A journey called life

Mohanji Zoom satsang with Ayush Keshri

May 5, 2020

 

1. Why do we need peace in our lives and in society?

It’s very simple. The need for peace is to experience life completely. When it is the other way round, if it is a war situation or a situation of calamity, we can’t experience, because we are scattered. Peace brings us together. Peace means alignment. So the need for peace means the need for alignment. The very reason for taking birth on earth is to experience the many things that we are experiencing in life. That’s the very reason for taking birth. However, to experience it, we need to be together. If our mind is scattered, if our intellect and ego are scattered, we can’t experience (life), we experience it only partially. So the very need for peace is that we experience life completely and it is our birthright.

2. How can someone find their purpose in life, I’m talking about the youth, those who are between the ages of 14 and 24.

We all have our inclinations; we call it vasanas; the driving force is vasanas. We all have our unique vasanas. All our life we are chasing the fulfillment of our vasanas or tendencies. As a child, we have certain vasanas, certain fulfillments, when we become a young adult and then an adult, at each time the vasanas drive us forward. Desires and vasanas are mixed together.

So the purpose is very simple, the purpose of existence is what you are experiencing every moment. But you can have a goal. Goal and purpose are sometimes different. The goal means you set a target for yourself, a destination so to speak, just like you program in your car, where you would like to go. Similarly, you can have a destination clearly defined, so that all your activities will be towards that. That’s fine. But what drives you? We are all bundles of inclinations, tendencies, that is what we are, we cannot extract ourselves from that. So the purpose is to exhaust and fulfil all these tendencies and inclinations and desires, all put together. It’s like a mixed box, a cocktail. So this is what we are here for. And this what we are doing, our entire life. All our life, we are going after fulfilment, of some kind.

Sometimes we get misled, we may think that by making a lot of money we will be fulfilled; maybe not, because that becomes more and more of an initiative or an inspiration for more money. And what happens is, people, make a lot of money, but they fail to be fulfilled because sometimes money cannot give you that. Satisfaction also is in enjoying the wealth and the time. It’s all happiness, we are all seeking happiness and peace and such things. So in that mode, we should live in that moment fully, completely, not distracted. When we are in that moment, we will be completely and fully satisfied. That’s a life of contentment. Contentment is important. I always call contentment, the factor of contentment as a success, not the wealth or the things you earn. Are you contented every moment with what you have? Then, you are successful.

You can see some very, very poor people; but they’re very contented. They’re happy with their life. And you can see very rich people, totally discontented, with no contentment. So is that success? Success is a question mark here.

3. When we are young, where to go and how to choose a career can be confusing. With your experiences, can you help us? How can one choose a career and be happy and satisfied?

Choosing a career is very simple. We have our nature; certain things which we like, as I said earlier, inclinations and tendencies. Our nature is our guideline, like the outfit you’re wearing. If you get an outfit two sizes smaller, you can’t wear it comfortably. Like that, we have to strictly follow our nature, what are we comfortable with? And what makes us happy, and is effortless.

You may choose a subject that takes a lot of effort, or people tell you to choose a subject for the sake of a job or the sake of success in life, etc; people equate success with money. People say a job with good money. You know, sometimes what happens is that there is only sorrow. This is because first of all, it’s not in your nature. What you want is something that suits your nature, but you can’t do it. Then all your life you’re dragging your feet. Instead, the right job for you is one which is your nature and is suitable for you. What that is, only you can tell, because nobody else can guide you.

Some people like engineering because they love to be an engineer. If somebody joins engineering because it fetches more money, they may fail in life. They may succeed in the examination, but they may fail in life. For the youth, I always say, strictly follow your nature, your inclination. You ask a fish to climb a tree, and when the fish fails because it can’t climb a tree, we call the fish a failure. That is how society works. Likewise, you don’t have to teach a fish to swim, it knows how to swim. Like that, everybody has their nature and they are very, complete and comfortable in their nature. So look at your own nature. What is your nature? Based on that, you select a subject and choose a career. You will be successful because you love to do it. Not that you have to do it. There’s a difference here, doing something which you love to do.

It even applies to a relationship. Some relationships bring you a lot of pressure and but some relationships are a big pleasure for you. So the pressure and the pleasure, this equation, and it’s all connected to your nature. You get connected to somebody and that relationship will be so beautiful. It’s like a smooth breeze. But in some relationships, there is always a problem, so that means it’s not suitable for you. Education, relationships, and life, you look at your nature and choose accordingly.

