, which makes us lighter and brighter.

As I said earlier, parents are the living representation of our lineage. They are the living representatives. So, when you take care of your parents, automatically, the people who left, and the people who are going to be-both will be benefited, because they are an important link with the lineage just like we are an important link to our lineage. So, respect them and look after them as best as you can. Serve them with gratitude.

Now, gratitude is a very, very powerful thing. Probably the word gratitude is so much used, it’s become a cliché, but gratitude has huge power, just like respect. Respect is immediate. You can see the reflection of that in the society almost immediately; when you respect somebody, you automatically get more respect, it’s more tangible. But gratitude is an attitude.

If you have the attitude of gratitude, it kind of cleanses the air; it’s like a purifier. It purifies, not only inside; it removes all the negativities from the environment. So, gratitude can never be underestimated. Gratitude is very powerful. This activity is on this ancestral time of Pitru Paksha is actually an expression of your gratitude to all those who lived in your lineage and departed plus all the people who are going to come and take birth in your lineage in the future. So, gratitude is extremely important. This is a clear sign of expression of gratitude; when we give food to all the beings, we are extremely grateful that they are receiving it. There are beings whom we can serve. When they become contented, we become contented. And when you keep giving, you keep growing; when you share, you become bright, you become light.

So, this is a time for extreme purification, where you express extreme gratitude to your lineage, and in a year, this period should be considered as one of the most important periods to make yourself light and bright, where you are deeply integrating yourself into the lineage, expressing respect, expressing love and compassion, expressing every positive aspect of you, in association with your lineage. And as much as possible, pass this on to your next generation. If your children ask you, “Why do we have to do this, they are already gone, we can’t see them?” You have to say, “You can see them. Where? In yourself.” You are the representation of your lineage, living representation. There is nothing invisible. People have come and gone, but you have not gone. If you are alive today, if your heart is beating today, you are representing the lineage whether you like it or not. There is no other way.

Some people do not know their parents, orphans; people are born into difficulties. They also must do it, because this is their opportunity to cleanse up their path. Instead of hatred or instead of remorse or disrespect to the lineage, if they choose to respect and gratitude and do whatever they can and for whoever they can, I always tell people that all the old people should be considered as your own parents. All the elderly should be respected as your own father and mother. So, all the people can be considered as your own. And that changes you. That changes the frequency of your lineage, that changes your own frequency. That makes you lighter and more effective in the world. Gratitude is a very powerful tool to make you graceful. Gratitude brings grace. Gratitude makes you grateful. So, gratitude can never be underestimated.

Mata, mother, with whom you have a relationship, more than the society, at least for nine months; father, the protector and the provider, who helped you to stabilize yourself on your feet, and Guru who guided you to the inner truth, which is sitting inside you. And finally, God, the energy aspect of you. So, Mata, Pita, Guru, Devo- Mother, father, Guru, God are four integral parts of your life, especially for your stability. If you connect to these four aspects, with respect, with gratitude, with extreme love and compassion, with kindness, with selflessness, you will have a great life; you will have a very stable life. If you just look at them as individuals, (f course they are individuals), but then you have something to do with them, and they had something to do with you. So, lineage had something to do with you. Without lineage, you are not here. You have to do something for the lineage. It is said that the karmic combination of every individual is a mixture. One is the unfulfilled desires that you came here to fulfill, that means what you wanted to do with a new life, with a new body. Second is the representation of the lineage, the aspirations of the lineage, the residue of the good and the bad which people of the lineage performed at their times; that residue. So, karma becomes more complex, when you think about these two main strains which have made you. Your unfulfilled desires, as well as the inherited desires of the lineage, they come and mix together like milk and water.

When you serve the lineage, when you pay respects to the lineage, when you devote yourself to the welfare of the lineage, and not only your family; (as I said earlier, looking at every species as your responsibility), then the lineage gets cleaner, lighter, and that will enhance your existence on Earth. You can see that in your stability, in your thought process. If you fill your heart with gratitude, you can weather any storms.

I leave this thought in your plate. Ponder over it. Think about it; discuss it. I wish you happiness, always.

This is Mohanji, for you.

Listen to an excerpt of this podcast here.

Transcribed by Ulla Bernholdt

Proofread by Vidya Mohite and Rekha Murali

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The offering of food to Baba

Mohanji is a spiritual Master whose awakening was graced by Sai Baba of Shirdi. He guides many on the path and works tirelessly to spread his teachings. Mohanji talks about the important practice of offering food to Baba, to our deities and ancestors.

Lord Krishna says, “If you give me a flower or a leaf, I’ll be happy. But please remember, that belongs to me, anyway.”

All the materials that we use, all the things that we have, they are all temporary and are not ours. We are probably a custodian of something for some time, but we can’t really own anything. I was thinking about it many, many years ago: What can I offer to Baba?

Then I decided I will offer food every day. Then I thought, yes, I will offer food, I still do, I do that every day. But food doesn’t belong to me. This food has come to me from somewhere. Somebody tilled the land, somebody packed it, somebody brought it home, somebody cooked it, and somebody delivered it on my table. So basically, this is the work of many people. We are lucky to have that food on our table. So that belongs to Baba anyway, because I surrender everything to Baba, that is Baba’s. “What is here is yours,” I mean, I offer what is His already to Himself. That’s not good enough, and then I thought I’ll offer the body, but the body is also not mine, so how will I offer something which is not mine? I have taken this body made out of five elements. In a particular composition, they become a body and get a personality called Mohanji. That body is temporary. I don’t know how long I will have this body. When I leave the body, my body will disintegrate. So, whatever is matter goes to Earth, whatever is water will become water, the fire element will go back to the fire, the air will go back to the air, space will be going back to space. So basically, it’s disintegration.

Then about Mind, Intellect and Ego – that belongs to the ether, because you can’t touch them. They are processors; they process things. Mind processes emotions, intellect processes information, ego processes personality matters such as positions and possessions, whatever you call as “ours”, ownership, that’s the ego’s job.

These processors are not mine; they belong to the ether that goes. What about the soul? The soul belongs to Supreme Consciousness. That’s also not mine. The soul goes back to Supreme Consciousness unless it’s coming back in another body. We hop from one body to another. We keep hopping and with the same pattern, same emotion, same kind of desires, we come back again and again. Imagine that’s all extinct, that’s all finished. Then the soul will revert itself back to Supreme Consciousness, that’s also not mine.

So what can you actually offer Baba? Eternal gratitude. Thank you. Surrender. That’s a connection to Consciousness with awareness, with full awareness, with a clear awareness that nothing belongs to me, none of these things are mine. What it seems to be is a combination of so many things, and this is driven by inclinations and tendencies, in all of us. Tendencies and inclinations from childhood remain till we die. We can’t blame anybody for our inclinations; we are that. We are unique beings, unique creations with inclinations, patterns, tendencies. Then we keep expressing them, is it something good or something bad? We do not know. It’s all good, all bad. Everything IS, just IS.

So, we cannot say that this is good; this is bad. We are a bundle of inclinations and a bundle of desires which are connected to inclinations. We have a desire, which is connected to our tendencies and inclinations. This is what we are – vasanas. Vasanas are the provocation for something. If we don’t have vasana for something, an inclination for something, we do not pursue that thing. This is what we are. 

