16 signs of an Avatar

Welcome to Mohanji Speaks.

There are certain signs which denote that a person has become one with God or has elevated to the level of God-consciousness. Usually, this is mentioned in the context of an avatar. What are the signs of an avatar? It’s approximately like that, so this is told in the context of an avatar like Lord Krishna.

There are 16 signs, which are mentioned in the scriptures, which denote that an individual is an avatar. Number one is Sri Sampada. That means a person of that stature will always have abundance, richness, inner richness, that means the richness of spiritual stability and the corresponding outer richness, which is the material wealth or the people wealth, all kinds of abundance, positive abundance. So that is Sri Sampada.

Number two is Bhu Sampada. That means these people will have many properties, various lands and those kinds of things, basically, an abundance of land at their disposal.

PC: Google Images

The third is Kirti Sampada. That means they will have fame across the world, people who know them, can connect to them, people will feel them as a part of themselves or their family, there’ll be a universal acceptance for them. There will be fame in that context.

The fourth is Vani Sammohanada. That means their speech will be attractive to people, spontaneously attractive. Their words will soothe them, calm them, and make them connect to themselves. Their words and expressions will be transformative.

The fifth is Leela. Leela simply means divine play. People will be happy just by their presence. If you just look at them, you will be happy. Since they have recognized God, and they have recognized God within themselves, they will have divine play all their life. Life itself will be like a play. And it’s not measurable. You can’t really divide or put it into any frame. They might be very unorthodox at times, but they play with true life, and that play will be transformative. The divine play will be for the sake of transformation.

PC: Google Images

The sixth is Kaanti. Their form will be very attractive. Their form will have a kind of magnetic attraction. And that’s obvious. Once you see that person, you won’t easily forget him. Their form would be in the corner of your mind somewhere, even if you’re not connecting deeply.

PC: Google Images

The seventh is Vidya. They’ll be proficient in skills or management of things which are useful for human existence. In other words, they will be effortless in the management of their life.

PC: Google Images

The eighth is Vimala. Their mind will be pure. They’ll be no impurity in their mind at all. They will always be operating in pure consciousness, pure awareness, and purity.

The ninth is Ulkarshaniyata. They’ll be very patient. They will encourage people to do good for the world spontaneously, and they will always aspire and be active for the ultimate goodness in the world. They will always be enthusiastic about doing something great for the world. And they will inspire people to do that. They will be extraordinarily patient with people. They may not be bound by the results of action, but they will continuously do good actions, good for the world.

The tenth is Vivekam. The power of discrimination or wisdom, displayed wisdom – Neera ksheera vivekam especially. Neera is water, ksheera is milk, to separate water from milk – that kind of wisdom, that kind of power of discrimination between the good and the bad, between the positive and the negative. They will have wisdom, and they are able to discriminate between the good and the bad. Just like the paramahamsa (swan), we talk about, who has the power to discriminate between milk and water if they are mixed together. They will make the people who are with them, stable, and even famous. They have that power because they have the power to discriminate between the positive and the negative.

The eleventh is Karmanyata. They will always be active; they will never be idle. They will also encourage others to be active in the right way, in a positive way.

The twelfth is Yoga Shakti. They would have controlled their minds, they would have controlled their senses, and they will be stable within themselves – inner stability through yoga, through the power of yoga (yoga shakti), they would have attained inner stability, and it’s visible in their eyes. They are very stable and still inside. The eyes will display that.

The thirteenth is Vinayam – humility. They will have zero egos. They will be very humble because they are very stable. They are not in competition with anybody; they do not compete to win, or to prove anything because they are very stable inside. Humility is a clear sign of an avatar. They will not boast. They have no pride. They will probably display only 10% of what they actually are. They will display nothing much. It is up to the seeker to find them. And the more you indulge in them or indulge in their awareness, the more you can find. But they will not display, and they will not boast or will have pride over anything that they have. They’ll be extremely humble.

The fourteenth is Sathya-dharanam. They exist in truth, they are always aware of the truth, and they display truth. They are extremely patient, as I said earlier. They will base themselves in truth; the truth may not be the truth of the two-dimensional society. Truth is more of karmic truth and mostly dharmic truth. They will be totally true to dharma – righteous duty. They will not deviate from the karmic flow, the flow of karma. The social dimension is different because that’s conditional, or situational. Here dharma is not situational; it is perpetual. They will be rooted in dharma, and they will operate as per the law of karma, totally adhering to those principles.

The fifteenth is Adhipatyam.  Their presence will be powerful, so they automatically become leaders. They can lead a lot of people by their sheer stability, vision, and compassion. Automatically they get predominance, even if they don’t want to, or even if they don’t display, because they can’t conceal what they are easily. Because of their energy and aura, because of their purposefulness, because of their determination, and because of the clarity and vision, they will attain leadership naturally.

The sixteenth is Anugraham kshamata. They will be able to transform people; they will be able to bring clarity to the lives of people. They will only exist for the sake of raising awareness of the people. Whoever comes to them, will not go empty-handed. They would have delivered whatever they can, as per their capacity, or the person who has come to them. They live to serve, they serve unconditionally, without expecting anything back. They will be powerful, and they will not use their powers for their personal gratification, manipulation, or for personal gains. Instead, they will be focused on the welfare of their subjects like an emperor. Like a true emperor, their whole focus, their whole life will be dedicated to their empire and their people. They do not like to disappoint anybody who comes to them, and they treat the people who come to them as their responsibility. They take care of them as best as they can.

These are the 16 qualities mentioned in the scriptures about the signs of an avatar, or the signs of somebody who is God-conscious. I have said this just to give you clarity and awareness. So, if you understand that, you can clearly see the signs of such avatars in your world. If you observe consistently, you will know whether that person is real or pretending. Only through consistent observation, you can actually understand the third dimension of an individual. I hope these signs will help you connect to the right guide in your life.

Have a great day. This is Mohanji for you.

Transcribed by Ulla Bernholdt

Proofread by Shyama Jeyaseelan

Subscribe to Mohanji Speaks daily podcast

How to feel Baba’s presence within

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 Baba’s teachings. Mohanji talks about feeling Baba’s presence within oneself and emphasizes on our ultimate aim of self-realization. 

If you have taken a life, concentrate on one thing – make sure that you do not come back. You are totally dissolved – body, mind, intellect, ego, spirit – all the memories, all the desires, all the things which probably bind you to earth – dissolve. Total dissolution happens. You become totally still and stable. Then you are Baba. You are connected to Baba. You are Baba. You have nothing to tell the world because when you are totally still and contented, there is nothing to tell the world.

I will tell you about my experience. In my sadhana, when I was practising, I used to practice very intensely and I never used to tell my practice to the world. As I said in one of the earlier videos, my practice was connecting to myself. So, basically, for all of us, we have to explore ourselves. One point – “Tat Tvam Asi” – You Are That. In that point, first, you contemplate – ‘manana’ – contemplate within, deep within, and find yourself in every aspect. You will find yourself in a thousand, or ten thousand aspects, or a million aspects. Find all that and understand they are all different aspects of one Consciousness. Then you assimilate them. It took about 5 – 6 years for me.

Every day from 3 am to 8 am, I used to sit and connect to myself. I used to connect to my spine. I used to assimilate myself. Eventually, I could go deep and deep into the world of noises, the core of noises, which is silence. We are in a world of noises, and we are contributing to the world of noises every moment. But there is a source for all these noises. Where have these noises come from? – Absolute silence. So you need to get back to the original source, the core, and that’s silence. 

When you go deeper and deeper into the core of noises, you will finally reach the world of silence, where there are no noises. All the noises like waves come out of it, and they go back to it and you are stillness. It took time for me to settle down, and so many things broke up at that time: physically, emotionally, intellectually, all the concepts broke, so many things broke. At that time it’s not very comfortable, because actually, we are a bundle of sounds, noises, a bundle of concepts, bundle of desires, a bundle of phobias and fears, bundle of so many things… But we have to completely accept them, leave them alone, and then they go away, and finally, you’re settled in silence. After a while, when you are settled in silence and you are fully in that mode, you feel oneness with every Master. 

Then there is no Sai Baba separate from you. We are one with him. I’m not saying, “I am Sai Baba.” Sai Baba is an incarnation whom we call Sai Baba. We don’t even know his name. We don’t know where he came from, and it doesn’t matter. Because, as far as a Saint, a powerful Avadhoota or Avatar is concerned, his delivery, what he delivered to this world and what he is delivering to this world, is the only value. That’s about it. Because where he was born, who were his parents, who were his brother/sister, has no value, because that’s all connected to an incarnation. It’s not the incarnation we are talking about. It’s the contribution we are talking about.