4. Once I decide I would like to go ahead with a dream, but my parents may not want me to go ahead with this dream, they want me to be an engineer, doctor or something else. How do I tackle these issues, how do I justify what I’m doing is right?

Yes, sometimes you have to do something else; that means, you become choiceless, this happens in life. Everything in life is not what we choose. Sometimes you have to do some things which are not your choice. Then you should not leave your dream, you should not leave your basic nature, start a hobby on the side. For example, if you like music and like singing, even when you are studying or doing something else not connected to music, you can still have music as a passion, as enjoyment, and have your natural ability or your natural flow in that subject. It will help you to balance your life. Otherwise, if you focus on, or are completely bound to things that you don’t like to do, then you will have a big pressure on you and you will become older faster. So my suggestion always is that you should have a hobby, which is what you love to do, parallel to what you have to do. If you carry this forward together, you will be peaceful.

5. How do I convince my parents that I want to go ahead with my own dreams? 

The only way you can convince your parents is only through your success. There is no other way. Only through your success, you can convince and sometimes it takes time. You know, when I started moving around and started talking, people called me crazy, because I was doing something else. I had a different job. I loved that job, in the shipping business; I loved it. But I moved to a completely different track. People said he’s crazy. You need to prove yourself to society, parents, and others. You need to prove, otherwise, they can’t see. But that’s because they are security-oriented. They want you to be secure. They don’t want you to take chances.

This is natural because nobody would want to see their children stranded or on an uncertain path. So they guide them to the beaten tracks, the tracks which are travelled by people before so that you know the dimensions of the track. They push the children towards that track because it’s known, it’s comfortable and there is predictability there. But if we have to really prove ourselves, we have to strive for it. We should have that fire while walking the path, which you are guided to walk. At the same time, you should follow what you love to do. With both together, you can prove, but in life, you cannot prove right away, you have to live it. You have to walk through it, live it, perfect it, only then people start seeing. But you must really believe in what you do; so, first of all, you should believe in yourself. You should be sure that you will do this in life, whatever you love to do. Secondly, you should believe in nature, which will help you to accomplish what you want.

There should be honesty and truthfulness in that which you love to do. First of all, believe in nature for time makes success, not that you make success. You can only do or put in the best effort. Put the best effort, but only time will tell about success. So you should not worry about what will happen, don’t focus on the result. Instead, focus on the activity, consistently. And even if you fail ten times, don’t stop, keep going, keep going and then comes success. So sometimes you have to really, really, really work hard before you actually reach success. You have to believe in yourself.

You should have purity in thoughts, purity in concept, and purity in seeing success happening. It will take time. There’s nothing called instant success. It doesn’t work that way.

6. You have spoken very important words. Within that time when I haven’t received success, there is pressure from my parents, surroundings and society. How do I decrease or minimise the pressure, tension and negative energies?

The pressure is part of existence. If we live for about 80 years there will be some kind of pressure or some kind of disturbance all the time. When there is a positive there is a negative, this is part of existence, both travel together. It’s not always that things can be positive, and you can always be positive.

What we need to do is that we must also connect to ourselves. When you are deeply connected to yourself, then you will be confident that whatever you have to do for a living, whatever you have to learn, you will, until you can walk on your own. So, in the initial days, where you need help from the parents when you need help from others, you do what they ask you to do because sometimes you don’t have many options. But don’t let go of the dream, let it be within you so that the spark in you remains and it will wait for fulfilment or realization.

There have been extraordinary people like Sachin Tendulkar, he started playing cricket from very early days and he proved himself when he was in his teens. There have been such prodigies. But remember, the only investment which is really important is to take time to connect with yourself; you will have success. Success is not rocket science. The goal needs to be perfect. If you do not have a vision you can’t have success. Vision means how do you see yourself in the future? You should actually visualize yourself as you would like yourself to be seen. Then you can walk, take a bicycle, a car, or any other mode of transportation, but you will reach the destination.

You start with what is available, and then you increase or add more. You will find that all successful people have started their life against many obstacles. Against all odds, they kept the vision and focus very clear; but it takes time. If you look at them, all of them found success possibly, after 40 or 50 years because they had to work hard to reach there. They believed in themselves and all the people who left their mark on earth have believed in their project or their vision and goal. So, vision is very important and determination is even more important. Iccha shakti (will power or determination), is very important and nothing should stop you. People may say this is not right or people may not approve of you or may not accept you, maybe they will reject you also. Still, we move on, because if we believe in ourselves, nothing can stop us.