So what do we offer Baba? Basically, we can offer Baba nothing, because everything belongs to Him. You understand Him as Supreme Consciousness. We are also Supreme Consciousness, and if you understand and accept that we are Supreme Consciousness, then we are one with Baba, and we cannot have separation. So, every day – irrespective of Saturday or Sunday or weekends or holidays – what we consume, we offer to our Kul Devtas; if you have family deities, offer to them, Nag Devtas – for the sake of continuity, protection and longevity, knowledge. Then Gurus – like Sai Baba, offer them; then favourite deities, offer them. Also, ancestors, you offer them because if you have taken a body, you belong to the lineage, your lineage from your father’s side and mother’s side. They brought you, so you are not standalone. You are not separated from it. You are one with it. We should offer food before we consume. I always do that myself and recommend the same. When we offer food to the deities and the Masters, and the people whom you respect, people in a sense like all the energies that you respect, automatically, purification happens in your mind and in the food. Whatever energies which created the food, we do not know what sort of energies have worked together to create the food. That doesn’t matter. But when you offer, when you are sincerely offering everything that you consume, to Baba, to Masters, then automatically the food becomes pure and becomes like prasad, like celestial food. Like food which is purified further again from the washing, cleaning, etc. but apart from that, energetic purification.

So, I always recommend energetically purifying the food by offering to them whatever you consume. Naturally, you will also consume good food because what you want, normally what everybody wants – is good food, quality food, tasty food – that same food is given to or offered to Baba. That is also surrendering, a kind of surrender and gratitude.

So, gratitude, surrender, and purification, they are all synonymous, they come together. That makes you consume food which is suitable for your system; you become purified. This is why whatever you consume; I always recommend that you offer it to Baba before you consume, and also if you consume immediately, maybe your stomach is not prepared to digest it easily. Still, if you are offering it, you have time. By that time your system is ready for the food. What you consume is what is offered, it is prasad, it’s celestial, sacred food and that sacred food will make your internal inside sacred. This is what I always recommend. 

Always offer to Baba before you consume. 

Know more about Mohanji at Mohanji.org.

Transcribed by Nada Rakovic

Proofread by Vidya Mohite

Help our neighbours

With a heart full of gratitude and compassion, Mohanji suggests simple but effective ways of gifting to empower us in serving the world.  

Letter of Gratitude for Giving Gifts

I am saying this with full gratitude and in appreciation of your love and kindness towards me and other family members who live with me. I fully appreciate, I fully understand your feeling, and I’m filled with gratitude because you’re finding the time and spending money, and energy, to send the gift items which you love to give me and the people here in the house.

Be Practical 

But we have to be practical in this context. If you have some money with you to spare, make sure that a few beings around you, who are hungry are given good food and satisfy them. This is a gift you’re giving me.

I would like you to use your extra money or excess money to feed the poor, the old, the sick, the birds and the animals, beings of the water, beings of the sky, and beings of the Earth. This is what I would like you to do, or like to do myself, and I do it. If you send materials from different countries, there is a cost for transportation, there is a cost related to the government, like customs fees and stuff. Eventually, that item becomes much more expensive than when we buy from the shop. Again, I’m telling you, I’m deeply grateful that you thought about me or the people in the family. And you really spent that money, time and energy to procure it and send it. But when we consider the total cost, and the total damage to our wallets, is it worth it? Many of the materials are usable probably for a few times, a few weeks or maximum, a few months and it’s discarded. But medicines and essential items, that’s a different thing because that’s needed for our existence. All the essentials are welcome as they help in sustenance. That’s a different criterion.

I’m talking about general gifts that we don’t really need. We need a few dress materials, materials which we need for dealing with the world outside; that’s about it. We don’t need a lot of it. Again, I appreciate your love and kindness. I fully feel it. It is not the same as walking into a shop and, “Oh, I like the dress!” You go buy it. Because a desire happened, you fulfill that desire, that’s okay. But it’s not the same when you buy and send it long distance by courier. Courier charges to customs or the government charges, V.A.T.; all those put together, it really becomes expensive. Probably, it’s not so essential. So, I would like us to consider all these things before we decide to buy and send something. Rather, I would like you to spend that money in helping the helpless. 

Help Our Neighbours

In today’s situation, so many people have lost their jobs. There is zero income. 

• 5000 people lost their jobs in Dubai
• about 40 million in the USA
• 22000 in Serbia
• 500000 in UAE
• 27m young adults (20-30-year-olds) in India

All of them have loans and living expenses. As there is no income, many people are in crisis. Many companies have sacked people. They removed people; that means, so many jobless people. And many of these people don’t tell the world because they are not very poor in their normal life, but a situation like COVID19 has happened, and they became jobless. I know certain cases where the people ask the grocer, “Can you give a one-time meal? Or the materials to cook a meal for the day, for the family.”

They were usually paying and buying before but in this particular situation, they don’t have that food. So, we have to be really considerate. We have to keep our eyes open. We have to ensure that our neighbourhood people are fine. So many shops are closed and so many businesses are suffering. 

One of my friends was telling me, he’s doing good business with about 100 people working for him. He was telling me that his net loss per month is about 4 million rupees. This is the state; this is the reality. Many people are losing money because the economy is tilted. So, we must really understand that every meal is precious in the world today.

If you have food to eat, it’s sheer grace. You deserved it. You lived for the world, the world lives for you; the world provides. But we must always think about the people who do not have food to eat. If you buy some extra grocery and supply to neighbours who have lost their job, they would greatly appreciate it.

I would rather you would spend money on that than sending gifts to me. It would be more practical. We have got to be very practical today. I don’t like to see children starving in the neighbourhood because the parents lost their jobs. We can do something, let’s do it. 

We are focusing on those people who do not want to come out into the open and tell, “Look here, we need help.” Their ego will not allow it. Therefore announce public events, say, “Those who lost their jobs, don’t hesitate to come. We can deliver food at the door, get a grocery bag or something.”

A true story

I heard one person was standing outside the grocery shop and one woman understood that this man didn’t have money. He was reluctant to go in and ask as he had lost his job and he had a family at home. 

So this lady said, “Can I share something with you?”

He said, “No, no, no, no, I’m okay.”

She said, “No, I think you need help.” She felt it.

And he admitted, “I’m standing outside because I may see some of my friends, somebody whom I can talk to.”

She was a stranger, but he said, “I was waiting for somebody from whom I can borrow some money or borrow some material.”

She said, “No, don’t worry. You come with me.”

Then he said, “Basically, I want food for the baby.” It was a child, two years old or something. He wanted to buy baby food. So she bought it for him. 

He then said, “You know what? I would like you to take money. When I get a job, I want to pay you.”

She said, “Don’t worry, if you get a job and you get money, you help somebody like yourself now, you know, please make it a chain, that you help others.”

See, these are the things which are very touching. I would like to see such acts of kindness because there are poor people, and they probably have enough ego not to ask anybody that they need food, or even bread, especially for their children. I feel very sad when there is nothing to eat. And I know some cases where they went to the grocery and said, “Can you give one day’s food?”

Some people were working, they were buying from the grocery all the time, but they said, “We lost the last job. “Can you give one day’s food?” It shows that level, just to survive that day. If they have resources, don’t give it but we should know clearly. If anybody who has some extra money, buys just a packet of grocery and delivers it to somebody whom we know very well and has lost the job, that would be a great service. I know we can.

Spaces for everyone – Centers of Peace/Ashrams

Now, if you have excess money and if you really want to give it to the Mohanji community, either to me or the family or anybody in the community, you can deposit it in the bank in your country in the Foundation account. Or give that money over for the Ashram funds. We need money for the Ashram which we intend to build in Slovenia now. We are making plans for it. That’s more practical than sending gifts to me. 

Again, I’m telling you, I’m not ungrateful, I really appreciate that you are loving me so much. And I’m indebted to you for your love. But let us use this money for more practical purposes. If the Centre of Peace/Ashram is built, it will support and it will be a source of solace for many people in the years to come.  This is more practical. This is more required. So let us work towards something good, something positive, something more practical and more important at this point.