So the contribution has value. The contribution is what we see today. Why we are talking today is because of his contribution. He unified all of us. He made a Sai Baba family. That’s more important. That’s the most relevant thing in Sai Baba’s contribution. That means he united all the people, all of us, beyond caste, creed, country, culture, and colour. That is the value. That exactly is the value. That is his contribution. That’s what we connect to. 

When you are in total stillness, total silence, you connect to that aspect of Baba, where the only purpose of his incarnation is representing the Supreme Consciousness on Earth. That is the purpose of his incarnation, and you connect to that.

When you connect to that, everything else becomes insignificant – where he was living, where he was born, where he left his body… it’s all insignificant. Shirdi becomes a point of contact, a connecting point. The body of Baba, the film, the image that we connect to, that becomes a kind of the point of contact, a reference point, where you only see Consciousness – pure brightness, brighter than a million suns. That is brightness, and that becomes you. You become that.

In this whole drama of life, we have to be in that stillness aspect. When you see all these noises, when you experience all these noises, you need to go into the core, that stillness, from which all these have come. That’s where you find Baba. That’s the only place where you really, really find Baba.

Not in places, not in images, not in any aspect which is seemingly visual. It’s not that. You have to feel the energy, you have to feel within, and then you realise that you and Baba are one. One person asked me in an interview, he asked me a question “If you are dying tonight, what will be the last thing you would do?” I said, “I’ll sleep”. That’s all you can do. Actually, the whole idea that we have to do so many things itself is a mirage. It’s an illusion.

It’s happening through us. When you’re totally surrendered to Baba, whatever is happening through us, that’s the reality. Just surrender. Just do what you have to do in this world, without expecting anything. Expectations are the reason for disappointments. When we have too many expectations, we will have too many disappointments.

So, expectations have to be put in its place, and we do our job with pure intention, with clarity, with surrender. And then we know that we are one with this Consciousness called Sai Baba. And that’s powerful, unfathomable, tangible, and real. Then when you go to Shirdi you may not even have to enter the Dvarkamai or enter Samadhi, but you will feel Baba right there.

Even if you don’t go to Shirdi, if you think about Shirdi, or think about Sai Baba, you will get the same stillness inside, which is Baba – who needed nothing from Earth, who needed nothing from anybody. Whatever he collected, he gave away the same day. That means He always remained empty. Even a thought comes in, goes out. That means the mind is empty. No information stays, intellect is empty. No ownership, the ego is empty. Your whole unit is empty.

That’s power, and that’s exactly what is SAI BABA.

Know more about Mohanji at Mohanji.org

Transcribed by Ulla Bernholdt

Proofread by Vidya Rajagopal

How Sai Baba Can Give You Darshan In Any Form

 

To a person who is existing as a unit (this means, he is fully occupied within),  the world outside is only an extension, he is fully aware. For all of us too it’s the same. Our world is how we are; it is not how the world appears to be because we don’t see the real world, the true world.  We don’t see the truth one hundred percent, we only see relative truth. We see the truth as we are, as our flavour is. We have already discussed this. We have seen great Masters like Sai Baba, who attend to the call of all the devotees. None of these Masters, especially Sai Baba,  ever leaves anybody unfulfilled. They always fill them up; they always leave their hands full. Nobody connects to Baba and goes back empty-handed. This is clear.

Some people invite Baba, “Please come home or have food”, or “Please attend the wedding in our house”, or “Please attend a ceremony.” Baba will fulfill it, if the prayer is very honest and sincere, and  with full surrender, Baba will say, “I will come”, and He will come. Probably not as Baba in the form we know. He will come in any form. It could be a bird, a dog, a cat, a cow, a monkey, it could be a person like a beggar, or a wandering monk, or some such form. Often we expect Baba in His known form, and we miss Him.. And Baba has said, “I came to your house, but you beat me”. This means a dog came at the time that  He was supposed to come. He came in the form of a dog.

We must understand that there are two options – one is that you create a form; the Master can create a form for the sake of presence. This  means the energetic presence is conglomerated into a suitable form for that particular event, that particular activity, and then it is dissolved. This is possible. Otherwise they work through a form that already exists. The dog is already there. The Master’s energy enters into that form, for that purpose, and goes to that place. The entire  responsibility of that body is that of the Master; and then He goes to that place to fulfil the promise. But if we don’t see the truth,  if we misbehave or if we don’t respond properly, we miss the chance. It has happened many times.

This is also why it is important that we should not take any being for granted. We must consider all beings as an expression of pure consciousness, and treat them accordingly, so that we don’t miss Baba or the Masters. Whenever I go to places of worship, I  like to feed the poor people, the birds and animals there. I derive  more satisfaction doing that, than in entering the sanctum sanctorum. Of course, you go in and pay respects; but the most satisfaction happens,  grace happens, when you are  making all the beings happy. There is no more happiness than in delivering food, annadaan.

Annadaan is serving food that makes someone  fulfilled, and when they are fulfilled, great Grace comes into you. That’s why they say Annadaan is Mahadaan. Serving food is the greatest of sharing, serving. It’s very important that we should see Baba in every being. Baba can definitely come in any form. It could be a human being, in the form of a beggar. So look at everybody as a potential Baba and serve them.  Just ask them, “Are you hungry?” I always do that. “Are you hungry?” If they are hungry, give them good food, good quality food.

I’ll narrate an experience I had in this context. On the New Year’s Eve of 2014 or 2013, I was in Mookambika with a few others. The temple of Mookambika, is in Kollur, Karnataka, in the south of India. It is an  amazing temple;  most of the great Masters have spent some time there with the Mother Goddess. It’s a  very powerful temple. Mother is really sitting there or Mother’s presence is felt there. So I wanted to spend the New Year there. As I was coming out of the temple,  I saw  a man, decently dressed, but it was obvious  he was asking for money or food. When I saw him, he extended his hand, as if  he was asking for something. I asked him “Are you hungry?” because I was going for breakfast. He said, “Yes, I am hungry.” I said, “Come with me.” So we went to the restaurant, and he occupied a  table, my companions and I sat at another table. I told the waiter, “Whatever he wants, give it to him.  Let him consume, and give the bill to me.” He did not eat much, he only ate moderately.  Once he was done, he came to me and said, “I am satisfied.” So I asked him, “What about your lunch? Do you want to take a parcel from here?” He said, “No, don’t worry, I am ok.” I asked him, “Do you have water?” He replied, “No I don’t have water.” So I bought him a bottle of water.

Mohanji in Shirdi 2016

Mohanji in Shirdi 2016

He then left  and we continued our food and left. Next day, in the morning, the same incident happened. When I came out, I saw the same man, and he was standing at the same place. I asked him, “Are you hungry?” He said, “Yes“.And then the same thing happened. .

That day I was planning to go to the river in the area to take a dip. It’s  a very sacred river.  However my companion and I lost our  way and  went to a different road.  We turned around and reached a temple,  the temple  was not in our  original plan. We were only planning to go to the river. When we came to that place, there was a verandah, a kind of a platform, where I saw  the man who had breakfast.  He was lying down. When he saw me, he came towards me, and  explained a little bit about the temple. Many pictures were taken at that time   but in none of the pictures this man was seen. Then we went to the temple, and by the time I came out, he had disappeared. I never saw him again. Obviously he was not a human being. He was probably a Master or  someone else, I don’t know. Probably his mission was to bring me there, and of course, he did not lead me like a guide; he was already there when I reached. But in all the pictures taken there, he was not there, his space was blank.

I am giving this story to you, just to tell you that at various times, the person  in front of you, the one  coming to you,  may not be an ordinary person.  If we fail to see them,  throw them out, ask  them to go away, or abuse them, we miss a lot. We should never abuse anybody; we should never talk badly about anybody. We should always have the attitude of serving. We share what we have. They don’t expect more than your capacity, ever. Share what you have, within your capacity, and don’t look at whether they are in human form, or in the form of an animal or a bird. That is why we have this custom in our system, that we serve every being. We do that in our place also; before I eat food I will ensure that food is distributed around our house: food is kept outside at  specific places  for the birds,  insects,  and animals such as  squirrels. They come and eat, and only after that I consume. Thus  we first give food to the beings outside the house and then  we eat,  so that the food that we consume is blessed food,  consecrated food. By giving to various beings, we are consecrating our food, then we consume. It can be anybody who is consuming.  I keep some food under the tree, birds will come; animals or other beings will come and eat. They will be satisfied, and then we consume – that’s pure food, blessed food, it will be completely non-toxic.