7. How can someone motivate themselves to do what they like?

Motivation should be what you want to achieve in life, it should be self-inspiration. Don’t expect inspiration from other people. Don’t expect everybody to understand you, recognize you, and accept you. But what you can always do is believe in yourself and believe in your project or what you want to do in life. That means your goal. That should be the motivation, not anybody’s opinion because people can have any opinion about you. It may be a good opinion or a bad opinion. But how does that matter if we trust in ourselves? If we are truthful if we are honest, we do not betray anybody, we do not cheat or steal, we have nothing to worry. If we try to do something through negative ways, we have every reason to worry because nature will not support you anymore. When you do things positively without any selfish interest when your attitude is selflessness and you have a larger vision, which is also noble, then nature will support you; then the environment will also support you. Otherwise, it’s very difficult. Many people have very selfish dreams, to achieve a house, or make a factory for earning money, and all these things. By the time they earn a lot of money, they are already sick, and they spend all the money in the hospital. This is how sometimes the cycle works. So we have to be very careful. We need to understand that for walking on this earth we must pay, we must give rent.

What rent can we give? Selfless service. Help other people and hold hands with people. When you’re walking on this earth, you should be walking for the sake of the world, not only for yourself. Of course, you can eat, drink and sleep, there’s no problem. But then you need to walk for the sake of humanity, for the sake of the world. Then the whole world will support you, the world will look after for you. That is exactly how success stabilizes.

8. When we decide to do something great in our lives and don’t receive the desired results, we have a lot of negative energy in our minds and a lot of negativity in our hearts. How do we minimise it?

As I said, you can’t avoid negativity. That is nature, and also other people will give it to you. Even if it is a journey in the spiritual path, people tell a lot of stories – “Oh, that is not good. This is not good. This path is not good. This Guru is not good.” Everybody confuses everybody.

These are all opinions of people, opinions related to fears, opinions related to concepts, opinions related to their phobias, prejudices; they are going to give us many different things. But do we have to buy it? Our job is to ensure that nothing enters our system, our focus remains clear, and only we can do it. When we are really sure about what we want in life, nobody can stop us. Then that will be an inspiration. Many people have discouraged me. Oh, don’t go out and do these things, that people are crazy. Sometimes they malign you, at times they character assassinate you, talk badly about you. People say all these things -why do you waste your time, you are a professional; you can get your salary from a company.

People talk like this, but if you buy fears, you can’t discard them. Many times you buy all this negativity from society, just like you buy a lot of things you don’t want from the market. What do you do when you bring them home? You can’t discard them. You don’t know what to do. It’s like that. When you attract a lot of fears, a lot of prejudices from people, and you buy them and you believe in them, then you can’t really succeed because then your own bank balance will be this. What I mean is there will be clutter in your own mind. And clutter means a lack of clarity. So you need to be very clear that none of these things touches you.

You should always make sure that nothing touches you. You should be focused on a pure path; the intention should be very, very pure. The intention should never be some selfish interest, if it is, it will not work. The intention should be pure, and the activity should be positive. If you firmly stick to that, you don’t have to worry about negativity.

Let the negativity happen. Like Winston Churchill said, if you start throwing stones at all the dogs that bark on your way, you can never reach your destination. So there will be obstacles and obstructions. But we keep going. And that’s exactly it. People have tried their best to topple me many times, but I’m still surviving. I keep going because nature helps me. The world helps me, Existence helps me. That’s how we are moving and the right people will come to you; they never leave you. And the people who come with expectations, and try to take something away from you, don’t stay. They leave whether they get it or not. But those who truly care for you, those who really love you, they never judge you. They support you. They stay with you. They stand with you. Those people are your responsibility also. You must take care of them. So this is how you build a world or a large family; a family of people who are really united; they have integrity, and they are powerful. And they stand by you, whatever happens. Even if the whole world speaks poorly about you, they stand by you. With such people, you can build something great in this world. This will not happen in one day. You have to kiss many frogs before you get a prince. So you must be ready.