One World, One Family

I will leave you with this thought. And please understand that we are all one. We are one family. We have no separation. When your heart wells with love for me, I receive it. When you love me, I feel it; I receive it. And this love is what is uniting us. This love unites us. This love maintains us; this is our nourishment. And if you can maintain this love, we will have no sorrows. We are all here together at this point in time and in times to come. We are together; we would like to help each other. Let’s hold hands and stay together. We do not believe in any manmade barriers. We have no caste, country, culture, colour; no religion, no language barriers. We are all one. So, the overwhelming love that you express in your society will tell the society the flavour of Mohanji Family.

I love you. Lots of love.

Transcribed by Ulla Bernholdt

Inputs by Biljana Vozarevic

Proof read by Rekha Murali

When to express myself? No sensual activity for enlightenment?

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 is from a listener, and it’s actually a series of questions. So we’ll take them one at a time. The first section is around sensations in the body. How do you accept these without judgment?

Mohanji:  In one word, the answer is witness hood. Let us compare your body to a car. What is the purpose of the car? Utility; for travel, from one location to the other. What is the utility of the body? To experience the earth, and various aspects of the earth; the journey is from birth to death. When you are going through various sensations, various emotions, various experiences, when you have various expressions, just witness them all, because that’s not the end. They come and they go; witness them, enjoy them, appreciate them, so that you will always be stable. You don’t have to be involved in it. At the same time, you can experience it. Experience life as it comes, with gratitude; look at everything gratefully, even anger, hatred, jealousy; look at everything as flavours of life. But you’re not any of them. You have nothing to do with them. They’re just experiences, various flavours you are experiencing. It does not matter what the cause is, take the experiences as neutral, as they are happening. They come; they go. You’re watching. 

Speaker: Along the same lines, the question asked is, when is it important and necessary to express feelings? How do you prevent abuse? And is it enough to just acknowledge these feelings and write them down, rather than actually addressing them to a person?

Mohanji:  The situations of life have reasons for it; the causes. One of the major causes of every experience of life is patterns. Patterns have their roots in some kind of suppression, fear, guilt, and such emotions. One other reason for these events of life is desires, inclinations, tendencies, fears and concepts, or other aspects connected to various aspects of existence. So they are within us, and corresponding experience happens in life. What is the best way to handle them? First of all, accept them. Okay, this is my situation, and unique to me. And then, what is the best that I can do in this situation? If discussion will work, definitely discuss with another person and sort it out. If acceptance will work, accept it. If something has to be changed, say, for example, relocation, removal, or any other aspect which takes you towards becoming peaceful, which helps you to be peaceful, that’s fine. But violence is not alright. If somebody is expressing violence, and you also become violent, it only aggravates the situation, it’s only adding oil or fuel to fire.

Firstly, have awareness of the situation, of each situation as it comes; look at it objectively, accept it as it is. Then, ask the question, “Now what can I do here? What is the right action?” Always choose discussion first. Discuss peacefully. Sometimes the other person is not able to listen properly. In that case, you may have to use a different method where he listens, maybe through a friend, or someone he or she respects. Thus, you can convey the message properly. Else, it can be through your own kindness and compassion; through your own lifestyle, you can transform people. This happens. Some people do not get love at home, but they get enough and more love from the society because of their kindness and compassion, because of their disposition, because of their orientation and expression, they get love. So, instead of expecting love from everybody, you choose to experience or you choose to express your highest potential. That will fetch a lot of love and respect from the world. That will compensate for your situation.

Speaker: And then about certain situations; this question is about stopping, engaging in enjoyable activities, sensual touching or sexual… and a view that a dogmatic approach to enlightenment is dangerous, as the person is trying to kill pleasures.

Mohanji:  You cannot kill anything. Sensual, sexual and what is related to senses is usually connected to instincts. The primary instinct of every being on earth is survival. Survival has two major aspects. One is food, for sustaining the body. And the second is sex to sustain the species. For all the species on earth, both of these are not difficult to handle, because they go about their ways, just as their instinct leads them. But for human beings, because we have a potential for higher awareness and liberation, we consider some of these as a problem. They are not problems. They are essential necessities; the body needs them, the species needs them; we have to handle them in its own merit. Whatever is connected to your body should not be kept in your mind. Whatever has to be handled by your mind, let it be so. What is required for the body, such as food, should be given to the body, when you have the appetite; when the body asks for it. Sexuality is also essential in our system, otherwise, without sexuality, there are no species. These are all essential aspects of existence. By suppressing them, denying them, or thinking that it doesn’t exist, or that you have grown beyond it, what happens is, they come back with more energy and more impact. I always recommend accepting, because that’s the right way to handle everything. Accept whatever your conditions are, whatever your situations are. And if you accept everything in life; I have these inclinations; I have these tendencies; I have these desires, and that’s fine. All people have them and address them with a cool head. Don’t deny it and say that I don’t have it and you try to pretend to the world that you are beyond all this; it won’t work because no pretension ever works. Pretensions do not work!

When pretension happens, suppression happens. Suppression happens, then, postponement happens. It will come back in its full capacity at another stage. It’s important that we handle everything of life, anything connected to instincts, anything connected to desires, tendencies and inclinations with its own merit and respect it. We have to respect ourselves. We have to respect our feelings and emotions.

Then how do you overcome it? By focusing on something much larger, much higher; so that the lower drops off. That’s the way to completely eradicate certain things from your system. Keep your focus steady or a larger goal, such as your own personal growth, through increasing the awareness in the society to something much larger, such as you have the right to be peaceful inside, and nothing outside can touch you. If that kind of a situation can be conveyed properly with your own life, leading by example; that would be a good goal in this lifetime because the potential of being a human is well used. That way you can come above everything. And you can attach yourself or connect yourself to a very large goal, where eventually liberation would be the only option, and it will happen.

Thank you for listening to this podcast. Do 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 is Mohanji for you.

Transcribed by Ulla Bernholdt

Proofread by Vidya Rajagopal

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Are you an angel or a vulture?

Hello, my dear friends. Welcome to Mohanji Speaks.

Today we are going to talk about the goodness factor. What is the goodness factor? Goodness factor is our ability to be kind and compassionate and prioritizing it at all times. So, how is it important for us? We shall see.

One gentleman, a photographer, saw a small child totally drained of energy, lean and weak from dehydration and malnutrition, crawling to a center where they were distributing food in Sudan. And very next to this child, a vulture was sitting, waiting for the child to die so that it could eat its body. This picture is very famous; it’s available on the internet too. This photographer took the picture and left the place. What happened to the child? Nobody knows. And this picture won many a prize, many awards as a very sensitive picture. A child about to die and a vulture waiting for its death, an extremely sad picture!

In one of the programs where this picture was displayed, a reporter asked the photographer, “What did you do about this child? Did you take the child to the shelter or did you just leave her there?” He said, “I didn’t have time; I had to catch a bus, so I rushed right after the picture. I don’t know what happened to the child.” So, the reporter said, “There was not just one vulture waiting for the death of the child. In fact, there were two; one was behind the camera; he took the picture, but did not help the child!” This literally shook the photographer; it hit his conscience. It did so to such an extent that the photographer, later on, committed suicide.

Today, you can see many such vultures. All they need is a good picture. They don’t stop to help the victims and we can see that in the media, right? You can see so many cameras on eerie images; people suffering, animals suffering, birds suffering, they are all pictures of suffering. There are people behind those cameras. But do they turn around and help the victims? We don’t know. In many circumstances, probably help is not possible because of various regulations, such as government regulations, or authorities not permitting any assistance or things of that kind. That is ok; it is understandable that we can’t do anything. But there are many circumstances in which help can be offered. This ability to give a helping hand makes us a good human being.