Mohanji feeling the Saligram stone gifted by Sai Baba to Nanasaheb Dengle

Also always, when you serve, serve good food, not food that you don’t want, not bad (spoilt) food. Even if you are giving it to a dog,  a cat, or any other being  in nature, always ensure that you are giving food, which you will consume.  Similarly with  clothes; we must only give clothes to others that we will use, which is comfortable for us; not that we give something that we don’t want.

Whenever we do things with the right attitude, it enhances our energy, it opens us up, it removes blockages. We must always remember, this is  the path of Baba. When you say you are a devotee of Baba, it  should be the lifestyle; an attitude of service all the time, an attitude of gratitude all the time.

It is not  that you go to Shirdi often, for something. That’s not the way to serve Baba. When you really respect Baba, when you love Baba, when you think you are connected to Baba, these will be the signs of that connection. That means you are here to serve; you will not compete with people, you will not talk bad, you will not criticise, judge, gossip, defame, shame somebody. You will not do any of these,  you will respect everybody. Everything is part of a karmic agenda, everything has a karmic allowance to it, so we respect that. If you don’t want to participate, you can very well not be there, that is fine; but standing there and abusing, criticising, judging, defaming, shaming, these are  not good, because then it is huge contamination entering your system.

You should always remain pure, like a young  child, like  a newborn, always remain pure. Then when you leave the body, you are leaving a pure body to earth, not a contaminated body.  So serving has a lot of value in the system. It’s very important. Always remember this.

Transcribed by Nada Rakovic
Proofread by Vidya Rajagopalan

Mohanji’s Experiences of Shirdi Sai Baba Miracles

I had known about Sai Baba vaguely, more or less like I’ve known about various masters, but I did not connect with him until the early 2000s, and it was quite accidental – of course, there’s no coincidence, but just for the sake of explaining the feeling of how I met Him without planning – I would call it “accidental”. There was a filming happening, somewhere in Gujarat, on the coast. The questions were about, rather the filming was about Management, and I had come to this place for giving that interview. Actually, they were filming me walking on the beach, talking about various aspects of Management. This filming started in front of a small Shirdi Sai temple, a very small temple facing the sea with a full-size idol of Baba. I did not know much about Baba, but I prostrated, I mean, I touched my head at His feet, and we began the interview.  It’s my habit to bow down to any Master, it doesn’t matter which path he follows. There are various idols of Masters, and I always make sure that I bow down to them, take their blessings and start. And that was the first time I bowed down to Sai Baba. This was in early 2000.

And then after this, I was going to Mumbai, and I visited Giri Traders. Usually I pick up books from there, but this time I said, “I don’t need any books, just give me one Sai Satcharita”. I don’t know why I said so. I bought Sai Satcharita and started reading it. Then I went to my house in the South, and while I was reading…I must have read about 14 chapters… Suddenly I got a call from Mumbai, for an interview by… if I remember well, it was Times of India, and they wanted to interview me for the charity activities that I do, in the name of Ammu, my daughter who passed away on 23^rd August, 2000. So, I came for the interview to Mumbai, and then I proceeded to Shirdi. That was the first time I went to Shirdi.

I went in a bus, an overnight journey…and in the morning as I entered the temple, and I felt it was so familiar, I felt as if I had been there before. I had no reason to think like that; I had never come there physically in this life, but I felt that I had been there before, and it was so rejuvenating; there was something happening inside me, it’s like a lot of things changing, transforming, within  me. I can’t put any words to that feeling, but I enjoyed that feeling, and  then I returned.  It was my first trip to Shirdi. But I felt an urge to go there again. The temple and Baba were  pulling  me back, asking me to come back, but it didn’t happen.

 

A few weeks or months went by. I had lost my job and I was trying to figure out what to do next. I needed an income, I needed to have some money to survive, and  I was separating from my first marriage, so many things were falling off from my path. In fact, from 2000, the time when my daughter died in a road accident, many things fell apart, my relationship, my marriage fell apart, then my possessions, whatever I had accumulated – that also got robbed, then the money which I had invested, the property owner decided not to build it and it was almost like a “status quo”, or a stagnant state. I almost lost that money. So, in a way, there was nothing.

At one point in time, in January 2000, I had my family, my wife, my daughter, my job, my income, possessions, everything…and in a few years, I had nothing. So, I was literally stripped of everything I had and I actually started feeling quite naked and alone in the world.

Experiencing the First Miracle of Sai Baba

One of my friends who I worked with earlier, who I knew for a long time, called me and he said he and a few others intend to set up a new business, a logistics company. I’ve always worked in shipping and logistics, from 1989 onwards. So, he said, “We’re setting up a logistics company, and we would like you to head it as CEO. I was unsure. It was a new company, new investment, a huge responsibility; you start building it up from the beginning. So, I was not so sure if this was easy or if I could make it a success. So, I politely refused that offer, but they insisted. And I gave some very silly excuses for not coming to Mumbai for this meeting, but they didn’t agree. They said, “No, you have to come!”

And all the people, the potential partners assembled in Bombay. I also came. When I came to Bombay, I came only for two days. I was buying a small piece of land… I had already bought it, in fact, but I had to pay some more money for a small piece of land near Pune. So I thought: “Okay, I’m coming for this meeting. After the meeting, I will proceed to Pune, pay the money and finish, finalize that contract, and then I’ll come back.” And I had already made up my mind not to take up this offer. So, I came, and they all had come to the airport to receive me. I only had one cabin bag. I didn’t carry anything much. I brought the cabin bag. I had this cheque for this property, my passport, and a few other documents which are needed for registering the land, and some clothes, that’s all; and a book, the Satcharita, which I was reading at the time.

I came to the airport. My friend who arranged this meeting, this connection, he had carried some cash to register this organization, to finalize the venture. So he brought that money, he had cash in his hand, so he asked me, “Can I put this money in your bag, and I’ll hold the bag?” I said, “No problem.” So, he put his money in the bag and he took the bag. Then we went for a discussion in the lounge of a hotel. We all sat there, and spoke a little bit. And then the next day we were to have a detailed discussion, so this was like a preliminary interaction. We agreed on what we had to discuss, what are the fundamentals, the name of the organization and all those things, and I found that I was slowly getting dragged into it, even though I had made up my mind not to go deeper. Something was pulling me into it, so I said, okay, let’s see where it leads. We concluded, decided to meet the next day, and left for the day.

My friend who had brought the money, and was carrying the money, took my bag. He had the bag and since I had a couple of other meetings to attend, I went elsewhere. In a little while, my friend called me and said that he lost the bag! He was supposed to meet me with the bag, in the evening, for dinner. But this was a couple of hours before the dinner and he told me he had lost the bag. My money, my passport, everything gone! Plus, his money ! He had left the bag in the boot of the car, got himself dropped at his destination and had forgotten to pick up the bag. He did not remember the name or the face of the driver, or the license number of the car. There are so many taxis in Bombay; it’s not easy to find this particular one. Also, he didn’t order the taxi; he had just hired a passing taxi from the road. We were in a confused state at that time, and I did not know what to do, how to get my passport back, and the money back, and the cheque book back. I was wondering, “What next?”

One of my friends who is deeply connected to Sai Baba called me. And he asked, “You don’t sound very enthusiastic, what’s wrong?” So, I told him that I had  lost my bag, and that my cheque book and passport were in the bag!  He was silent for a while, and then he said, “Baba will bring that back for you.” I thought he was just saying this to reassure me, so that I would not worry. But I was uncomfortable. Later all of us met for dinner. Although we  assembled, none of us  had an  appetite because we were worried about the bag. We looked around, went  back to where we took the taxi, and tried to trace the bag, but none had any clue and we did not know  how we could find  this taxi.  We asked a few taxis in the area.  “No”, they said, “You took a taxi from the road side; it might have been a passing taxi, not one  from this taxi stand.” So, we didn’t know what to do, but we continued our search…

 

Finally, around midnight, after the dinner, we came to the hotel where we had been earlier. We had enquired with the receptionist and were told, “We don’t know, because the taxi was not arranged  by the hotel.” Now  we came back to the reception, and found  that the receptionist had changed. It was  a new face, a new person;  we explained the situation,  and they asked: “Are you staying here?” We explained that we had been there for just a meeting, a discussion and their response was, “If we find  it, we will give it to you.”  As we were coming out, the watchman of the hotel enquired,  “Why are you leaving? Didn’t you find a  room here?” We explained that we  didn’t come for the room and that were looking for  our lost our bag. Then he said: “Is it a blue bag? With red straps?” We chimed,  “Yes!” “Come and see if this is it”, he added.