9. How can someone purify himself?

Purifying yourself is very simple, introspection. Ask yourself, are my intentions pure. First is intention. Secondly, introspect on- are all my actions pure? Are they selfless or selfish? These are two things. If they are selfless, you’re on the right track. If they’re selfish, you’re on the wrong track. It is that simple! How much selfishness do you have within you? To that extent, you are going down on the wrong track. Wrong track means, that track doesn’t have or will not have much life. You will have some success, but it will not last. Eventually, failures will come. Those who attain or achieve things through wrong ways or by walking down the wrong paths, such as, by disturbing people, betraying or cheating people, stealing or abusing, whatever they amass, they will not be able to use easily because there is a lot of guilt in it. But if it’s pure money coming out of selflessness, good intention, pure intention, activity with purity, if that happens, then it provides good energy in your house. It is not just for you, all those who are associated with you will have a great life ahead. So what we should focus on is, to ensure that zero selfishness exists in our activity, in our life, in our mission.

There should be zero negativity in our intention. No negativity and negativity means selfishness. Even if you get an opportunity to cheat somebody, never take it. If somebody says that you can do this, nobody will see it, don’t do it because whatever affects your conscience is very, very important. Conscience is your guard, protecting guard, protecting armour for your own self, your own stability.

Never, never, never do anything against your conscience. Conscience should be very clear, and for conscience to be clear, your activity should be pure. This is a very good test. You can do it to yourself – is your conscience compromised? If your conscience is compromised, don’t enter there. I mean conscience, not consciousness. Don’t do that job. If your conscience is intact, your activity is good. That means it is selfless. That means the activity is honest, compassionate, and kind. Such activities will always enhance the strength of your conscience.

10. Is there a connection between success, love and relationship? 

All relationships are experiences. We have multiple relationships in a lifetime. They are all giving us certain flavours in life. They’re all experiences. Love is our nature. Love is the basis of our existence. Love is not something that we cultivate; we have it. It’s like a realization, self-realization. Self is already existing. At a certain point in time you realize that self, that’s what we call self-realization. Not that something is coming from outside. Self, or the soul, is already existing, inside. Like that, love is already existing, inside.

And how love gets eclipsed is when the other emotions come, like anger, hatred, jealousy, revenge. All this negativity will pull you down. They are negative, draining emotions. So, emotions that drain us, come in and overlap the love, but love still remains love and will never be lost.

The love that we mostly are talking about on social grounds is between a man and a woman. But that’s one part of it. There is much more to it. There are a father and child love, the mother and child love; we have so many relationships without expectations. They are all based on unconditional love.

And there are so many other relationships, for example, our connection to the air, the oxygen that we breathe; there is a love in it. Nature loves us, that’s why we have oxygen, otherwise, we’ll be dead. And like that everything has love involved in it. Love should be seen from a much larger perspective. As regards relationships, they change. With our life, it changes right from childhood till death, relationships change, the flavours change and we have different experiences. At each stage we have different flavours and experiences; this is all part of life. So relationships are our experiences of being human beings, of being human. All the experiences are connected with multiple relationships. And I would say that you experience every relationship because that’s all part of your existence. And also in a relationship, there should be a deep element of respect. We should respect relationships. We should appreciate relationships. We should honour relationships so that each relationship will be pure and kind. Otherwise, if we try to take relationships for granted, if we take a relationship as a nuisance, then what happens is there are a lot of conflicts, and the conflicts leave scars, and those scars sometimes take time to heal. Instead, we could appreciate; even if there is an enemy you appreciate because that man became eligible to be your enemy. As you might know, everything is based on eligibility. All things in life come with eligibility. So that person, an enemy, became eligible to be your enemy, good enough. Everything is fine. We experience certain flavours even from enemies, whether we like it or not. Maybe he disturbs you, doesn’t matter. But we experience that flavour. In life, we should experience every flavour. So it’s not just a man and a woman relationship.

Of course, inspiration happens in the youth when a boy meets a girl and that’s an amazing feeling. Experience it, that’s good. That’s the time to experience it. You can’t experience that at 60. (laughs) Each time, each location, each space in time, we have different sets of experiences, and when we put it all together, we call it life. If you want a life well-lived, you have to live in the time appropriate for you in the appropriate way. I never call anything good or bad. I never judge. But one thing I tell you, never involve yourself in cheating, stealing or betraying. It is important especially, to never betray trust because that is our integrity. If we really want to be good, powerful human beings, no betrayal, no cheating, no stealing, no lying, so that you are you’re expressing yourself powerfully in this world. We have every right to do that. And we must.