You take the picture to show to the world that such events are happening; that’s fine. But after that, you need to stop to help the helpless. That’s where humanity comes, that’s where a person becomes a good human being. That’s where the goodness factor is displayed.

So, what we need to think about today is, “Am I a vulture or an angel?” We can all become angels; we can definitely help the helpless if we make that our priority. For that, you should get out of your houses or get out of your comfort zones and do the impossible. That will take your self-esteem to a totally different level. You will have great self-esteem; you will have great inner richness. You would have a lot of gratitude to the universe, for giving you the ability to be helpful. You will become great human beings. You will set trends; you will become a game-changer.

This is my message today. This is my food for thought for today. Are you an angel, or are you a vulture? Think it over. Look at your own past. Think about the various life situations, you have faced and ponder over how you responded.

“The world is a dangerous place not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” This is a quote by Albert Einstein. This says it all.

All of us have the potential to be angels. We are angels. Sometimes mind does not allow us to experience it, then we become vultures. I wish you the state of being an angel, always.

Lots of love. This is Mohanji for you.

Transcribed by Ulla Bernholdt

Proofread by Vidya Rajagopalan

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How to walk the path of spirituality

When we walk the path of spirituality, it’s actually an individualistic journey. You can’t really define that this path should be like this, in a particular way. But I would like to look at the spiritual journey in a logical way, so that it’s easy to understand.

The journey can be classified broadly as a formation stage and stabilization stage; not the accomplished stage. What is the formation stage? Formation stage is the toughest because we are a bundle of patterns and we have a lot of habits. We have a lot of fears, habits, likes and dislikes, so many different things. We have to detach from this whole jungle or the variety of things that we consist of because most of this is connected to the world outside. This is our dependency to the world outside, it could be places, it could be materials, and it could be relationships; so many things connected to the world outside.

So, to detach from all that and come inside, it takes a lot of effort. So that’s the most difficult thing in the path of spirituality. Spiritual journey is basically BEING YOURSELF. Finally, what you’re going to be is be yourself totally. So, in that journey, the first part has a lot of value. Once that’s crossed, it’s easier; but to cross that first path, to detach yourself from habits, your usual patterns, your usual likes and dislikes, all the things connected to the patterns, to come out of it, it takes great determination – more than determination, discipline. These two Ds you should remember; discipline is essential. I used to get up at 2:30 am every day. I would start from three o’clock every day, whatever happens, whether it is sun, rain, cloud, whatever, it didn’t matter. I used to get up at 2:30, I used to take a bath and always without taking bath, I never used to indulge, as that’s a part of discipline. Why take a bath? Water refreshes you immediately and just removes the tedium and the TAMAS which tries to overpower you in your sadhana, in your practice; immediately that’s cut, water takes it away.

So, with the help of water, with the help of a determined mind, you start your journey. You start your journey means you start your practice. That should be very consistent; big time determination.  With determination also, sometimes you don’t even know what you’re looking for. This is the big problem. So, the usual, the known things always attracts you back. By known things means what you’re familiar with; what you’re familiar with, always takes you back. That’s usually the case. We tend to go back and then we lose the track. This is why a time of isolation has a lot of value. In this time of forced isolation, you can’t go anywhere. Otherwise, you have a lot of options. When you have a lot of options; when you have a lot of means and avenues for fulfilment; all that’s distraction. So, the enemy is distraction, one D; and your ally is determination and discipline – 2Ds.  So, these 2Ds are very important. D and D – two pillars; and that will be the main thing in the formation stage – formation time. So, in the formation stage, this is what we must remember – 2Ds, our friends; DISCIPLINE and DETERMINATION.  Distractions are like shadows behind you; it connects itself to habits and patterns. So, patterns and habits are your comfort zones; the zones of comfort that attracts you back.

So, take one sadhana, one practice; it’s very important, maybe one mantra, one practice, one discipline. One discipline means one method like a particular time or a consistent space, is very important. We must be in one space continuously because if we change the space, the mind likes it. That’s a distraction. Do not change the space, stick to the same space as it takes months and years probably since the patterns are so strong; don’t underestimate them. They keep coming back, or they keep reclaiming their position in your life. So, what you need to do is to be consistent, very, very consistent.

Always remember, when you’re using a mantra that mantra should be learnt by heart. You should not read from somewhere because if you have a picture, mind wanders over pictures. If you read a book, mind gets occupied with the book. See, don’t underestimate your mind. It really distracts you. So to avoid all distractions, get into immediate action, avoid thoughts. When you get up in the morning, immediately get on with your action. You should have a discipline and don’t change the discipline because even if you change the discipline, mind occupies that because mind gets involved. So today, I brushed my teeth first, and then I went to the toilet etc., don’t jumble these kinds of things, just follow the same routine. That will help you because you contain things within the time; you’re not crossing your time limit. Then one thing that is very important is to only chant or only do things which you’re familiar with. If you’re not familiar with a mantra, don’t even try until you become familiar with it. I’m talking about sadhana, for practice. Otherwise you can chant any mantra you want for the rest of the day. During the practice, use only a familiar mantra. If Guru has given a mantra, that’s the best for you because the Guru knows what is good for your alignment.

So, chant that and chant continuously, consistently and feel and chant. That way, you are chanting 90% inside you, and 10% outside. So that means you’re chanting outside because you don’t fall asleep; you are chanting inside and you’re feeling the vibration. The outside world is exists; but you’re not looking at the outside world. After chanting for some time, you can go to that state. If you’re doing pranayama, you connect to the light of the lamp. I used to have a lamp lit. Have only a lamp, just a flame. Look at the flame for some time, connect to the flame and chant to the flame and then you chant inside and then you bring yourself inside. You can practice like that. So many different practices have been explained already.

I don’t want to say about that again, because it’s already there. We have meditations and practices; kriyas. In case you are feeling a bit sleepy and drowsy, breathe through one nostril, close one nostril, breathe through the other nostril to the count of six to 8; one count – either six or eight. Then close that nostril and breathe out double (16 counts); if it is 8, it is 16; if it is 6, it is 12 and then breathe through the same nostril, again, six or eight and then release through the other nostril, double. Do that for about 10 times and you will come back and you can actually start it again. So, discipline is very important and this should be very consistent. Whatever happens in the world, whatever the external factors are, we must not stop that.

One of the basic practices which all of us should follow in this world of distraction, to get back is the presence of mind. Make sure that nothing happens without your mind being present. That’s a very good practice. That should be a daily practice; when you’re in your waking state, all the time. Even if you’re moving your hand, let your mind be there. If you’re speaking something, let the mind be there. If you’re eating, let the mind be with the food, with the taste. If you’re doing anything, thinking anything, talking anything, let the mind be present. Without the presence of mind, do not do anything. That’s a very good practice. If you can do that consistently, then you will feel a lot of stability. There’ll be no waste of energy, there will be no excesses. There’ll be no mistakes, there’ll be no disappointments, and you will be feeling very stable. Presence of mind is a good practice and that helps your other practices. Once this discipline starts, (discipline means the order of your activity), let’s say, getting up early in the morning, having the same space, same practice, same mantra, same connection, all those things should be the same; this will actually increase your boredom because you will want variety, you will crave for variety. That is the mind’s job, mind wants variety. But what you want – to cut across the mind and reach a state of accomplishment. So, here, the mind will try to bring you back to a pattern while you are refusing to be in a pattern while making a pattern. This is the point here; making a pattern means same mantra, same practice, consistently. Boredom hits you, continue again and again and again, no change and then finally, mind withers away. It takes time, but mind will break. So the formation stage then shifts to stabilization stage. The formation stage, I have already explained discipline and determination; enemy is distraction. Consistency is very important. Along with consistency is the routine, all those things. So, conviction is extraordinarily important. Imagine if your conviction on something is proved to be wrong later. It doesn’t matter. Because it’s not the object you’re connected to. It’s your method, your conviction that’s helping you.