We went into his  cabin, and found the bag!!  Apparently, the taxi driver found the bag, and  dropped it at this hotel, believing it belonged  to somebody  from this hotel.  Immediately, I opened the bag; there was no lock.  On the top was the Sai Satcharita, and everything else was below it. In fact, the Sai Satcharita had been at the very bottom because I had put it in first and everything else later, on top of it. Yet,  the Satcharita had moved  and was on the top. It was almost like Baba’s signature, saying, “I brought it for you!”

Baba’s Physical Darshan in Dwarkamayee

Now, the next one was even more dramatic. I was working in an organization in Dubai, and they  had arranged for  a managers’ conference in Mumbai, for all the managers associated at various levels. I was the General Manager of that company. We all came to Mumbai.   In those days, what I used to do is as follows,   whenever I came to India, I would make it a point to visit Shirdi. So, I reach  Mumbai, go straight to Shirdi, have Darshan, and then come back to Mumbai, or go for the next meeting. This was my routine then.  On this trip, while I was sitting at the airport, the person who I referred to earlier, the one who said that Baba would bring my back to me, called.. I was sitting at the airport at that time, and he said “You seem to be travelling, where are you going?” So, I said: “To Shirdi, to see Baba, I’m at the airport.”, Again, he was silent for some time. Then he said: “Expect a big miracle!” I said, “Okay.” I did not know what miracle it would be, but I said: “Fine.”

And when somebody says  something like  “Expect a miracle,” your mind tends to be  occupied with that thought. The same  thing happened to me, I was only thinking about what miracle it would  be, when it’ll be, how it’ll be. So, I was pretty much occupied with that thought, and after a while, I became more relaxed in that regard. I reached Mumbai,  arranged for a taxi, and immediately  travelled to Shirdi. In the morning after  I reached, I freshened up.  Those were days when we could make offerings to  the Dhuni, which Baba had lit. Now it has been closed.  I told  the taxi driver: “Get me something nice, good, substantial, to offer to the Dhuni.” I have always liked to visit Dwarkamayee; it  was a preferred spot for me because I always felt like Baba still sits there.

So, I was standing in the queue and there  was one path  to enter, another, to exit.  They had laid down this procedure so as to avoid a crowd conglomerating and blocking the way.  So you would enter via  one gate,  go through the Dwarkamayee space, and then  exit through another gate. You can’t enter through the exit gate. There was a reasonably long queue to enter Dwarkamayee. So, I stood in the queue and I told the driver of the car to obtain some good offerings for the Dhuni while I stood in the queue. He brought me some materials as requested; I split it into two – gave one-half  to him, and kept the remaining. I moved on, put my offerings  in Dhuni, and  was exiting. There were many  people behind me, and  in front of me.

Suddenly, I saw one man coming towards me from the opposite direction. At that point in time it didn’t occur to me that nobody could  enter through the exit. But this man walked in  and it  was almost as if  he was coming straight to me. And if I remember right, there was a young  child with him, probably about five years of age, maybe the age of Ammu, when she left the body. He came, and  held my hand on my biceps, my right hand.  I can still feel the grip, it was a very strong grip, a strong man, a strong grip, and he held me. And he was wearing an outfit similar to this color. He looked like a Hindu priest. He held my hand, he pointed towards that small pillar, a very small pillar which is in Dwarkamayee. Baba used to lean on it when he used to sit near the Dhuni, he used to lean on it  and it is still there. At that time it was open, now I think it’s covered. He said, “Sar idhar rakho!” “Put your head here!”

I obeyed. I immediately kneeled down, and touched my head on the pillar. Then he said: “Abhi jaao!” Both were commands, only these two. First you put your head here, then get up, leave. All this while, I must have been blocking the flow of pilgrims, because I’m stopping, I’m kneeling down, etc. but it didn’t feel so. People might have been going through me, or maybe I was transparent. I don’t know. And nobody else noticed this man and this child, and my activity did not hinder the flow of pilgrims, so nobody stopped me. And I walked out. And I don’t know where he went, in fact, I didn’t look further. Maybe he was there or probably he just dissolved. I don’t know. I didn’t think at that time about this.

I came out and we were going to Mumbai for the program, and the taxi driver who was behind me did not even know about this. He didn’t bother me with questions. He didn’t know, he didn’t ask me why I knelt down, etc…… He didn’t ask me anything. It’s almost as if  he passed me also, he went ahead. So, it was a very surreal experience.  Once I came out, I decided to leave and I called this friend who had told me about the miracle. I said, “There has been no miracle.” I was expecting something to fall from the sky or materialization, or something similar. But there was nothing. So, I asked him: “Where is this miracle you are talking about? I didn’t feel anything.” Then he said, “Baba came and met you, what else you need?” So, sitting some place so far away, he understood  the happenings at Shirdi.    It was not crazy, it was not an illusion, it was real, and it was true. Baba had come, and he knew about it.

That was a magnificent experience, and I would say a transformative experience too. It’s not only the connection, the subtlety, or the realization of the truth that Baba is alive and visibly active, tangible. Not just that He ensures that transformation is given to those  who are connected to Him. True spirituality is transformative spirituality, that which transforms you.

We follow rituals, we follow Gurus, we follow various activities and we think we are spiritual. But unless transformation happens in life, it is just an activity. Many of us feel that we are spiritual and we often stay in that illusion for a long time. To come out of it is not easy, and even when somebody tells you, “Why are you doing these rituals if it is not transformative?” We will reject the person, not the ritual and still prefer to be in the comfort zone. This was a hardcore experience for me, where I started entering into the world of silence. Transformation means fewer  thoughts. Fewer  thoughts mean your mind is still. Thoughts are materials projected by the mind. Mind has no thoughts, mind is always still, but thoughts come from Samskaras, from the inherent impressions. They come as thoughts and mind projects them. When mind projects them, you are bound to be influenced by them. You are influenced by what is sitting in you.

So here, with Baba’s presence, when Baba held my hand, and asked me to touch my head on that pillar where He used to lean His spine, basically I was touching my head on His spine. Spine is the stairway to heaven, and heaven means complete silence of the mind, a state where you have no desires, no thoughts, you are absolutely still…as Shiva. As silent as Shiva – this is the ultimate transformation, Samadhi. So, I was literally surprised, or pleasantly surprised that without calling, Masters support you.

 

How can a Master support you when you don’t call? Your call is your eligibility. Your eligibility is your conviction with consistency and complete selflessness. Conviction in yourself and your path with consistency and total selflessness. It’s not in what you do; it’s in what you are. So, this makes you eligible for the intervention of the frequencies that can make a change in your life, whether that be living or non-living, it does not matter.

So, this happened and I was on my way. While in the car, I was thinking: “My god, it  was Baba!” I could not even touch His feet. I was feeling so stupid. Baba came, met me, made me do whatever I did, yet I did not understand it was Baba, and I could not touch His feet. This was bothering me for a long time. Then awareness happened. What was meant to happen happened the way it did. It’s not what you want to do. It’s how it was meant to  be. Or everything in life is how it is meant to  be. A place, a situation, an effect, and an understanding, or awareness during that activity, this is all predetermined. Eligibility happens, activity happens. If eligibility is not there, activity is not there. Something very simple.

The Mystical Experience of Being in Shirdi

This was a very different experience that I had, about being in Shirdi when  I was not in Shirdi.  I was not even thinking of Shirdi at that time. I was flying from Munich in Germany to Belgrade in Serbia. It was  2010, if I remember right. That’s the time when the Icelandic volcano erupted. This Icelandic volcano spewed ashes into the sky, and as you may recall, most of the aircrafts were not flying during that time. They were grounded, and many,  trips were cancelled or suspended. I did not know about it. Although I knew that a volcano has erupted in Iceland, and  was spewing ash into the sky, I did not the gravity   or seriousness of the situation.