 

Transcribed by Shyama Jeyaseelan

Proofread by Vidya Rajagopalan

 

For more information about Mohanji, please visit Mohanji.org

Interview with Brahmarishi Mohanji for the Awakening Times ~ Part 2

Author: Katyayani Chowdhry

Read the original interview in the Awakening Times magazine here.

Why should an ordinary human being, struggling with mundane life be attracted to “spirituality”? How can it help? To cut through directly, can spirituality make one rich? How? Because only if one has the luxury of material abundance can one look beyond the mundane…

Mohanji: Why should one go to spirituality? The answer is – Because one is not “going” to spirituality. Spirit is part of you. Spirit is running your body, mind, intellect, ego and all the other aspects. So, at a certain point in time you will have to connect to the spirit. Spirit has dimensions- waking state, dream state, deep sleep state- whatever you see outside is not yours. You can talk about any material, any person, any position, you can talk about anything in the outside world- it is not yours, and it’s only temporary. You are custodian of that for some time, after that it goes away. What is inside, permanently, continuously, guiding and delivering experiences which is part of life-that is spirit. You will get to know that at some point of time in life. It’s not that we choose – “Ok now we have had enough of the external world, we go inside”. It is not like that. It is something which is already sitting in you and you are reminded about it. You become reminded of the real factor, the real aspect of you. You understand that all these illusions apart, I am a real being, I am the Spirit inside that has activated the mind, body, intellect and ego- that is exactly what I am and that connection, the deepening of that connection is the deepening of spirituality. This is what Spirituality is.

It is not what you think is an activity. You can use any activity to reach that experience of Spirit. You can use kriyas, you can use yoga asanas, you can use meditations, contemplations. You can take any path, any deity, any worship, hatha yoga, dhyana yoga, karma yoga– but at the end of the day you are only using them as vehicles to reach a state where you are one with the spirit. So, Spirituality is You. Everybody is equal here- nobody has higher spirituality or lower spirituality- there is higher connectivity and lower connectivity. When I say higher connectivity, that means more connectivity with Spirit, lower connectivity means more with the external world. Apart from that, there is no one higher or no one lower. Some people who are fully connected to the Spirit- we call them MASTERS.

We get attracted to them because they don’t need anything from the external world, they are fully connected to their inside world and they are very happy and contented, because inside world is permanent, outside world is not permanent. People are generally emotional, in the emotional state, in the thought state- ideas change, ideals change, materials outside change- everything changes, so we are fed up of these changes after a while. None of these things are permanent, not even this body- it is not permanent.

While you are existing, while you have this incarnation, use this incarnation to connect to yourself- and reach the highest state you can as an individual and that is obviously the spirit state. You establish in the Spirit state- that is the Shakti-state also, self-realisation state and also that is a permanent state. It has its own permanence and then you reach the state of soul- the Shiva-state- where everything becomes you. You have nothing else to look at. What you look outside is you, all the emotions outside is you, all the people outside are you, everything is you. So, that state, it is a natural progression for every individual, it is not like at one point you stop the other and choose this, it doesn’t work that way. You are always flowing, reaching a state where nothing else matters- only the Spirit matters. This is how it happens.

How can people get unstuck in life? There are karmic patterns that keep repeating cyclically in many cases, and people are so stuck that even though they want to, they can’t get out of their situations and just can’t seem to move on, even though they have the awareness to see that it is a repetitive pattern: be it financially, maritally, socially, health wise…etc. Is there a mantra to get unstuck and move on in life? I don’t mean it in the context of escapism, but in being aware that it is some sort of karma- but you still want to move out of it, without playing the blame game.

Mohanji: Whenever we are stuck with something, it means that we are succumbing to our dependencies and expectations. Expectations and tendencies are the cause for getting stuck at every level. Mostly expectations are controlled by certain desires and wrong understandings as well. So, if it is a situation or a person or a place or anything of this aspect including things like marriage, a particular position in the society, wealth, assets- all those things, they are all connected to certain concepts which we are digesting or we have acquired. It is not yours, you have collected it from the society and society tells that you should get married, society tells you should have children, society demands quite a lot of things- because society cannot see the Karma, society is two dimensional. Society does not understand Karma at all. Why a certain person behaves in a certain way- the society cannot understand. We acquire it and try to practise it. So, every dependency causes pain.

Whenever you are dependent on something external, that causes pain. You are free by birth. Freedom is your birth right and freedom is your nature. So, any binding, even if it is small or big- it leaves pain, it gives pain. This is one aspect. And expectations about individual relationships- that causes pain. These are the two things that we say we are stuck in existence. The remedy, the way to get out is – perfect awareness.

First and foremost, understand that you are a Karmic-being. In that situation, because your Karmic structure chose that, your Karmic configuration created that situation for you. You may like it or you may not like it, that’s different- it depends on this life and this existence. Now you have a choice – that you become aware and you accept, you allow it to happen. Then you choose no suffering. This whole situation will dilute. The mantra to get unstuck is awareness. Practise awareness. Practising awareness means that you are aware that you are existing, that you are going through a situation and this awareness should be combined with non-resistance. No resistance at all. Total acceptance- ok, this is my situation, I accept it, be very cool about it and you handle it. Only when you resist it becomes painful. Whenever you resist any situation it becomes painful and that memory goes deeper. So, before something becomes a pattern- there is a deep memory connected to it. A memory which is very deep becomes a pattern.

A memory which is very deep always reminds you that it exists- just like a big tree is more visible than the small bushes or shrubs or grass- like that you need to understand that everything is created by you in this way. May be it was a small incident that left a memory, then similar incidents add up to that memory, this memory becomes much deeper and more solid, and after a while it becomes a pattern. This memory creates its’ own existence. Something which is already in the ground – it grows and it creates a pattern and life becomes repetitive. Something you think you are stuck with- there is always a deeper impression which is keeping you there. So it is important that you need to dilute this impression.

Now going to the system, how it operates- the impressions that you are sending out of residual memory- stays waiting for the right position and right time to materialize into a form, into an activity, an experience- so when it really matures, when the environment is right for it to express itself, that’s the time when you are resisting again. When you are resisting, it is not going away, it’s staying back. Each time you resist any situation, that goes back into the mind and again it comes out, so that eventually becomes a pattern. Each time you put anything back into the line again, it goes and comes back again. So every situation you push away becomes your reality sooner or later on a much more permanent level- that’s what you call the successes and failures of life, but if you accept every situation: alright, this is happening, I have to handle it- and you are not even actually handling it! Like Bhagawan Krishna says- Surrender all your activities and the results of it to me and I will release you from it. When you are surrendering all your activities and all results- and you are just existing as a person completely occupied in Self, then all these things will diminish after a while because once they can’t manifest in you with full intensity, then they lose importance.

Whatever loses importance in life drops off and whatever drops off is gone forever. Then you do not even have a memory. You may have a faint memory that something like that may have happened in past lives. It drops off and finally you become empty- when you become empty, you become complete by the divine spirit. So you can definitely get out of this experience with one mantra- PERFECT AWARENESS- that you exist and only you exist. Everything you are experiencing – you have collected at some point in time. Whatever is outside of you are only triggers of what lies inside you. Everything outside remains outside as long as you don’t take it inside- that’s not yours and you are completely free from it. If you have clear awareness that you are a complete being experiencing something called life with this incarnation, then you will be free from it easily. It is an attitudinal thing.

If you are suffering, resisting or complaining, you are actually reinforcing. Likewise if you are criticizing, judging, scandalizing, taking revenge etc- the poison sits in you more than in other people. So when you mislead somebody, or when you criticize somebody, you are actually criticizing yourself, because you are creating all those energies inside and it flows out. Then what happens is that you as a source get more contaminated than the world outside. So it is always the case that where ever there is suffering, where ever there is a situation of pain- look at the source- where is it coming from? You will see a memory which you have stored, which is a part of your pending disorder pattern; if order is happiness then disorder is sadness. So this disorder pattern is created. In the absolute sense there is no disorder, it’s all experience and you are aware that this is all just experience and you have nothing to do with it, it is just happening through you- then you will survive- you will be free from it eventually.

When people pray to energies in a temple or a church or a mosque…, is Anyone actually listening? If no, why did prayer develop, because it seems to have been embedded in civilization since the beginning of it? If yes, how do we pray, especially if you need help? What is the most efficient way to pray so that Someone answers? Or do we not pray at all?

Mohanji: Human beings understood that there are higher powers than themselves, so they created systems over a period of time that they could ask somebody to help them. There are numerous beings that are very benevolent in the created universe. There is a created universe and there is an uncreated universe; the uncreated universe is much more than the created universe. So if you feel and you understand that the uncreated universe created the created universe which is part of our existence as well as yourself and the universe which is tangible, then there is a creator who is the unmanifested and uncreated. Thus people tend to connect to the unmanifested as the source and that is where the prayers developed from.

Eventually the saints and the seers understood that to reach the uncreated universe you can’t go outside to reach – you have to go inside and reach. So they developed systems where they withdrew themselves from the senses, they withdrew the mind into themselves, then they stabilised the mind into the soul- which is the spirit- and they stabilised the intellect into the spirit, ego into the spirit- and they completely withdrew themselves into silence and connected to the source which is the actual source particle within them- which we call soul; then the whole connection started with the outside universe, because when you connect to the source inside- you connect to the actual source outside. Then they realised that there is no inside or outside because this whole thing that we consider as incarnation is just an illusion, meaning it’s just temporary. Nothing tangible is an illusion- it is a temporary thing. When they realised this connection to the inside, they became self-conscious or they became aware of the Self, then they became aware of the cosmic self. So this is the way.

In our case when the mind is praying to something outside that is mostly connected to insecurity or connected to some needs- that’s a very fragile way of praying and that is rooted in

non-understanding. There is no master or teacher sitting in the outside world, as a being who is granting wishes and boons like that. In the structure of Sanatana Dharma, we have deities- deities are all connected to ideas. We have various types of deities- 33 crore deities- meaning that there are 330 million dimensions of the Supreme Consciousness, which is pure energy. The great Masters codified or gave a structure to the 330 million dimensions possible of the Supreme Consciousness and they have given it a name and a form corresponding to their ideal or what they are representing. They created yantras or sacred geometry structures. They created mantras to activate or maintain them. These great Masters understood them and made them tangible for the people to worship. When you worship them you actually worship that aspect within you.

As I said in the beginning, the people who recognized that the whole creation and the creator sits inside them- they started connecting within, withdrawing the senses, withdrawing the mind from the senses and the intellect and Ego from the outside world and bringing it inside and then they started actualizing it. They realized that there are numerous dimensions of the creator, and each creator will create a different creation based on its dimension. So you are also one force- you created yourself and you have power to create new existence, so you are Shakti. In the same way, every being is shakti, every being is a creator and the creator has big force. That possibility is segregated and classified in 330 million forms by great Masters and they said, “Look here, all these dimensions are real to you and are inside you. But you connect to what suits you because you will naturally connect to something which connects you to the state that is close to your state”. What suits you is what you can digest and like a food you consume. So you will connect to a God or a Deity that’s natural to you, that is why in the Sanatan Dharma tradition, everything is a deity – a tree is a deity, a plant is a deity, because every being which has the power to create his own clan or a class or his own is a deity, because he is a creator. So, a human being is also a creator.

The soul-aspect has the power to create more bodies, so naturally we have the power and the presence and the dimension of the creator. Hence, we respect everybody as ourselves, as a potential creator. That is why we do Namaste- that is, we respect the creatorship in you and I respect you as a creator. So when you pray to something outside, what you pray to and which level you pray to – this is very important to understand. The highest and the best prayer is the prayer of Gratitude. First of all, you should be accepting of whatsoever is happening in you, your body, your mind, your intellect, your ego, your positioning, your possessions, your upbringing, your lineage, your family, your parents- then there is a larger flow of life that made this possible. There is a larger pattern, there is a larger configuration, so first you respect that and it will lead you to contentment: “I am happy with what I am, I am happy with this situation, I am happy with this incarnation.” At that level, the only prayer that is possible is gratitude- I am grateful, for all the pain and the pleasures of life are a part of it.

There is nothing good or nothing bad in life. We say something is very bad only because you did not accept it as that thing- that’s all. You cannot talk about any aspect of existence as good or bad, you can’t blame somebody, because everybody exists in their own karma. They are all travelling in their path, and what can you call as right or wrong, it is very difficult to say. I always say that violence is wrong- violence is bad because it breeds more violence. So when more violence happens, then emotions are running and you are connecting to it and your affinity with yourself reduces, that is why I say violence is not good. If you get love, you can accept, you can literally embrace it as it comes, then your connectivity inside is stable. That is more relevant and effective to connect to the larger aspect of existence. That is why I always say connect to yourself and do not be violent in thought, word and action. Accept and move forward. I am not saying be a doormat and suffer, what I am saying is accept everything with awareness and know that- this has come to me, there is a reason for this happening to me; these people have come to me, they are sent- otherwise they wouldn’t have reached me. There is a larger configuration, there is a larger perspective- everything that has happened in your life has a purpose, you just accept the purpose. Some of them are painful, some of them are pleasant –“Oh I didn’t expect this person to behave like this!”, or, “Oh I expected this person to behave like this!” – all these things are in the mind. So you take your mind off and give an expression of gratitude and life will clear up spontaneously.

People think that there is some God or someone outside listening to your prayers. When you go and see a deity, that deity belongs to you- he is a part of you- you are actually accepting that aspect of you and then you are praying to that aspect of you within you. That is why we close our eyes and pray, we don’t open our eyes and pray. Why? Because spontaneously we know that when we are praying, we are praying inside and not outside. When you open your eyes you are looking outside. When you look outside- what you see are images, forms, and you get diluted – that that is what is going to grant you your wishes- it is not so.You are actually unlocking yourself to receive it,that is when you are actually getting the results. So when you pray to something outside and you close your eyes and say- God please do this for me, or, Please help me, so inside you are asking for the blockage to be removed. And who is removing it? You are actually allowing it to be removed, so it is getting removed. Not that God is sitting outside and says- Ok now I remove this thing from you!

It is not so. It is actually internally that you are doing it. Everything is inside- understand- the world outside has no existence apart from you. When you look at the world outside, the world exists, when you don’t look at the world outside it doesn’t exist. So everything is inside, all the creations are inside, that’s why great Masters created 330 million dimensions of the Supreme Consciousness and said now you connect to anything you like. But they are not insisting that you connect to anything, that freedom is there. If you are only looking at one dimension, then you do not even understand Creation. Look at an average human existence – you are a father, you are a son, you are a spouse, you are an employee, employer, a pedestrian, you are a consumer- you have numerous roles in everyday life. So its not one dimension that you live all the time. Just like that, deities and gods have numerous dimensions- that you understand and connect to, and then you can be in tune with creation.

So prayers are good, but prayers with the awareness that- they are to ourselves, it is all inside; and deities outside are our own representations. There are deities who are angry deities, there are deities who are loving deities, there are deities who will give you wealth-(if you pray to them you will become rich- they are to provide wealth), there are deities to provide success, there are deities to remove blockages. All these deities are dimensions of you and when you pray to them you are actually giving commands, intrusion into yourself, or your affirmations to yourself that- let the blockage towards this be cleared and let me be successful– this is how it works.

Then how do gurus work differently? Gurus are people who have actualized themselves. When you connect to the energy of the Master, then like a mirror it reflects into them and comes out. They are very similar to deities but Gurus work differently. Gurus with their accumulated grace factor are able to change things in their outside world.

That is because they have collected something. Like, see you have earned a million dollars, so you can spend a million dollars. If you have not earned a million dollars then you cannot spend it. So through good work, activities, prayers and meditations, chanting and so many different things that gave them strength and power, they have collected them over life times and that bank balance is what they are using for your benefit. So that is the way that Guru sometimes changes your destiny- because they have already earned that bank balance and using that bank balance they can help you.

They will help you provided you deserve the help. It’s not like they like you, they look at your face and they like you and they help you. It does not happen like that, eligibility is a very important thing- eligibility means purity of thought, purity of word, purity of action- that’s the main thing, the purpose should be pure. If the purpose is to harm somebody or hurt somebody or possess somebody or control somebody- Gurus may not be interested to help you, because that may not be the cause that they stand for. Sanatan Dharma does not support wrong action- which means actions that control people, manipulate people, or any of those actions that are not good for society. Sanatan Dharma stays with the dharmic people- dharmic people are enforced by Sanatan Dharma; and the Masters that enforce the Sanatan Dharma will only help those people who are actually doing something for the world.

You cannot even imagine the quantum of that help – it ‘ll be like a huge force of a million horsepower or a billion horse power or something like that, provided that you are doing it for the sake of the larger good of the world. So this is also one suggestion that if you want to get out of your small states of fears and phobias and binding- you have to get into the larger worldview and get into larger action, so that spontaneously larger forces come through you and work through you and that automatically dilutes and dissolves these smaller aspects of fears, phobias and bindings.

Read part 1
Read part 3

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