So don’t look at any outside material, person, place and think that this is what is helping you; they do complement, but it’s you, who’s helping yourself. And finally, you’re reaching yourself. So the journey is to yourself, and the path is yourself. And the practitioner is yourself. And it’s all yourself. Basically, it’s your own journey to yourself, in which all external factors have no deep value that way. So, don’t blame an external factor and say, “Oh, because of that factor, I couldn’t accomplish.” That’s not true. That’s because your determination failed. Later on, once you cross over to the stabilization state etc., you don’t have to follow those and sometimes those things you can’t follow because the practices are completely wiped away or vanishes; those practices will not stay because you reached a state where you are that state. It’s almost like studying hard for graduation and you became a graduate, you don’t have to study all of them again, because you’re done. So, once you reach a state of accomplishment, you don’t actually go back to your practices.

Next is the stabilization stage. Once this stage is over, you are in a path of stabilization. How do you know whether you are stabilizing? Distraction level will be less, whatever happens you’re peaceful, you’re calm; external environment or environment around you does not affect you or it cannot affect your equilibrium. That’s your stabilization time. At that time, what you need is consistent practice; you have to continue with the practice. Don’t stop. At the same time, you also should practice witness hood which means you are witnessing yourself practicing. That’s the stabilization stage. You witness yourself doing all this. So, there is an impersonal feeling there. You are not that but at the same time you are doing it. You are not fighting your mind at that time. That’s finished. That part is over. When your distraction level has reduced and nothing distracts you any more, then you automatically understand that you are on the stabilization time. So, it is a settlement time. Slowly, slowly you are settled. And the more and more you settle, the deeper and deeper you go. The deeper and deeper you go, more and more silence settles. So when you go deeper and deeper, noises reduce. It’s like from a heavy world of noise or world of heavy noises, you’re withdrawing and you’re going to a world of silence. For some time, the noises will be there. Again, you’re going and you’re determined to go to the world of silence. And after a while, when you are closer to silence, you will hear the noises far away; it’s not even near you. And when you enter the world of silence, then the noises completely stop. So, this is the journey. So, stabilization is that you are actually far away from noises. And to go back to those noises, you have to walk all the way back which you may not because that stage is over.  Initially, you will tend to go back to your old habits of noises (noises means activities, various things).

So, when you are in a stabilization mode, you need to witness yourself. You will watch yourself because there’s nothing distracting you. No distraction. You watch yourself. You feel yourself and you feel yourself entering into the world of silence. At stabilisation time, you must continue the activity. But at the same time, you realize you’re not the activity, you are the product of all these, but you are not any of these. So, that means your level of detachment has really increased. Activities do not bind you, nor do the results bind you. Nothing binds you. You are really free. Real freedom you start experiencing at that time. No dependency on people, places, time, materials, any habits, any patterns; that in itself is freedom; huge freedom. That is when you realise this is the real freedom; this is what we are capable of. Why have we never understood it? We have never tried it; we never invested in ourselves that is why we didn’t experience it. Here you are investing in yourself.

So, one of the things which will come overwhelmingly in you is the gratitude; gratitude to the guru, the guide, the one who guides you, the one who actually guided you to the silence, you’ll have immense gratitude. That is the secret of Guru Parampara, where the disciple is overwhelmingly grateful to the guru, but that gratefulness is sometimes not visible in this world, the world of noises is because this gratitude is from the mind; mind cannot hold anything. Mind never holds it. Mind keeps it for some time, throws it away; sometimes picks it up, sometimes throws it away. So, mind is never consistent. We will never understand gratefulness from the terms of mind, until we go into silence. Then we know that this position, this place we have reached is because of the grace of the gurus; then you will be brimming with gratitude, which opens up grace further. So the last part where you are almost entering into silence, overwhelming grace comes to you because of your overwhelming, real gratitude. Real gratitude is not from the mind. It’s gratitude, because you understood that it’s the guru who brought it. That’s why the shloka says, the verse says that if Guru and God come together, who will you bow down to? So the answer is to the Guru, because he showed me God.

So this happens, and then you enter the silence and you’re stable. That means you’re settled down into yourself, and the outside world is not yours anymore. You can go to the outside world, you can interact with outside world, you can be anything in the outside world, there’s no problem. But you are not the outside world. You don’t belong there. Now, you’re going back to the outside world as silence. Earlier, you were going to the outside world as a noise, another noise, but now you’re going to the world of noises as silence.  The difference is very big. You are entering the world of noises as another noise. Then you are insignificant. But when you enter the world of noises as silence, you become very significant. This is a very tricky time because you are different. By different it means people look at you through their eyes in different ways, as they are. Some of them look at you as an alien, what sort of an animal is this?

Some of them look at you as a challenge. Some of them don’t even understand you and they ignore you. That’s okay. But everybody looks at you as they are and then it will be confusing to you. What is the best thing to do? Allow everything to happen. Let everything happen. You’re not worried. Let everything happen; somebody loves you, somebody hates you, somebody criticizes you, somebody praises you, it doesn’t matter. It’s all fine. Everything is fine. You are not bound by them because you are fully settled inside. The world of noises does not shake you anymore. It can’t, then it’s a living accomplishment, then you are living in an accomplished state (accomplished state means state of silence). The living accomplishment is just beingness; there’s nothing else, there’s no doingness there. Even if there is doingness, that is only for the purpose or for the purpose of your existence. As long as you exist, you have to deliver and for that sake, you will deliver and what will you deliver? What is needed to be delivered! It’s a case to case, situation to situation. It’s not a pre-planned delivery method as it happens in the world of noises. So in the world of silence, there is nothing to do, it’s only to be.

So, in that mode, when it’s only To BE, when somebody comes to you, you look at why this association, this relationship or this meeting happened and you just deliver what you have to deliver. But you will not be worried about, “Oh, will I be able to deliver?” because there’s no ‘I’; why this person came to me, there’s no ‘why’. So, there’s no ‘why’, there’s no ‘I’. It’s very simple. You give what you have. And that’s what’s expected. And there’s no pretension. There’s nothing to pre-plan. There is nothing to prove. That’s the world.  So, the third state – the state of accomplishment, you don’t need any guidance because you automatically do what it takes, what you need to do.

These are the three stages. The first is the formation state where you need a lot of discipline, determination; to avoid all distractions. Then comes the world of stability – stable world, where you need to witness; you need a lot more witness hood, activity plus witness hood. Then, you reach a stage of accomplishment which means you’re accomplished. In that state, what you need to do is just be you. So being you is what the ultimate is. Being Yourself. And that’s the journey.

All the 7.5 billion people of the world have the same potential to achieve it. And the one who is capable of doing MANANA is a Manav; that means one who is able to contemplate is a man. Manana has something to do with Manav which is a Sanskrit word, and also man, an English word. It’s all connected with Manana which means somebody who’s able to contemplate, penetrate, understand, assimilate and experience themselves. It’s not experiencing the world outside. That’s easy because all you need is senses and mind. That’s nothing; that’s just a normal thing. But experiencing yourself, that capacity we have; that is something which we can achieve in a lifetime. And that is something which we must achieve in a lifetime because that’s the real thing. The world of noises, world of materials, world of sounds and colours are fleeting. They are available only when you are awake. That’s not available all the time. When you’re sleeping, they’re not available, but here we are talking about a world which is available for you all the time; same world, same brightness, same freedom, all the time. That world is worth it. That’s exactly what is the highest of human experience.