I was at the airport to fly to Belgrade and nobody told me anything. I saw some  cancellations on the display board but I didn’t think it was because of the ash in the air. I got my  boarding pass, walked to the gate and the flight took off. All along I suspected nothing.  After the flight took off, there was an announcement that the volcanic ash is disrupting the pathway,  hence the flight was being re-routed via Austria and a two and half hour delay was expected.  We had taken off and were mid-air with nothing much to do. Then again, the Captain spoke  informing us that they had not obtained confirmation for using Austrian airspace. But he was certain to get it. He asked us to sit back and enjoy. We would reach our destination but with a three hour delay.  I said to me, “Fine, it’s okay”

I  pushed my seat back and relaxed, when suddenly  I saw myself in Shirdi. It was not a dream, it was a physical experience. Baba was sitting, and I could actually see from the… it was as if I was inside the idol of Baba, looking at the entire  Samadhi area; people were coming, lots of people, hundreds of them  were coming towards the idol and were  passing through both ways. I could see the  stream  of people. I could even identify the colors of the clothes that they were wearing  the men, the women and the children; I could see the groups of people coming in and going out. And I was  inside the idol of Baba, looking at the people, at the pilgrims, and in my heart, I felt  overwhelming love and compassion. It is difficult to explain, it was not just love, it  was an overwhelming compassion for all those who were coming, and also there a kind of energy flowing out from me to them.  I could feel that the entire  area – the idol in the middle, and all around, like a globe, a big bubble of energy.  Thus,  people were entering through this energy, (just like your car goes through a car wash) walked through the energy, and when they exited, it was almost as if they had  taken a bath, their  aura was  cleansed. So, people entered with various colors of aura, but when they went  out, it was all crystal aura, transparent, which means, complete  cleansing happened, similar to a car wash, as I explained earlier.  They enter,  go through the two  sides in the queue,  come in front of Baba,  bow down, and go out completely refreshed. I don’t know how many lifetimes of karma have been  cleansed this way. And I was thinking, “Oh, my God, Baba is cleansing hundreds of people every day!” And my heart was expanding, almost to the point that I felt that it was exploding. I felt,  “Oh, this is how Baba is working!” In fact, Baba gave me a glimpse of how he functions.

Suddenly, I came back to my body. The announcement said,  “Prepare for landing, in thirty minutes we’re landing.” And we reached thirty minutes before time; not two and a half hours late, thirty minutes before the landing time, which is practically impossible! Even if we had taken the straight path, we would not have reached thirty minutes earlier! Those who were supposed to pick me up had not arrived. I came out of the airport and waited for them. And they said: “You came early!” I have no clue how I reached early. Probably even Lufthansa may not know how we reached! If we had gone via Austria, it was an additional two and a half hours; I don’t know which direction we took, I did not hear anything. All I recall is that I experienced the state of being Baba in the Samadhi Mandir. And when I came to my body, became Mohanji again, I had already arrived!

So, this was a very, very transforming experience for me. The overwhelming compassion, with no discrimination between men, women, children; various types of people, various karmic combinations come to Shirdi, to Baba. Baba cleanses them without discrimination. He just gives everybody as much as they can take.

Baba’s Gift of His Padas

I decided to make a Shirdi Baba Temple on a property I had. A gentleman I know, who was a businessman, used to visit Shirdi very often. We made a small plan, and I requested him, “When you go to Shirdi, next time, could you please surrender this plan at Baba’s feet and take His blessings.” Unfortunately, the plan wasn’t ready when he was leaving for Shirdi. So I said, “When you go there, please surrender to Baba, saying that Mohanji is planning this, kindly bless and make it happen”. He did as requested. When he came back to his car, just before he entered it, a person approached him and gave him a packet, which was quite heavy. He took the packet and asked, “Where is this from?” The man said: “Baba sent this.” He was an ordinary looking man, a Maharashtrian and middle-aged. My friend tried to give him some money, but he had disappeared.

He brought the packet along and visited us. It was Padas (feet) of Baba and it was kept in our prayer room of the house in which my parents live. All these events transpired before the temple happened. The Padas remained there and obviously, it was Baba who sent it. Our project didn’t happen. At about the same time, I had started a company for marketing herbal medicines… it was an early 2004 or 2005, and we were winding it up, because it was not going as per plan. Shares of the company had been distributed to many people and we had been ordered by the Court to surrender all the shares in order to close the company. But we could not trace a few shareholders and hence could not obtain all the shares. And we couldn’t close the company without surrendering them to the court. We were extremely worried since the company had recurring expenses and we had to close it.

The court had given us until 8 AM of a set date by which time we had to surrender everything. The previous evening, we did not know what to do. The next morning, when my father opened the Puja room, on this Feet of Baba, was a packet. My father did not know who left the packet there and no one else could have left it there too. He opened it and found all the shares. The shares were in order, from number 1 to the final number of shares we had issued! All the shares in proper order!  He called out for me and said, “This has come!” I said, “Please take it to the Chartered Accountant, and give it to him.” He took it to the Chartered Accountant, gave it to him, and he counted and said, “Oh! Everything is in order.” He went to the court, submitted it and closed the company! That is when I decided, this is Baba, the Feet (Padas) are Baba, and it’s Baba’s presence. I can’t keep it at home like this. Around the same time, Mr. Sunil, Sujatha and family were building a temple in Venoli Village in Palakkad. I donated the Padas to the temple, and it now sits there, it’s still blessing people. It’s a beautiful temple too!

These are all just signs of how Baba works, the hundreds of ways in which he is working all the time. Presence without presence. You can see Baba. When a person becomes Presence, that’s when he expresses being God.

Transcribed by Tijana Sladoje
Proofread by Vidya Rajagopalan

Open the Door for Grace, part 2

Satsang with Mohanji in Canada, part 2
26 June 2019

Q6: What is the significance of a Guru living in a body, compared to a Guru who has left the body? 

Q7: Whenever we think of or remember you when we are at home, will you be thinking of us too?

Q8: What are the signs of presence when connection happens?

Q9: Can one have two masters?

Q10: If I think of Sai ji (Shirdi Sai Baba), will you come into my path?

Q11: What if I am able to be connected to multiple gurus simultaneously? If you pray to Sai Baba, then go to another place, you may get answers. I may be able to connect to god/guru/ energy in many different ways. Is this a sign that you are going towards a spiritual path?

Q12: How do you get empty?

Q13: Is that time when we are empty i.e. without thoughts or desires when we need to intensely pray?

Q14:  In today’s world, as householders and those working at jobs and doing different roles inside and outside the home, we cannot shirk our responsibilities or roles. What should be our methodology to reach that supreme goal of Oneness?

Q15: Everything is pre-decided, and I’m responsible for what I’m experiencing in this life. Are the people I interact with or family members just the instruments for me to have those experiences?

Q16: But when do I break that kind of give and take?

Q6: What is the significance of a Guru living in a body, compared to a Guru who has left the body? 

M: A guru in the body is difficult to handle.  If the guru is just a picture, you can handle the picture the way you like, because he is not going to eat you. See it’s very simple. Technically, all gurus are powerful. But the ego aspect is very difficult to deal with. We all have our ego. What is ego? The skeleton or structure of your personality is ego. At an elementary level, it is necessary. Why? Because that is the identity part. When you have zero ego, meaning you are totally diluted (which will happen anyway when you attain higher levels of samadhi), if somebody were to ask you who you are, you may say you don’t remember. And that is not a good idea while living in society.

So at the elementary level, mind-matter consisting of the three aspects of ego, intellect and mind, is important. But for a master who has already left the body,  you are accenting mainly on imagination, and your connection is based on that. And the teachings are what you receive. You do not know for sure, right? It may not be first-hand, it might come through somebody else. But if you are able to lead a disciplined life, fully focused on this master, you don’t need anything else – living or dead, no problem. However if you have a mind to tackle, the intellect to tackle, the ego to tackle, the proximity of a living master will be a good idea, although rather dangerous! Because what the masters do is they keep beating the ego, you know. When the ego sprouts up, one kick is given! When the intellect goes into analysis, one kick! And what does the intellect need? Answers. If answers are not given, the intellect suffers. The master will keep quiet. If answers are not given, questions will remain and the intellect will be very annoyed. The questioner will feel like pulling the hair of the master, or his own! Then there is the mind. When people come to the master with emotions, the master will be like stone. No reciprocation. What will happen? They will say – insensitive master, bad guy. All this happens with a living master. When Shirdi Sai Baba was living, the people living at the time said all sorts of things about him. They called him a mad man and so many names. Now a hundred years later, we understand his power. Most of the masters who are living are never appreciated by their contemporaries – because people cannot “see”. They cannot go beyond the physical form. They only see the physical form and take decisions. The senses and the mind can only base decisions on the data provided to them. Those data are physical form and expressions – not anything else. You can’t see the consciousness.

And why the third or fourth generation after the master’s time, sometimes connects with the master, is because based on the available data, they try to figure out something suitable for a connection. And secondly,  if there is no personality to handle, then everybody can connect. You know, personality is a big problem because we ourselves have personality and this personality has to match with the that of the other.

What do the scriptures say? Question and believe. They never say to have blind faith. Questioning here means address the question to yourself. The first question is:  do I need any master? Because I have a master within.  What is the master? The soul. The subtlest part of you, the non-interfering part of you, is the master. This non-interfering part of your whole system, your soul, never tells you what to do. It just allows your journey. It just energizes your faculties, the body, mind, intellect, and ego. But it never tells you where to go, or what to see or what to look for.

So the soul is non-interfering, completely neutral. God is like that. True masters are like that too. And this detachment present in a living master is not understood by most people. Intensity will be interpreted as anger. So if you are approaching the master and you are a tough nut to crack, the master will be intense. What will people think? Master is an angry guy. I have explained this in the Atmananda book where a person came to a master, and decided to stay with him for some time because he was fed up with life.  So he was watching the master – he saw that the master was restless, then angry, that he was irritable with people. He thought to himself: what kind of master is this, people say he is a great master –  but he is completely irritated all the time, he is angry, abusing people. Yet he continued staying with the master…

After a while, he saw the master being very quiet and silent, non-intrusive, loving everybody, and then he was surprised. This didn’t seem like the same guy, he had changed all of a sudden, how come? And later on, he found the master very cool, and completely relaxed. Then the master called him and said, “You are done, you can go now”. Before he could leave, another person arrived who sat next to him. He asked him, “Is this guy always like this? He so irritable and angry.” He learned that the master was actually only a mirror. It was actually these people who were angry and upset, and the master was just reflecting them. The master was always calm and quiet. But when this person’s own mind settled down, he then saw happiness, calmness, quietness, and peace in the master. When his own mind was agitated, he only saw the same thing in the master. The master however always remained the same – calm, quiet, and peaceful.

And this is actually how every person who is aligned will be like – he will be a perfect mirror. You go to him with anger, he becomes anger; you go to him with love, he becomes love. So these true masters are true mirrors. You can’t define them. How you are is what you will see. And you will see nothing else.

So this effect is not possible when a person is normal – then it is only an understanding.  But I will tell you once again that Krishna has not gone, Rama has not gone, Baba has not gone.  Any master whom you connect to, on earth, is not gone. They all have capacity, they have power, they are doing work. They do their work through people. All the great masters like Sripada Srivallabha, Bhagawan Nityananda, Guruji in Delhi – all do their work continuously. Because they can’t die – they just expand. They leave the body once the connections are all finished, what do they need to stay for then? All they had to connect with, the connections, they are all done, so why sit in the body? Better to work without the body. So what do they do?  They leave the body. And they work better. Through hundreds of people. To reach hundreds of people. And who will connect to them? Those whose frequency matches their frequency, will connect. That is why we have numerous masters. They are each unique, not comparable. You can’t compare them. Each one has relevance. What we only need to have is perspective. Nobody is higher, nobody is lower. None are equal. Everybody has relevance – they have a purpose and they continue with that.

Also, let’s say you want Babaji as your master. How will you get him? You will need to tune in your frequency to communicate. Just like you do with your television. There are so many channels out there, but what can come into the television? What the television has capacity for, isn’t it? Nothing else. The vibrations and transmissions are coming, the channels are all there, but you can’t catch them – because the capacity is not there. So you cannot connect to all the gurus. There are numerous masters existing without the body. They work – they do guide. But we won’t connect to them all. Why? Because we are probably on a terrestrial frequency. Often, we lose when we compare. We really cannot compare them –  we can only respect. That’s why I say never ever disrespect any master. The guru tattva in you will die, when you disrespect one guru. The guru principle is not two-sided, it’s one thing. Guru tattva, the Guru principle, has to be respected. So all masters should be respected. It doesn’t mean you go to all masters. You see every master in your master, the one you are connected to. Yogananda said the same thing, “If you consider me as your guru, I am all gurus. Look no further.” Every master is like that – who you feel connected to, that is your master. What the Upanishads say is: ”The master that has happened to you is your master.” Not the one whom you chase. It’s like when in school, you never went searching for a teacher. Some teacher came to your class and that teacher helped you go to the higher class. Like that,  the right teacher is sent to you when you are eligible. And how will you connect? When your frequency is right. And through acceptance: ok, this person has come. And that’s it.

You can never say that Shirdi Sai Baba is not active. From our own experiences, we know he is very active a hundred years after he left the body. Chattarpur Guruji is active, so is Bhagawan Nityananda and we know many more masters that are active. How can you say they are not active? It’s not possible.

Q7: Whenever we think of or remember you when we are at home, will you be thinking of us too?

M: It’s all auto connection. There are two things you must understand. One is this physical form which exists for the sake of communication, for interaction on the physical level. But there is a consciousness form too, which never dies. That form is always available. So when your frequency connects to my frequency, that presence automatically has to happen. In fact the presence never goes.

A story goes that Brahma told Kali (Kali of Kali Yuga) that during your time, you must not touch or disturb those who are deeply connected to masters and traditions. Then Kali replied, “What happens to my job then, if everybody gets connected? For my job is to disturb people!” Then Brahma said that time would be his friend, the prevailing times would help him. If time were so confusing and kept people unstable then he could work easily.

Then Kali asked how people would connect to masters at all, in unstable times?

In the Treta Yuga which was Shri Rama’s time, connection happened through yagna, homa and such things. In Dvaapara Yuga, it was a different way. In each Yuga or Age, there was a different format for connecting to God. So what is the format in the Kali Yuga?

Brahma replied, ”Remembrance”. If you remember, you will be connected. It’s that simple. But even remembrance is a problem during Kali’s time. When you remember, energy presence happens. They said to just remember, they didn’t even say chant or sing. Those are fine too – if you want to do it, no problem. But the minimum is remembrance. Just remember and the connection happens. So the consciousness is always available. The physical form needs transportation, but consciousness needs no transformation – it is always expanded. And you will feel it, you will get signs. Everything will happen per your intensity, according to how you connect.

Q8: What are the signs of presence when connection happens?

M: Signs can be many. There can be fragrance, for instance. There are 5 senses, right? The sign will be based on your orientation. For some people it will be a feeling of presence, some people are nose-oriented, so for them it will be a feeling of fragrance. Others may be visual-oriented, so they will probably see. Sometimes it can even be taste, so a nice taste in the mouth. Sometimes a fragrance, a smell. It depends on the orientation. It’s not easy to generalize it – various people feel it in various ways.

Q9: Can one have two masters?

M: There are no two masters. Consciousness is one, so there is one master but in many forms. What you should connect to is the master you feel connected to. There is nothing you will gain by changing the master. Because it would be just another form since it is the same story, the same consciousness. So if you just connect to the master you feel deeply connected to, and consider that person as all masters, then all masters will help you.

The entry card that gets you support of all masters, is the respect you have for one master: your own master. That is what is told by all great scriptures. They say to just stay put, and every master will come and help you. In other words, to have a steady connection to one person – this is the secret. It is the mind that takes you to different masters, that thinks that the other one is better, or that I can get more from many people  – it’s not true.

An example of this is an incident about a film actress, a staunch devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba – she has actually spoken about it on video and Youtube, so I’m not naming her. She had been filming somewhere in New Zealand or Australia. And she was going through tremendous confusion over some serious decisions she had to take. She prayed intensely to Shirdi Sai Baba that she needed an answer that night itself, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to do the film shooting the next day.

Since I didn’t have her number, I called up one of her friends, CEO of Sunil Shetty’s company I think, and I said, “Do you know this lady?” She said, ”Yes, I know her.” I told her to convey the answer. She asked,” Did she contact you?” I said, ”No, don’t worry, you just give her this answer.” So she called up the actress and gave her the answer and the actress exclaimed, “My God, how did you know this?” to which she replied, “I don’t know, Mohanji called me up and told me.” The actress said, ”How did Mohanji know? I did not pray to him!” Then she contacted me, “How did you know this question was from me?”   I replied saying, “Just see if the answer is right.“ She said, “The answer is accurate, thank you very much. I can take a decision now.”

And about a week later, something again happened – not so serious but similar. And again I answered. She had been praying to Shirdi Sai Baba, this also she related on video. She said that she was completely surprised, since she always looked upon me as just as a friend. She said,” How did Mohanji know, although I was praying to Shirdi Sai Baba?” So what does that mean? It’s all one canvas! I’m not Shirdi Baba, I’m telling you this straight. I look upon Baba as my father. But how did the answer come?

One canvas! That is why it is not about this physical form – you will not understand then. This consciousness is one. So you pray to whoever you are connected to and answer comes some way. And we have no give or take in it. I’m not taking any extra favor or I’m not telling them I invented this. It’s   not possible, you know. It happens automatically. It was accurate for that person, so she went and put that on video. Sometimes this type of thing happens, though not always. It depends on the intensity of the prayer and the intensity of the connection to your master. But many people don’t receive that because they keep wandering. They are neither here nor there. They don’t know who to pray to, and when they pray, there is no intensity.

There are two things in life: intensity and intention. Sankalpa or intention should be strong. We do sankalpa before a havan and puja: I am doing this puja for myself/ my family/particular person so that they are protected. The priest takes the name, gotra and all that, and then they do the chants and puja. Sankalpa should be clear for whatever action you take. Then intensity or single pointed concentration. The answers will come, and I’m sure you have experienced it. But the thing is you don’t have to pray to different gurus because they have different forms. All gurus are one. You connect deeply to your guru – everybody will come and help you. So there is no need to change anything and I will never recommend that also. Because what will you change? Only the forms right?  After that what will you do?

Q10: If I think of Sai ji (Shirdi Sai Baba), will you come into my path?

M: That’s possible, but not necessary. Maybe Sai himself will appear in the thoughts. I gave this example only for your understanding. It happened and the actress herself has said this on video, otherwise I would not used that example. But there are numerous such instances. It’s not necessarily me, Baba can work through anybody, through different people. But for Baba to work, that person should be empty, with zero ego. Any master can work through anybody, he can work through all people: there are 7.5 billion people who are options. But how will he work through someone? You should have no ego, you should be completely empty. Then he will take over and he will work and he will talk.

However many people do many predictions, and I don’t believe in most of them. One person came to me and said you will be doing this, you will be doing that.  I completely discount that. These kind of things I do not endorse – I’m a practical person. It should  be tangible and practical. And I don’t like to mislead or misguide. If things are not happening, they are not happening. Why things don’t happen is mostly because there is no intensity in our prayer. Intensity means single-pointed concentration .

That’s why Babaji always talks about concentration first. He insists on concentration before any practice. Learn to concentrate first, then you practice. We are all scattered, attention is distributed over so many things that our intensity on each is reduced. So each thing doesn’t receive the intensity.

Q11: What if I am able to be connected to multiple gurus simultaneously? If you pray to Sai Baba, then go to another place, you may get answers. I may be able to connect to god/guru/ energy in many different ways. Is this a sign that you are going towards a spiritual path?

M:  The secret of connecting to all the gurus is connecting to the one guru in you. A disciple asked a guru, “You know I am completely confused. You are talking about 330 million or 33 crores of gods. I can’t even begin to start worshipping one god, and here you are talking about 330 million gods. How will I worship all of them? He replied, “Worship 33% of yourself”, which means the mind and consciousness. If you worship these two aspects, you are actually connecting to 330 million aspects of one thing. One is supreme consciousness that has 330 million possibilities. You are connecting to every master, everything.

So, the secret is connecting to yourself, and for connecting to yourself, you have to accept yourself – self-acceptance. And self-acceptance has to start with recognising yourself as a complete being. Totally unique, totally perfect, totally complete. No comparisons. People waste a lot of time comparing themselves with other people. Oh, that person is good, that person is better, all that is absolutely not true. Since each person is unique, so you can’t say that somebody is better than the other. So when that kind of self-acceptance happens, you will automatically start connecting, you will appreciate and respect yourself, you will stop judging yourself. You will like and love yourself and then you will start experiencing the same outside.

And then when you look at one guru, you will see all the masters, millions of them. And then you understand that he is just a representation, and not the reality. See, I’m a projection, not the end. There is a continuation, there is a flow. And I will be ‘alive’ even after I leave the body. So this flow continues on and on. Before me there were so many, after me there will be so many. But still the flow will be there.

Q12: How do you get empty?

M: Emptiness is connected to less thoughts. Less thoughts are connected to less desires. It has to start with this: when you are experiencing something, be fully that. That means no resistance.

Imagine you are experiencing happiness. Be happiness fully, be like a small child – like the baby that was walking around. Be fully that thing and at that time, whatever it is. Tomorrow or the day after, it doesn’t matter. Yesterday doesn’t matter. So that you are there, experiencing fully. In that mode, desires will be fully brought to completion. In that mode, no more such desires will crop up. That automatically reduces your thoughts, leading to more and more emptiness.

Emptiness doesn’t happen in one day, because we have already stored so much inside of us, without our knowledge. We have served a lot of days, right? We are served a lot things that are all there as cache memory. Let it be, no problem. But just be aware. “Oh, it’s there, let us sit together!”

Then secondly, what do you reject in yourself? What is it that you don’t like in yourself? There might be plenty that is connected to other people’s opinions or your own comparisons. We are compared to other people. Or other people told us we are not good enough. We take all that seriously. But they don’t know you, nobody really knows you. Nobody can know you, and not only that – you don’t even know yourself!  And this is because your conscious mind is available just during the waking state. The waking state is only one of three very vibrant states: waking state, dream state and deep sleep state. The dream state is real: you are having experiences, and even memories in this state. Then in the deep sleep state, you don’t know whether you are man or woman, nor do you know time or space. You don’t know your nationality, country, class, culture, possessions, positions – you know nothing. When you wake up, you know. So there is a death state too, every day. Every night we are dying, every morning we wake up and when we wake up our world wakes up. The world was existing before that but we did not know that world, because when we slept, our world was asleep. That is our whole story, isn’t it?

Now, how do we compare? How do we criticise each other or judge ourselves? In karmic law, whether you criticize yourself or criticize another person, it has the same effect. If you judge yourself or another person, it’s the same in karmic law. Because you are not accepting yourself.  Not accepting oneself and not accepting other people – these are both equal. We only think that karma is towards other people, this is not so. In karmic law, you are an incarnation too, and just like other incarnations. Then if you don’t accept yourself, it’s equivalent to not accepting every other person. When you criticize yourself, it is like criticizing another person. From the karmic angle, there is no difference here.

So it is when you start accepting yourself with all your happiness, all your sorrows, all your weaknesses, and all your strengths, that the mind starts to settle down. It will be less turbulent, you’ll say, “Things are ok, it’s fine, let me manage myself.”

And then, step by step, there will be decline of thoughts, of the TPS – thoughts per second. That leads to emptiness, the subsequent reduction of ups and downs, of the fluctuations of mind. The mind fluctuates only because of thoughts. Remember, the mind is like a projector that needs a film reel. The mind doesn’t have its own data. The film reel has memories, impressions, your desires. If you are not providing it any film, what will the projector project? The screen will be blank and empty because there was nothing to project. That means there were no thoughts. No thoughts means no desires. So though the projector or mind will remain, there will be nothing to project. That means total emptiness and peace.

Q13: Is that time when we are empty i.e. without thoughts or desires when we need to intensely pray?

M: Then there will be no need for prayer. When you are in a totally empty state, which is the state of most of the masters, you don’t have to pray – they don’t pray. I don’t pray, what to pray to? There is nothing outside to pray to. You decide, you intend.  Tathaastu, they say, right?  Based on somebody’s input they say bless you. There is nothing to pray to, because there is nothing outside of you to pray to. You just feel everything inside you, the whole universe inside you. In other words, tat tvam asi, which  means “You are That”. That’s when you realise that state when it’s all empty: aham brahmaasmi  or “I am the Universe”. When you are the universe, you are one with the Creator. Creator means Pure Consciousness.  Then when there is nothing or emptiness within, even a small thought or intention can be very loud. But when there are a lot of thoughts, you wouldn’t understand that. Like a person who is smoking all the time, won’t know how it feels to have the lungs of a nonsmoker. It’s like that. So that thought (prayer) is not needed. It will be operating on the dharma  – what has to be done will be done.

No unconscious action. No compulsive action. Nothing can provoke you at all, because you are empty.  That’s the state of masters. State of mastery needs no prayer. Until you reach that state.

Our prayers are very weak, you know why? Number one reason, our prayers are to someone. Number two, our prayers are for something. When you say, “Please give me this”,  what are you telling the universe? That you don’t have it. So they say “tathaastu”. So you don’t have it anyway. When you keep on praying because of the lack of something, you will only continue to experience the lack of that thing. That is why our prayers are very weak most of the time.

So the right prayer is: “I am grateful. Thank you. Thank you for coming into my life. Thank you for being the grace of my life. Thank you for the abundance that You are, in my life.” Understood?

That is why (before the Mahabharata war), Arjuna said, “I need only Krsna”. And what did Duryodhana  say? He said, “I need the Yadava army.” Krsna said, ”Take it”. Duryodhana looked only at the numbers of warriors, not the talent. Arjuna said he only needed Krsna. One man was enough to defeat a million people – Krsna. Krsna’s presence was more important. Duryodhana thought Arjuna was stupid – why did he not ask for the army. Duryodhana said, “I negotiated very well. I got a whole army, a huge army. Millions of soldiers.” Arjuna said, “I have only one, Krsna. Enough. Thank you for being here as my grace. Now I will win the war.”

All you need is the presence of the master, then the war can be won. Because the master wins the war for you, if your surrender is absolute. But surrender is not absolute.  Shirdi Sai Baba says this: “You leave your mind here and go back. I’ll take care of it, but don’t look back. Don’t ever look back. If you look back, you are not trusting me. You are looking back to see what I am doing with your mind. I’ll take care of it, don’t worry. But don’t look back.” And we look back all the time. We plant the seed in the ground and expect it to grow, but every day we dig up to see the seed. Then we complain: “God, why didn’t you make it grow? God is not being very helpful”.

Q14:  In today’s world, as householders and those working at jobs and doing different roles inside and outside the home, we cannot shirk our responsibilities or roles.  What should be our methodology to reach that supreme goal of Oneness?

M: One word answer: Awareness. Be aware.

Decide that not a word is to be uttered without your mind being present. Not even a spoon is taken, not even a finger is moving without your mind being present. Practice awareness.  Awareness is all… be aware. You practice awareness all the time, not only just sitting down and practicing but also when you are working and when you are traveling. When you are watching television, be aware that you are watching television. When you are talking to people, you must be aware you are talking to people. Whatever you are talking about, be aware you are talking about that thing. The only problem will be in the mind, because of thoughts. You don’t know what you are going to think next. So you can’t help that.

But you can understand the thought after it happens: “Ok, this thought happened. No problem”. No resistance, no comparison, no criticism, no judgement. So, everything is flowing, and there are no good, bad, ugly or dirty thought segregations. Anything can happen in the mind. You don’t even look, they all coming and going. Everything is coming, everything is going. So you are not comparing, criticising, judging. If you practice this bodh or awareness, it stabilises you, and you become buddha when you are stabilised in this field at all times. You are no more interested in talking about people. When people are talking, you are not even listening – and people talk according to whatever they are, not what you are wanting.

See, nobody can talk about the truth of something, because nobody really understands the truth accurately. If you want to know the truth, you need to know karma. Like, if I want to know why you are doing something, I need to know your karma. I am only able to see your doing, which is really nothing – it’s just an expression. That expression is caused by some pending desire. So someone says to you, ”This guy is drinking alcohol”. Now why does one do something? Because there is a pending desire. That is what is provoking that action. It can become unconscious action, turn into addiction, etc and it may start ruining his life, and that’s the time when you can guide them or warn them. But in truth, nobody knows anything, and nobody really knows anybody, right? So when people are trying to influence you etc., you say, “I am not interested.” That is what I have always said to those people who try to tell me about other people. I always say that I am not interested. (I think I know this person anyway and sometimes I see through them also.)  I don’t want opinions. I don’t take opinions from anybody because opinions usually contaminate your mind. You know, if somebody were to talk to me about you, then when I meet you next time I will be remembering that, more than the fresh connection. So why should I even try…. I just keep away.

So you just concentrate on your bodh or awareness, and try to stabilise it as much as you can. When you drive your car, you see yourself driving the car.  Every time you see yourself – whether you are watching a picture at the movie theater, or you are interacting with people, or you are taking decisions – and when you do this, what will it be? It will be perpetual meditation. I’m not asking you to sit down and meditate because as you said, you have all your duties towards your family, your dharma. This is what the scriptures say – never deviate from your dharma otherwise you will have to come back. This is something that you chose before you took this birth, so continue. And secondly, karmic. What brings you to that point is karma. That you must perform beautifully, without any self-interest. Then the structure is: maata – pita – guru and God. Follow that structure. First come mother and father, then guru, then God. Worship, connect, or serve in that order so that you are maintaining that structure, so that you are maintaining your dharma. You are calm and quiet. And no guru or god is dependent on your prayers or anything from you, because they are already independent from you. For you to connect you don’t have to give anything.

In 2003, when I started ACT Foundation, I had an interview with either Times of India or Hindustan Times. One of their questions was: “So what is your investment in this organization?” I replied, “Myself”. You are the best investment you can ever have in anything. If you are connected to a master, more than in anything material, invest in yourself. If you want to rise to the highest levels of awareness invest in yourself. Everything else that you got from here is temporary. But you – you brought yourself here. That is the difference, and that you should remember. You are the only original thing which you brought – everything else is received from here.

So what can you give to the master? Only yourself. And at a certain point in time, you will understand that you are one with the master. Master is not outside, it is inside. Then that acceptance level will take you to great heights. Your awareness will soar and soar and you will see all the things transparent. Then emotions won’t disturb you, situations won’t disturb you, time and space won’t disturb you. Nothing disturbs you. You are free.

Q15: Everything is pre-decided, and I’m responsible for what I’m experiencing in this life. The people I interact with or family members are just the instruments for me to have those experiences?

M: In other words, your projection.

Q16: But when do I break that kind of give and take?

M: It breaks by itself. You are not breaking anything. You didn’t consciously create, so that you can break. You see every situation has happened. In real time. Krishna said, “I have happened.” He never said that he took birth or that he did something. It happens. So you did not create that particular person or situation – that person was right for giving that experience you got. Neither do you create nor do you uncreate. For example, your asking this question here. Did we know this 3 months ago? Last month? Only now right? So this is the way it happens: everything happens at its time and we are not deciding all of this. This set of people came her together, an exchange of energy happens, the exchange of information happens and it’s all beautiful…. I can’t stop this and neither can you. So total acceptance is the only way it can drop off.

You know the only remedy in the path of liberation is total acceptance – “This is happening now, let me witness it…. “  Maybe you will appreciate, maybe you will criticise, maybe you will like it, maybe you won’t. No problem. But my reality is this, and let me have it. So that when you look it in the eye, you see that this is really nothing. I am much greater than all these incidents of time! You feel and start seeing your real grandeur. You will say, “I am the universe”. Only when you wake up does your world exist. When you sleep, there is no world for you. The real world existed before you, and it will exist after you. You realize that only you created your world – means when you wake up all this is amazing. When you wake up during some time, you might realize, “Oh, I am in Canada.”  Why so? Because actually your reality only opens up when you are awake. Like that, when you truly become awake, your whole consciousness opens up.

Even the three aspects of consciousness  – do we never think about them, the waking state, dream state, deep sleep state. Do we ever consider those every day? They are all existing but we don’t know about them, right? We are only after some silly emotions of life, relationships, likes and dislikes. This food I like this, the other I don’t like this. This person I like, the other I don’t like. Our range is that way. Now look at the limitedness of it. We have created nobody and nobody can we uncreate.

Only through acceptance can you dissolve everything. Through resistance you will only maintain the same thing. Very simple. Through acceptance you dissolve, through resistance you maintain. If that is understood, this whole story is very simple. We are not chasing anything in life. If something comes to us, receive it. If something doesn’t come, no problem.

So like that, when you are totally at peace with yourself, the world can’t do you harm. If somebody hates you, it’s their problem, isn’t it?  If somebody hates you, you are not responsible. How can you be responsible for somebody’s hatred? If somebody says, “I hate you, I don’t like you”, what will you do? Nothing. We have no control over these things. Do we have any control? If somebody compares me  with another person and says you are not all that good, I say it is ok, I am not that person anyway. If somebody tells me I don’t look like Sylvester Stallone, of course I know I don’t look like Stallone and I should know. He can’t say what I myself say!

You see, spirituality is very very simple. Our spiritual journey is very simple. We complicate it with so many dos and don’ts and rituals. Everything is to finally connect you to yourself, for that matter. But if you get stuck with the external, it takes more time to go internal.

The whole spiritual journey is about the traveling from outside to inside. Very simple in one sentence: it’s a journey from outside to inside. If you understand that, you understand all the scriptures, the whole philosophy. Then it’s a question of journey and the elementary, the fundamental is self-acceptance. Accepting yourself, with all your faults and all your merits. That’s it. Simple.

Transcribed by Sjarn Mansoor
Proofread by Geeta Iyer