We can call it self-realization, we can call it God-realization; doesn’t matter what you call, but in the world of being you, you are experiencing yourself all the time. Whether you are awake, whether you’re sleeping, whether you’re dreaming doesn’t matter, you are experiencing yourself. And that world is very, very powerful. From that world, you actually experience the Creator. When you start experiencing the Creator from inside, all the time you experience being the Creator. Then you have no separation with anything on Earth because the Creator and the Creation are one and the same. All the things you see around are the creations; all the materials, all the moving, immovable things, all the things are creations. In every creation, there is an element of the Creator and we start witnessing that creator within us and outside us. Then, we can’t have a separation. There’s no separation, there’s no me and mine. There’s no ownership. There is no possessiveness; there is no need to control anything. There’s nothing to control. So, once you understand the mind of the Creator, you become the Creator. You and the Creator are one. And then, it’s dissolution. That’s a state of dissolution. Once that awareness settles in, then you dissolve, then there is no you and that state is beautiful, perfect. The state of being the Creator, the creation has become the Creator. The dancer has become the dance, then there is no separation, then there is no division. When the song and the singer become one and the same, you’re fully melted. You are one with the whole creation.

So from the world of noises to the world of silence, it’s a consistent walk. It’s worth it. All the masters have said the same thing, over and over again. Many of them have seen it. Many of them have witnessed it. Many of them have become that. And those who have become that never came back to the world of noises. Those who witnessed it tried again and again, and they try to go back to this state of peace; perpetual peace all the time. Many of them did. But those who have knowledge and they are teaching, they are still in the world of noises. So, that difference is there always. They might have learnt a lot of things; the books, the materials, so many things they would have learnt and they understand. Understanding and experiencing are two different things. You understand how to make a very tasty dish. But to know how it will taste, you have to eat it. And once you taste it, maybe you won’t be able to explain about it because it’s not explainable. Some things are not explainable. You have to experience it, and just allow that experience to settle into you, you become the experience. But you can’t explain. What you can explain are the noises and the expressions.

So many people who have attained silence never spoke, because there was nothing to speak. Speaking was very difficult, because the world of noises is a gross world when you have reached a level of subtlety. It’s almost like you don’t have a body, how will you communicate, how will you act? How will you touch? How will you feel? How will you experience the world as a body? So it’s like that. Imagine that your level of subtlety is high. When you’re completely subtle and your body is just an attachment to your system, and you don’t really feel the body; in that mode, when another person comes to talk to you, you become that person; you will express that level of grossness as much as you need to express or communicate to that person. If a very subtle person comes to you, you become that subtlety because you are very flexible. You are not bound by the world of noises. The world of silence is huge flexibility; totally flexible. You don’t have to think that “Oh, this man is coming now, how I will respond?” There’s nothing to think. You’re put in a position, words flow through you as per the need, as per the requirement of the person or the society or the environment or the time. That just happens; you don’t have to really do anything.

So, I think I have explained the three major aspects of the path of awakening and this has to be assimilated. You should listen to it many times and feel these words; not just listen to these words, actually feel these words. So you will understand the formations, how important is the formation. That’s the most important stage because you are actually destroying your patterns at that stage. It’s not easy; it’s not easy at all. Don’t underestimate that time; don’t underestimate your patterns. Don’t underestimate your habits, your inclinations and tendencies, your desires. Don’t underestimate them. They’re very powerful. They can literally turn you around, and they can literally keep you as a slave to it.

Usually, we are not slaves, but these things make us slaves, dependent on the world outside. We are behaving like slaves, helpless; we don’t have to be helpless. We don’t have to be. We should know that we are the depth of silence. We are powerful, very powerful. Only if you could experience that power, you will know. Otherwise it’s just an idea or a theory. You wouldn’t even know. When you experience, when you establish yourself in the world of silence, deeply in the world of silence, then you are a God-man. You’re one with the God; one with the Creator. You are a God-man. Until then you do not understand a God-man. Who’s a God-man? He looks like a man; human being. How can he be God? What is his state makes him that.  His state, his stature makes him godlike. God is not one unit. God is omnipresent. God is universal and God has no boundaries. So when a person loses his boundaries, he becomes universal. He is a God-man. So God-men do exist!

Mohanji

 

Transcribed and proofread by

Rekha Murali

 

Read or watch other Mohanji’s messages on Corona virus here.

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How to Surrender and Pray to Sai Baba

 

What is the right method of worship? What is the right method of prayer?

These questions come up very often. Because today, if you see in the world of spirituality, things have become every transactional. You give something, expecting something in return. The essence and the purity of prayer has completely vanished. A true prayer is only a prayer of gratitude, where there are no words. It’s from the heart. Not articulated. If you want to articulate something, you articulate the highest brightness possible, remember that.

Today, in the time of Kali – in the Kali Yuga, everything is very fast. By the time you wake up, it’s almost night. So, we are moving at a speed which is uncontrollable. We don’t get enough time to sit down and meditate, to sit down and pray. First of all, what is essential today is to learn to accept life as it comes. This is also a prayer, a meditation. Accept things as it happens. Avoid resistance. Okay, this is happening now, let me handle it. This situation has come, let me handle it. These are all situations. We can make it a problem, or we can make it an opportunity. It is up to us; it’s up to our disposition. If we are positive, we’ll make every problem, every situation an opportunity, a possibility, a positive thing. Or we can look at everything as a problem. That is our mind-set. It is important to change our mind-set.

When you are connecting to Masters, especially someone as powerful as Sai Baba, first and foremost, do not expect or think that he does not know you. If you go there, he has called you. Without his calling, you can’t reach there. We must understand that it was not our decision to go to Sai Baba. There are numerous people in the world who do not know Sai Baba. And there are numerous people who are connecting as we talk. So, who made this possible? Not me or you. Sai Baba made this possible. If you are connected to Sai Baba, Baba facilitated it. He arranged it.

Then, what will you tell him? If he arranged your connection with Baba, Baba knows everything. You don’t have to tell him anything. Then, what can you tell him? “Thank you for receiving me. Thank you for having me. Thank you for accepting me. This is the right prayer.” That will solve everything. You’re also saying, “Now I have come to your house, whatever you give me is fine for me. My life is settled at your feet.” This is the right prayer. The right prayer is to say, “Thank you, I am fine at your feet. Whatever you desire, or whatever you wish for me is the right thing for me.” If that understanding is clear, all your pains, all your pleasures, you will surrender at Baba’s feet.

Surrender is not from the mind. Surrender is from the attitude of being one with the Supreme Consciousness. Surrender is spontaneous. Just like letting go makes it forgiveness. When you let go, it becomes forgiveness. Forgiveness is a mind game. You tend to forgive, like we talk about tolerance. Tolerance is from the ego. You tolerate another. That is an ego exercise. We should have nothing to do with tolerance, we accept everybody. We accept everything. But that doesn’t mean if something is harmful, we allow it, it is not so. We must make sure that we and our society should remain non-violent. This is our responsibility. If you belong to a community, you must ensure that you and the community remain non-violent. That has to be through discussions, through transfer of awareness and through orientation, not through punishments. Punishment comes last. If you cannot correct something through discussions and orientations, then comes punishment, not punishment first. This is very important to understand.

Whenever you are connected to any Master, whenever you are visiting a Master, do not think that the Master knows nothing. He might know much more than you know, including why a situation happened. Actually speaking, in the true path of spirituality, ‘why’ is not a good word. There is a cause; otherwise, there won’t be an effect. There is always a cause behind every effect. Accept it. When you resist the effect, the cause remains for a longer time. When you accept the effect, then the cause does not have its value anymore. This is the truth of existence, through perpetual acceptance of yourself.

We all have weaknesses. 7.5 billion people of the Earth all have weaknesses. Nobody has only strengths. This is sure. If somebody says I have no weaknesses, they are lying. Everybody has weaknesses. Everybody has strengths. We are all a mixture of weaknesses and strengths. Why don’t we accept our weaknesses? Why do we desire that we should only have strengths? Whenever we desire we should only have strengths, we are fighting with ourselves. We are resisting ourselves. Or we are not accepting a part of ourselves. And that part becomes a glaring pain in our life. What you have not accepted becomes a problem in your life. Instead, you accept, I have weaknesses, I have strengths. Both are fine, this is me. As this incarnation, I am all these.

Baba knows this. When you come to Baba, Baba understands. You are weaknesses and strengths put together. Baba is not looking at you only as strength. You don’t have to hide all your weaknesses from Baba. You tell Baba, this is me, you know it very well. Now, if something is not good in me, I request you to take it away. You leave it to Baba. Then don’t look back. You tell Baba, “Whatever you think is a hindrance to my path of liberation, take it away. I don’t need it. Let it be anything.” This could be painful when it’s removed because most of these things have become a habit. Habits have created comfort zones. And these habits and comfort zones have bound us. They have created patterns. We know it very well. But it’s okay. That’s how life is. So, allow Baba to work on it, and say take away whatever is not good for me. Take it away. This is a good prayer. Prayer of surrender. You’re not asking anything. You’re not requesting, you’re telling Baba, “I have decided to merge with you. You brought me here because without your permission I would not have come here. I would not have known you or met you or reached Shirdi.” Baba says, “If somebody steps on the soil of Shirdi, they become my responsibility.” Play that role very well. Accept that promise very well. Don’t take away yourself when you go. Leave it there. Leave yourself there.

When the mind is with the Master, you are with the Master. When your body is with the Master, there’s no guarantee you are with the Master. Your mind is elsewhere, that’s where you are. It’s not that you’re not visiting Shirdi or you are not in Shirdi, it doesn’t matter. If your mind is in Shirdi, you are in Shirdi. If your mind is with the Master, you are with the Master. If your mind is with alcohol, you are with alcohol. So where is your mind, that’s what you are. This is exactly the truth. So, release all your burdens at Baba’s feet and walk away. Now, what follows you, Baba is giving you that. That is to purify. Understand, Baba will not give you anything which is not good for you. The Tradition won’t do that. The Tradition of Liberation will not do that. If you’re surrendered completely, it will only give what is good for you. Your mind may not accept it because the mind is used to patterns, comfort zones, feeling good. But feeling good has no value on the Path of Liberation. Usually what the mind likes, what the mind loves may not be good sometimes. What you have to do, what is given to you, that’s the right thing to do. No resistance.

So, a true prayer is the prayer of gratitude. Humility is the result. When you are fully in gratitude, you’ll be very humble. Even if you are going to see Baba, you will go with a level of humility where you are receiving. This is how prostration is designed, prostration where your heart and your head comes in one line, in sublimation. That means your ego is fully surrendered at the feet of Baba. When your ego is fully surrendered, you are extremely receptive. That is why our temples are places of rejuvenation. They are places of transformation. Because, through the eyes, the mind gets rejuvenated. Through the ears, through the mantras, the mind gets rejuvenated. Through the smells and the fragrances, through the nose, the mind gets rejuvenated. Through the sandalwood paste, through the vibhuti and udi on the skin, mind gets rejuvenated. Through the prasad and teerth, through the tongue, the mind gets rejuvenated. When you prostrate, from the energy that you come in contact with at that sanctum sanctorum, the mind gets rejuvenated. When you circumambulate, you are soaking your aura in the pure energy of Baba, the mind gets rejuvenated, and the mind gets purified. When you give dakshina or donation, whenever you give money, fruits etc, that amounts to sacrifice. Again, purification of the mind, the mind gets rejuvenated.

When you go to a temple and when you come out of the temple, you are different. You are totally transformed; it’s not just a place of worship. These are places of transformation. Shirdi is a place of transformation. Vaishno Devi is a place of transformation. Sabarimala, all these great places are places of transformation. This is why thousands flow to these places, not just to get a few things happening in life, that’ll happen anyway.

If you are eligible, if you accept life, usually there’ll be no blockages. Blockages happen only when you resist life. Blockages of life are connected to resistance. Otherwise, there’ll be no blockages. Things will flow smoothly, everything will flow smoothly. Life will be good and when you’re able to accept sorrows, as much as you accept happiness, you will have a smooth existence because you are not afraid. In the path of Liberation, fear has no value. The antidote of fear is faith. If you have an overwhelming fear, that shows you are not in alignment. You’re not in alignment with the Guru, you’re not in alignment with yourself. So, when you feel a lot of fear, it is time that you reinvented your faith. Surrender everything. This fear is not mine, I leave it to you. That way, if you surrender, the Master takes over. Master can easily bring light and remove the darkness. You need to open your doors and windows for the light to enter you. Open your heart, faith enters, and grace enters. Where there is faith, there is grace. This is the right way. So, if you want to give something to Baba, give yourself. Say, “Baba, I belong to you, you take care of me.” He does.

Don’t go to Baba as you, you go to Baba as Baba. You have given yourself to Baba means you’ve become Baba. You are Sai Baba. Go there, give yourself and then come back empty. Leave everything there. Your whole life will blossom. If hardships are happening, if pains are happening, understand, Baba is reducing your lifetimes, the number of births. This is a big deal. How else will you reduce it? The usual karmic pattern is when you have a desire, you need fulfilment. Desire – fulfilment, desire – fulfilment. This is how life goes. And it is never ending because each pattern produces more desires.

How will you come out of it? How will you break the pattern? Baba. That’s the prayer, the prayer of gratitude. Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for accepting. We may not know Baba, but Baba knows us. Never underestimate that. Baba knows our weaknesses very well, and Baba is not discriminating you because you have weaknesses. Because you have failures in life, Baba will not throw you out. Everything is okay. You are as you are. When you’ve come here, you’re part of the family. You have to be part of the family. That’s what Vittal Babaji said, “Aao beta.” That’s all he says. Even if people have done harm to you, when they come back, you receive them saying, “Come in, come in, aao beta – come my son.”

Masters will never say go away because someone harmed them. When somebody threw a stone at Baba, and he was bleeding, he said, “Injury is here, pain is there.” When you hurt a Master, when you speak ill about a Master, when your mind is contaminated because of others’ words, I always say, “Never look at the world, never see the world through your ears. You always see the world through your eyes. Then only you’ll see reality.” If your mind is contaminated because of others, they also take the burden of contamination. Just like purity, when you give purity, when you do annadan, when you give food and make other people happy, people of all species and everybody happy, you become rich. When you contaminate minds, you become poor. So, what you deliver to the world has a lot of impact on you. When you’re contaminating the minds of people, always remember, you’re taking their burdens also. You’re responsible. Have nothing to do with all this. Don’t go that way. Be pure, deliver purity. Always be steady with Sai Baba. Always be there, and Baba will take care of everything.

 

Transcribed by Tijana Sladoje
Proofread by Shyama Jeyaseelan

 

A Letter of Gratitude – Mohanji’s Birthday Message 2019

The blog post moved here

Guru Paada Puja

During the recent visit of Mohanji to UK, few devotees wished to perform Mohanji’s Paada Puja. Mohanji kindly agreed to it. With a short notice, in the morning of 9th August, this programme was arranged and few devotees gathered. With utmost reverence and devotion, devotees arranged all the essentials required for the ritual. Flowers, Dipam, water, turmeric water and Kumkum water, fruits, dry fruits, were kept ready.

 

Devotees sat and waited for Mohanji to come and take his seat. Mohanji came into the room glowing like the warm morning Sun brightening up not just the room but the moods of everyone present there. With a smile that can melt millions of hearts but shining eyes with a bright aura around, Mohanji took his seat and asked, “Why do you all want to do this Paada Puja?

You must be very clear on the purpose and reason behind every activity that is performed, so that you can explain to your children and future generations. Don’t do any rituals just for the sake of doing it.” Devotees then requested Mohanji to kindly explain the meaning of “Guru Paada Puja” and the significance of performing this ritual.

 

A ritual soon turned into a satsang bringing clarity about this pure and authentic tradition which has been followed through ages! After the satsang, every one with much clarity on the significance of Paada Puja, then performed Mohanji’s Paada Puja with pure devotion and total surrender to the Guru and Guru Tatwa.

 

Amidst the chants of Mohanji Ashotottari and Guru Paduka Stotram, Mohanji’s lotus feet were not just washed with the water and flowers but with the pure tears flowing out of devotees eyes with love, devotion and surrender.

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The simple Paad Puja ceremony became a highly powerful ceremony charged with immense love from the devotees to their Guru and from Mohanji to all.

Following is the transcription of what Mohanji explained to all regarding “Why Paada Puja?”.

Q: Why do we need to do Guru Paada Puja?

Mohanji’s Explanation:

“The Upanishad teaches us to ask questions and not to blindly believe. You must ask questions in order to be aware and to strengthen and deepen your awareness so that we can provide a perceptive explanation for future generations of the reasons for every action and ritual you perform.

The three reasons behind the Guru Paada Puja ritual:

• Firstly, you must consider that the person whose feet you are washing is in a state of supreme consciousness. So, when you’re washing the feet, you’re washing the feet of this state of supreme consciousness; of being in complete balance.

• Secondly, consider the contribution of this individual in society and in your life. What is the highest contribution of Mohanji? Take it in a tangible format. It’s not my teachings. It is Mohanji, The Platform. Why do you need a platform? Don’t you already have a platform? You already have a platform called life. Karma is a platform, right? Karma created you. Karma is maintaining you and karma will dissolve you. Therefore, you have a platform. Then why do you need another platform called Mohanji? What is the Mohanji Platform going to do for you? It’s very simple. For example, why do you do a job? To get money, to take care of the family and to have a life. Similarly, when you have a platform which is giving you an opportunity for selflessness, you are earning a spiritual ‘bank balance’.  What is the advantage of a spiritual bank balance? A literal bank balance, we already know, can buy you a certain gratification that is tangible to the senses. A spiritual bank balance?

This is what helps your ancestors, people who died before you in your lineage. When you do good work, you earn spiritual bank balance. Take, for example, our houses. Your parents, grandparents and so on are all in your house. When you cook food, everybody eats, not just you. It never happens that way, right? In the same way, the spiritual bank balance also goes to the ancestors. Imagine that this is one platform where your ancestors and their ancestors are all present. Because you are a part of a lineage, they all benefit. The ancestors are happy because they release themselves from so many things they couldn’t do. You are not separate from your ancestors. Your father and mother are integrated into you. So, don’t look at them as other people. Even your grandparents and their grandparents are all integrated with you. It is because of them that you are here.

The same applies with the next generation; your children, their children.  You are also integrated with them. When you do good work (not just Paada Puja, Paada Puja is symbolic) within a platform in the name of a guru as a selfless act, it helps the spiritual bank balance grow and this will help the next generation.

• Thirdly, when you die, you carry this bank balance along. This is called Punya. So, in your next life you already have something to work with. There is some money in your account.

So, you have three levels of stability that you can create for your existence. These three levels are: ancestral, the next generation and your own continuation of existence. Through this symbolic Paada Puja, you honour the individual who was stabilising you in these three levels.

For example, it is because of the CEO, owner or founder of your place of work that you have a job. You don’t have to wash his feet all the time, but if you have a reverence in mind, it helps; “I never created the company. I never created anything. But because it existed, I survive.”

This is the best and most tangible awareness. If you are able to explain this to your children, they will understand the reverence between generations. They will understand and will not think that they are individuals that can do whatever they like. Whilst they can do whatever they like, there are repercussions which will affect your ancestors and the future generations, and you also carry the repercussions of whatever you do.

We are talking about a platform which is pure and what you earn from here is legitimate currency. When you do selfless things, there is a brightness, an energy happening within you. In this environment, if you continuously perform this, even in thoughts, words or actions, it creates a positive energy. For example, if you are criticizing, accusing or judging, or you are taking revenge on someone, it creates a negative energy within  you that can be transmitted to your children. This may cause these children to throw you out because they are nurturing this negativity. That is why it is common that there are bitter fights between parents and children.

Also, understand that this is an individual journey that nobody can walk on your behalf. If I have to exercise, I should exercise. You can’t exercise on my behalf. It’s always individualistic. Development is also individualistic. Evolution and dissolution are individualistic. Therefore, it is important to stay pure inside. No bad thoughts, bad actions or bad expressions. Be positive so that the lineage becomes very happy.  As they say, “amrutya putra”, meaning son or child almost like nectar. People say that if a person is born in a family with that kind of power, a minimum of seven generations before and seven generations after will benefit. So, depending on the intensity of your avatar or incarnation, further generations will benefit, not only your own family. Because of your existence, so many people will benefit. Then, the accumulated bank balance is much higher. That is the whole point.

How do you know that this is all real? Your level of contentment within your life will tell you that you are doing the right thing. If you’re angry, agitated, etc., you’re definitely not doing the right thing. Instead, if you’re happy, peaceful and content, then it’s a sign of perfect action.

It’s important to understand that every activity has a purpose. How do you express that you are grateful? One of the ways you can express is by this ritual. There are other ways too. Most importantly, giving the teaching is your greatest expression.

You should be able to explain this to your children, grandchildren or others in that way that will enable them to understand the benefit of an activity. Don’t include anybody in a ritual without an explanation because without proper understanding, they will reject it and become averse to it.”

Devi’s experience sharing on Paada Puja

“My first ever Paada Puja was a few years back, in Muscat. In all honesty, I was not familiar with the whole ritual, so I was kind of on the side. At the time I was pregnant with Mila.

It was a much elaborated Paada Puja during Guru Poornima . With time, as they were performing it, I felt a lot of beautiful energy and understood that the truth that we focus on, becomes our reality and we can actually penetrate it. Where ever the attention goes, the energy goes as well. One thus understands that the feet of the master are the tangible representation of an expanded consciousness of master. At this moment, I realised that it’s not Mohanji as a person sitting before me, it’s that consciousness. So, as I was doing the Paada Puja, I followed the instructions for the way it is supposed to be done and I kept feeling that energy. At one point, I felt inner guidance that I should put my Ajna chakra (third eye) on the big toe. I did that. While my third eye touched Mohanji’s big toe,  I felt as if I was receiving hundred Shaktipats! I could feel a huge energy transfer happened.

Then, I sat and I went straight into samadhi state for an hour or so. It felt as if somebody had put a glass ceiling around me, and within that glass ceiling, there was no sound or breath, there was just stillness. I could hear that there were people in the room, but it felt as if they were outside the glass ceiling and it was amazing. I just totally did not want to come out of it.

My understanding from this experience was that, when we do any ritual, we should always look at the essence of feelings from the heart rather than be mentally preoccupied with the process and the proper way to perform it. People often get lost in the process, but they don’t feel the essence of the sacred ritual. it’s not about the rules and regulations. It’s about how you feel and connect to the purpose of the ritual and then doing it through your heart. That gives the maximum benefit in whatever the purpose behind it.”

||JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI||