MAHASHIVRATRI – 4TH MARCH, 2019

                                                       SAMARPAN ASHRAM, DANDI

Swamiji as Krishna delivering his nectar filled discourse from His Chariot

This year I left home at 5.30am then picked up Parulji at Airoli junction at 6am and thereafter Sharmilaji at Fountain around 6.40am. The drive to Dandi Ashram was pretty smooth with a halt at Silver Miles restaurant at around 7.45 for breakfast. We reached Samarpan Bhavan around 10.30am for a meeting related to the Trust. That meeting got over at around 1.00pm after which we left for the Ashram. We reached the Ashram around 1.45pm, registered for our stay till the 4^th and went to the accommodation arranged for us respectively. After partaking of prasad, I relaxed at the Ashram and left for another meeting at 6pm. This meeting got over by 7pm after which I left for taking prasad and then retired for the night at around 10pm.

Beautiful sunrise at Dandi Ashram

The next day (March 2) I woke up at 3am, completed the morning rituals and went for meditation at 4.15am. Was in meditation till 5.30am, then went for tea and returned for mantra meditation at 5.50am. This went on till 6.45am. After which I went to the Guru Shakti Dham for meditation. Post meditation, breakfast – left for the library for Madhuchaitanya, Editorial Board meeting. This meeting went on for the full day, with Her Holiness Guruma joining us at 1.15pm and guiding us till the end of the meeting at 6pm. Pujya Guruma had sent a sms saying that keep some space for something she is going to bring for us to eat. Unfortunately, I read her message after having our afternoon prasad. But nevertheless, I informed the MC team about it and not surprisingly everyone said that as it is, they had not eaten much! Once Pujya Guruma came and sat she informed us immediately that she had got jowar bhakri and lai patte ki sabzi for all of us. She also brought two lai patta leaves which on eating gave a slight mustardy taste! As this food was cooked by Pujya Guruma herself, we were all feeling doubly blessed as the food cooked by Pujya Guruma too was extremely tasty. After the meeting, was told that Ramaniji was looking for me, so went looking for him. Met him after quite some time and then went to the allocated sleeping area which we were sharing. We then had dinner in the form of fruits which Ramaniji had brought along with some light snacks. I met a lot of overseas sadhaks whom I had come to know during my sessions at various past International Retreats.

The next day (March 3) again I woke up pretty early and went for my morning rituals – there was no water on the second floor! I tried contacting the people concerned but to no avail. I ultimately went down and took a bath at the public bath, there too the flow of water was very slow. After bathing, I changed and went and sat behind the curtain at the Guru Shakti Dham as I was told by the volunteer that one cannot go inside as that opens only at 7am. The divine consciousness that was flowing, the energy was palpable and I was in a totally blissed out state. I must have been in meditation from 4.15 to 5.40 am. I got up and looked beyond the curtain and saw that it was filled with people who were meditating inside, even though it was too early to open!! I went down and had tea and met Dr Ishnathji and I were invited by the Rajasthan sadhaks who were preparing kachori to be served throughout the day for tasting the same. The kachori and ragda were extremely tasty but slightly spicy. After this with a slightly tangy taste in the mouth we then went for mantra dhyan. After mantra dhyan, I went up to the room and partook of snacks which Ramaniji had brought with him. We then went for tea, and as there was nothing much to do, I went for the MC meeting which went on till 12.30pm. Ramaniji and I decided to skip lunch and have snacks for which Jignaben too joined us in our room. After having light snacks, we went for the scheduled 2pm meeting. This meeting went on up till 6pm in which a lot of important issues were discussed and the decisions recorded in the minutes. After the meeting we went outside and saw that arrangements for Swamiji’s Mahashivratri discourse were being made at a different location. Upon enquiry we were told that as a huge beehive had been built again on the roof of the stage where Swamiji usually delivers his discourse from, Swamiji himself had sent a message that the venue should be changed and the bees should not be disturbed! Only Paramatma can think like this! Swamiji sent a message that He will deliver his discourse directly from the chariot itself. So, a pandal was prepared for Swamiji to protect him from the Sun (our thinking), where the chariot would be brought and from where he would give the discourse. As the work was going on, we went to the far corner near the Gaushala and sat for meditation. After meditation we went to our quarters and again partook of light snacks as prasad – actually there was no hunger in that highly charged consciousness filled atmosphere. The soul’s hunger was being satiated by Paramatma and the physical body was not experiencing hunger, it was quite different this time around. The whole atmosphere was relaxed and peaceful all round – sounds of laughter and gaiety interspersed with tremendous silence. There was a little bit to be received for all kinds of souls. We retired for the night as shortly we would be waking up to the day that we had all been waiting for – the completion of the 45 days Deep Meditation Practicum and the arrival of His Holiness Swamiji from His 45 days of spiritual practice in isolation.

Sunset at Dandi Ashram

On 4^th March, Mahashivratri, the morning started at 2.30am slightly earlier as there would be a lot of people for using the washroom facilities. I had to wait for some time for bathing as I was in queue. By 3.45am I had finished and went and informed Ramaniji that he should get ready as there was a rush in the bathroom area. He went and I got ready for the big day. Khamankarji and Vibhavji joined us in the room and then we all left for getting a cup of tea. The tea stall was outside the Ashram on the approach road. We went, drank tea and returned and took our seat at around 5.15am. My eyes closed to the sound of the chant and I was preparing myself for the group meditation. At 5.30am Parasbhai requested Ramkaka to start the meditation. With the start of the meditation, I felt a slight unearthly fragrance and vibrations up my spine to the crown which kept pulsating lightly. Maybe 15 minutes had gone by when suddenly somebody walked between us and sat behind us – this person made such a racket as he kept fiddling with some plastic bag that both Khamankarji and I simultaneously opened our eyes and glared at him after which he apologised and stopped the racket. Unfortunately, the state I was in could not be reached again and I just sat with my eyes closed till the end of the meditation.

I looked up to see a crescent moon signifying the presence of Lord Shiva in the Universe and felt the overpowering presence of our Paramatma as He was about to come out of isolation.

Her Holiness Guruma takes her seat

At around 6.10am Her Holiness Guruma’s arrival was announced and she was welcomed with the blowing of conches. She came and took stage. With her arrival, Parasbhai who was the sole Master of Ceremonies for the event announced that the Anushthan messages booklet in 5 languages would be launched at the hands of Her Holiness Guruma (this was met with loud applause). Then Her Holiness spoke and explained how the German sadhaks who were present in large numbers for the Anushthan requested Guruma whether the Anushthan messages could be brought out in book form in the German language. Her Holiness praised them saying that in spite of more than 15 days of the Anushthan having got over, they started translating collectively and completed this wonderful guru-karya within the given time constraints – and as a special gift the booklet has also been published in the German language apart from Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and English. She explained how a German sadhika told her that they listen to Swamiji’s discourses and understand what is being said because of reading the discourses in Madhuchaitanya. She was all praise for them that in spite of not knowing Hindi, because of their dedication and complete surrender they still understand what Swamiji says!

Parasbhai thereafter announced that Swamiji’s discourse this year will be different in the sense that he will arrive in his chariot and give the discourse directly from the chariot as opposed to from the stage which was the norm till today. Thereafter her Holiness intervened and said that just as Lord Krishna advised Arjuna at Kurukshetra (the Bhagwad Geeta) from his chariot, similarly modern day Paramatma will render Samarpan Geeta Gyan (knowledge) from his chariot today!

Swamiji on His Chariot

Parasbhai then announced that His Holiness will be arriving shortly on his chariot and we should sit in silence and stabilise ourselves. The chant started playing and my eyes closed as I centred myself, I started getting a faint fragrance of rose, a cool breeze started blowing as I could feel divine energy swirling around my being. As the chariot came close I could hear the sound of conches blowing while I kept my focus inwards – I opened my eyes just as the chariot approached the pandal – I saw that Pankajbhai, Maheshbhai, Ramkaka and Anuragji were bestowed the initial honour of pulling the chariot from the kutir to the pandal. I noticed that the chariot was kept at a slight angle towards the right. As I got the thought, within a minute Swamiji called the sevadharis and as His mic was switched on we could hear Him, instructing them to straighten the chariot – this was then done. After Swamiji’s chariot took its final position, we chanted the Guru Ahavan Mantra lead by Ramkaka – Om Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Gurur Devo Maheshwara, Gurur Sakshaat Parabrahma, Tasmay Shree Guruveh Namaha, Tasmay Shree Guruveh Namaha, Tasmay Shree Guruveh Namaha. Thereafter Ramkaka requested His Holiness thrice to shower us with his divine nectar filled discourse.

A panoramic view of the sadhaks at Mahashivratri

Sadhikas sitting in bliss

My Salutations to all Pious Souls……

Today, we have all gathered here together on the holy festival of Mahashivratri. Today’s day is important for two more reasons – 1. Today is Monday and 2. This is the first Mahashivratri celebration in the proximity of the Mangal Murti (Auspicious Idol). During this 45-days Practicum, life-force has been instilled in the Auspicious Idol which is for Germany. By staying in my Guru’s proximity for 45 days I have come with new programmes, new enthusiasm and this year will be very important as lots of Guru-karya will take place this year. I will be going to Nagpur on 7^th for a Rakshak shibir on 8^th, a darshan shibir on 10^th, from there I go to Pune for a Rakshak Shibir on 12^th and another shibirs in Lonavala on March 14 – so already four shibirs have been lined up in this month itself.

Today’s programme starts with a story narrated to me by my maternal grandmother during my childhood. This story is about a crow – ‘Kalu’ a crow was there as such all crows are black but he was extra black, so his mother had named him lovingly as ‘Kalu’. Kalu used to stay on a tree near a lake on a farmer’s farm-land with his parents. Daily he used to look down at the lake and see a white duck who kept swimming from one end of the lake to the other, he saw that the duck was white with a nice yellow beak and on looking at him the crow used to be very attracted towards it. And mentally he thought what a beautiful body that duck had, what beautiful white colour, and I am such a black crow and then he became very sad. And after becoming sad he went to a jungle nearby and in the jungle on a hill a saint used to sit for meditation. He went in front of his hut and started cawing, and hearing the racket the saint came out and asked him, “What happened?” The crow replied saying that he was very ugly and colour was also black, do one thing for me  - make me a duck because he is the most happy creature in the world. So, you do one thing pray so that I become a duck in my next birth. The Saint replied that it is not what it seems, you think the duck is happy. First do one thing, go ask the duck whether he is happy, and if the duck is happy then I will pray for you. So Kalu went to the duck and said, “Duck sir, duck sir you are so beautiful, what lovely colour you have and your beak is nice, you keep roaming all over the lake – you are so happy! The duck replied who told you I am happy, I am dependent on every grain to survive. I go from one end of the lake to the other looking for food and you think I am just roaming around – I am not – I am looking for food throughout the day, the farmer’s rooster is happier than me, see his different colours, how red he is and he just sits on the farm and the farmer comes and feeds him -he does not have to go looking for food. He gets his grains readymade every morning, so that rooster is happier than me, I am not at all happy. So Kalu goes back to the Saint and tells him what the duck said about him not being happy and the rooster being happier than the duck. The Saint replied that it is not what it seems, you think the rooster is happy. First do one thing, go ask the rooster whether he is happy, and if the rooster is happy then I will pray for you. So Kalu goes to the rooster and says – rooster king, rooster king you are so happy, the farmer keeps feeding you daily. The rooster replied who told you I am happy, I am not all happy – you see that Mannu Goat over there, he comes and eats my grains. He is very strong and has got long horns and he chases me with his horns and I run away – so Mannu goat is happier than I am. So Kalu goes back to the Saint and tells him what the rooster said about him not being happy and that Mannu Goat was happier than the rooster. The Saint replied that it is not what it seems, you think Mannu goat is happy. First do one thing, go ask Mannu Goat whether he is happy, and if Mannu goat is happy then I will pray for you. So, Kalu goes and asks Mannu goat are you happy – you are so strong, you have such wonderful horns and you get food so easily by chasing away the rooster. Mannu goat asked him, “Who told you that I am happy, I am the saddest creature that there is.” Kalu said I first went to the duck, then I went to the Rooster and they told me that you are the happiest creature. The goat said, people kill the duck and eat it, kill the rooster and eat it kill goats and eat it – does anyone kill a crow and eat it? I want to become a crow in my next birth. The crow then realised that this was true and he said he had not thought about this. The goat said you manage to live your full life, we never live our full life – neither the duck, nor the rooster and neither the goats – these bad people kill us and eat us. Secondly what right have these people to kill when they do not have the capacity to give them life? So, the worst creature on earth is man, because he does not let these creatures live their full life. So, the happiest creature is a crow, so I will be praying to be born as a crow in my next birth. So, Kalu goes back to the saint and tells him that the goat too is not happy and that the goat wants to become a crow in this next birth. The Saint said that is what I had told you, it is not what it is, there is no one as beautiful as you nor as happy as you. There is no threat to you, how secure a life you live! In fact, you can live your whole life happily. 

I had heard this story in my childhood and I remembered it again after hearing it in my childhood because in these 45 days I stay very close to all of you, near to all of you, so I get an opportunity to know you from very close quarters in these 45 days. In these 45 days I came to know that whatever you have received, whatever you have with you, you are not happy with that – the chase after more and more and more continues. Next, first understand that you have received a divine physical body, such a body which can receive self-realisation, which can give self-realisation – this was not possible in earlier births – you have not realised this and you keep running after things you don’t have and do not value what you already have. Next, thank your parents for giving you this divine body because of whom you have got this divine body – hence look at what you have got and not at what you have not got. You are unique in this whole world – meaning there is no other person like you in the world – each individual has a different aura. There is no other individual like the other, hence look at what you have got and not at what you have not got. Don’t tun after that which you have not got, start looking inwards. Become inward-looking means what – after becoming inward-looking, firstly you will start seeing your own faults once you become inward-looking. When you look outside you look at other people’s faults as your chitta is focussed outside more and more. Hence, more you start looking inwards, the greater your chitta will go within, and the more your chitta goes within stronger will be your chitta. From looking inward, I just remembered a story of Ramu elephant. See, don’t pay attention to what someone is doing or saying – Ramu elephant was there and his owner used to take him through cities, and as he travelled through the city on every road people used to fold their hands in salutation saying that today is a good day – we got to see Lord Ganesh early in the morning. People used to stand with folded hands. From wherever Ram elephant used to go people would give him bananas, flowers, meaning wherever he went he was welcomed. But he never stopped to eat bananas, he did not stop near the people who were offering salutations, offering garlands, he just kept moving forward continuously towards his destination along with his owner. And the street dogs, small dogs used to keep barking at him and running after him all the while barking. But the uniqueness of Ramu was that he would not stop for the people in front of him and would not turn and look back at those barking at him, running after him. And the dogs never came close, they maintained a distance of 1-15 feet while barking and running after him. What I mean to say is why do you make the elephant your ideal. Look at the mentality of the dogs – why were the dogs barking – there were two reasons. One, the dogs were small in size and the elephant was big and the dogs felt fear on seeing such a big elephant and they used to bark out of fear. Second, the dogs used to feel that we have roamed these lanes all our lives and no one offered us salutations but everyone is offering salutations to the elephant and that is why they used to bark at the elephant out of jealousy and fear. But everyone is offering salutations to the elephant who has come today – so jealousy and fear of its size made them bark, but does the elephant care – no! He does not pay attention to those barking behind him and he also never paid attention to those offering salutations in front of him and kept moving forward. Like this, keep Ram elephant as an ideal – and why think about what someone is doing or thinking, we should just focus on looking inward. Why am I telling you all this? Even today, people do not have a good opinion about meditation – for this people need to be made aware. People will perform yoga asanas or do worship, but not pay attention to meditation. Why? Because people who perform puja are considered religious, but if they meditate – will they become Babajis? This is what people think. Hence, it is better if you meditate quietly without talking too much about it. Now there is a need for making people aware about meditation. Next, in this birth, three things happened together – understand its importance. Wasn’t a physical body present earlier? Yes, it was there, but the body was not fit enough to receive self-realisation. Like when a mud-pot is still fresh and you put water in it, it will break. Similarly, the body was there but it was not fit enough to receive self-realisation. In this birth, you have received a divine body because if which you have been able to receive self-realisation. Next medium – would there have not been mediums in the earlier births?

There were mediums in the previous births too, in tis birth too there are mediums – but the mediums were not authorised. The medium too works within the limits set for him, he will not do it till such time he is authorised for it. Third – time. Time has got great importance – it was not the right time. Now three things have come together – divine body, authorised medium and the right time. By the right time I mean the time which Sant Dnyaneshwar had indicated 800 years ago saying that the right time will come after 800 years when self-realisation will be possible publicly. The confluence of all these three – like when we got to Prayagraj – it is a confluence of three rivers and it is called the triveni sangam. Like that – a confluence of three things – divine body, authorised medium and the right time – a triple confluence of these three occurred and only then the incident of self-realisation could take place. All these three things have occurred together in this birth itself.  After awakening pay attention to anubhuti, vibrations, awaken your intellect, your mind – do everything knowingly. Try to look beyond (the obvious). Like Shiv Baba bestowed self-realisation on me, after that I could see that he was an ordinary man, he had two eyes, hands, legs like me – he was an ordinary person like me. But by not looking at that man, beyond that man, I paid attention to what was within the man, what was ahead of the man; then if we learn to see Paramatma in one person then we can see Paramatma in all beings. Hence awaken your conscience, try to know, to recognise – what is visible, that is visible to everyone; but what is important is what more you can recognise. You are a self-realised person, so a self-realised person knows through the inner-eye. You too can know, like today is Mahashivratri. On Mahashivratri all of you will go to a Shiva temple and pray. My Guru had explained to me very well – actually Paramatma is formless, Paramatma does not have any shape, he does not have any form, any body – nothing! Hence as a symbol of Paramatma you will find a shape (linga) in the Shiva temple and everybody goes to worship it. And you will have seen that a Nandi (bull) sits facing the linga in the Shiva temple. Nandi is seated meaning – a very strong, powerful Nandi – what does this mean? If you have to reach up to Paramatma, obtain his proximity then you have to become a powerful Nandi. By powerful Nandi I mean, that you make your soul so strong, so solid, that it breaks all the bonds of attachment and desire and automatically it will break all the bonds of attachment and desire and by becoming free from such bonds you will reach up to Paramatma. Between Him and us there are bonds of attachment and desire. We cannot break these physically because we are tied down physically and to do so we will have to make our soul strong by enhancing our soul consciousness. We will have to make our soul strong, and till such time our soul does not become strong we cannot break the bonds of attachment and desire. But, like our children, raising our children, providing them an education, improving their future this is our duty which we will have to perform. This is not desire or attachment. Attachment-desire starts after that – grandsons, granddaughters, great grand-children, we start looking so far ahead that the chains of attachment-desire start from here. That is not your duty – looking after your grandchildren, paying attention to them – it is fine upto this point. Do not get attached to them – the grand-children are the traps of attachment-desire. The more we progress on this path we will never find time for ourselves. Take time out for your self – when will you take time out for yourself? Give yourself time at least once you are free from family responsibilities, then you will say no I will have grand-daughters, grandsons, boy, great grandson and so on – that will go on increasing. Stay away from these bonds of attachment-desire. 

Understand yourself – how much time do you give for yourself is important? Not much, just half an hour, meditate regularly every day, give regular time that is more necessary. Next, from these grandchildren I remembered, many times – if Nandi becomes strong then he will create such situations which will make you open your eyes and the snare of attachment-desire will break. A similar incident regarding a strong Nandi took place in America. There is a sadhika, her husband and their children and similarly there are many such people whose children study in America and these people go there to look after their grandchildren and stay there for 6 months at a time. The granddaughter who this sadhika had reared since her birth threatened to take her granny to the police because she hit her granddaughter who was being naughty. She said, wait I will call the police and send you to jail. She threatened her granny and the granny’s eyes opened and she felt that she was tied down by the snare of attachment-desire unnecessarily. Once your Nandi becomes strong such incidents will take place and open your eyes and wherever they occur it will break your attachment. I just gave you an example of this granddaughter. Wherever you have attachment, this Nandi will free you from such attachments and after freeing you it will make your path forward big and if you want to progress on the spiritual path, then make your soul strong. The stronger you make your soul the more it will open up the path for you going forward. It is necessary for you to make the soul strong and to do that we need to do such work which makes the soul happy. If we make the soul happy, strong then automatically the path forward will keep opening up, what is good-bad, what one should do-not do – we do not have knowledge of this, it has knowledge so make it strong. Next, some sadhaks after receiving self-realisation have stabilised in their life, further progress has stopped – why has it stopped? This is because they had taken birth only with the objective of obtaining self-realisation. They objective of their birth was this – that they should get self-realisation, so they have got self-realisation. But it is necessary that you do not just have a goal of self-realisation, keep your goal as moksha (liberation) – I want to attain liberation, that should be your goal. Self-realisation is just a tool, a medium. It is true that you cannot attain liberation without self-realisation, but self-realisation is not everything, do not sit by just holding on to this. Look at the way forward- many times if we are not progressing then that is the result of the company we keep. The people in whose proximity we stay – take 5 people who are very close to you, how is their state/condition? What is their spiritual progress – your spiritual progress depends on their spiritual progress. Hence it is necessary that you change the company you keep. It happens, isn’t it! In my childhood, in school there was a boy who was a very good friend of mine – in those days we used ink pens which we had to dip in the ink-pot to write in the fourth-fifth standard – he used to spray ink on me daily, he had the habit of shaking his pen and ink used to fall on me by my mistake, it happened once, twice, three times and after that after going home my granny used to scold me saying that I dirtied my clothes every day! Later I stopped keeping his company only because he was not able to control his habit. 

You also observe whether there are such dear individuals who are very near and dear; but if they are doing bad deeds to a lot of people and if they are always talking negatively and filling you with their muck, then however near and dear they are to you, you must keep a distance from them. If they keep talking negatively about others, talking negatively meaning – putting their muck into your chitta and spoiling it then, however close such individuals are to you then you should leave the proximity and company of such people. Next, go into collectivity, the greater the collectivity – see if you put one spoon full of black ink into a glass of water then the whole glass of water becomes black, but if you put the same spoonful of ink into a bucket of water then that water will not be fully black but the water would become dirty, and if you put the same spoonful of black ink into the Ganges then you won’t even realise where the black ink has gone. What this means is that the greater the collectivity, that much easier it is to drown our ‘I’, our ego, in this large collectivity – the greater the collectivity that much easier it is to drown our ‘I’ in it. You try for yourself and see – stand in line for darshan at Shirdi temple and after waiting for such a long time you get darshan, then what you receive then and what you receive when you go for darshan with a VIP pass – there is a difference of heaven and earth in that! Actually, when we go into a huge collectivity you know what happens – we have never done certain things in life, but in this huge collectivity you have to stand in line – look today itself, you would have stood in line for registration, then in a line for taking a seat, then another line for doing ‘namaskar’, another for ‘prasad’, meaning slowly and steadily the ‘I’ within you gets extinguished. 

However big your post – the more is the reason for you to become ordinary, what happens you know, the greater your post, your state the greater is your ego. Why? Because the people around you are those who keep boosting your ego. Go to such a place where no one knows you, where you are an ordinary person – there you will feel relaxed. Otherwise your post, your wealth, your state, your economic condition – the pressure of all this is always with you. Hence the more you go into collectivity then you will easily find ways to submerge your ego, to merge with the collectivity – hence go into the collectivity. Next, go to the centres and meditate, why do I tell you to go to the centres and meditate? Look, there are two matters in this – one, you are sitting amongst thousands of people but still managing to keep your identity separate, your chitta, your attention is not going to those people, your attention is remaining focused even amongst thousands of people. Meaning you are learning to remain within, you are learning to control your chitta. Secondly, after going to the centre you can get good collectivity. Also, you will have to look for collectivity in the centre. When you go to the banks of the Ganges to bathe you will look to see which bank is dirty and which is pure, where is there good water? You will look for such a pure place and go and bathe over there. Similarly, when you go to the centre, search, which sadhaks are good, who are the old sadhaks – go talk to them for some time, ten-fifteen minutes and listen to their experiences and you will come to know what kind of a sadhak he is. You will feel good in the presence of such sadhak, slowly increase the collectivity of such sadhaks in your circle and to do this go to the centre. Go to the centre, go to big programs, the more the big programs you attend the easier it is to submerge our ‘I’ in this large collectivity. Sometimes I think how useless it is that people have kept their ‘I’. The human body gives birth through the parents, then after taking birth the first bath is given by the nurse- she is second, then education is given by the teacher, he is third, then someone else gives you a job, he is different, then once you die the people who take you to the morgue are different, and then after your death the people who divide your wealth too are different. So, there is no ‘I’ in any of this. Nowhere is ‘I’ there, everything is being done by others, and they are doing it only with you. It is necessary that you come out of this ‘I’, meditation is the path to get free of that very ‘I’. Liberation is nothing but becoming free from the ego of ‘I’. The more you become free from the ego of ‘I’ the greater will your soul-feeling increase. And the more your soul-feeling is enhanced that much more will be your progress. I give so many programmes and sadhaks keep asking such minor, such silly questions. Array, so much of Samarpan literature is there, keep it, make your own library. Read those books, there is no point in just keeping them. Read them, everything has been narrated in them in such great detail, it has been shown so nicely – collect it and keep. Just as we pass on our property isn’t it, this library you should pass on to the next generation, the DVD library, the knowledge library – and next, if you want to give a gift to anybody, gift books. Once you give the books, change will not come suddenly – the day his time comes, on that day he will get the desire to listen to the DVD, the day his time comes, on that day he will get the desire to read the book, so one path, one road you have kept open isn’t it! Keep the path open, gift books to all your relatives, some day or the other they will read it. You too will feel good that by giving a good thing I have shown them the path, so you too will be happy na! So, distribute the literature and the more you distribute the better for both you and the recipient. How many paths are opening up. Next, the people looking after literature too keep asking me different kinds of questions – today I am giving answers to those questions publicly. Firstly, the living Guru is alive – meaning what he said ten years ago and what he is saying today will be different. It is possible that after another ten years he will say a third thing, because the way in which a gardener waters a plant according to its needs, as the plant grows big, becomes a tree he increases the quantity of water, similarly the Satguru is the same. The Satguru will say different things at different times but he will say it according to the time. Like, ten years ago I used to tell everyone to do Guru-karya, Guru-karya, Guru-karya – why did I say it? Because you were not in a state to meditate, you could not meditate at all, so what was necessary was doing Guru-karya – whatever you could do you did physically, so I told you to do Guru-karya. You could not do anything with the mind, with the chitta, so I used to say to do Guru-karya, Guru-karya, Guru-karya, so through the Guru-karya your chitta would away from your problems and your chitta would focus on the Guru-karya; and because of the emotion that you are doing Guru’s work your chitta started getting attached to the Guru-Energies and that is why I used to say do Guru-karya. But now I have changed it – now you have grown up isn’t it? Now only that Guru-karya will take place that is bereft of ‘I’, now meditate regularly for 30 minutes daily before doing Guru-karya. Now I say, meditate and then do Guru-karya. Now I do not say do Guru-karya, I say along with Guru-karya first you meditate and then do Guru-karya, whereas I never said this earlier. Why did I not say this – because your chitta was not at all fit for meditation. But now all of you pay attention, all those who are doing Guru-karya it is absolutely necessary that they meditate for 30 minutes daily. Why is it necessary? Guru-karya means work done by a pure soul for a pure soul. So, to do the work for a pure soul you have to first become a pure soul. To become a pure soul, you have to meditate regularly, if you meditate regularly then only Guru-karya will take place through you, else it will not happen. Forget you, it will not happen through me either. I am so busy in all my programs, in spite of that I never drop my daily meditation, whether I am in a hotel, traveling, wherever I am in any part of the world - I always meditate and after meditating I do Guru-karya, because first it is necessary to become balanced. Do guru-karya after becoming balanced. Next, we do 45 days anushthan so that we obtain the Guru’s proximity – to get guidance on how to do Guru-karya, to get an idea about it. Hence, there is a difference between Guru-karya and Guru-seva. 

Guru-karya means that work which is the desire of the Guru, what the Guru says – to make that reach the maximum number of people, to become a medium for that. Guru-seva is different – Guru-seva means making arrangements for Guru’s stay, Guru’s travel, Guru’s food and beverages. So, the opportunity to do Guru-seva is not possible for just one sadhak – why is it not possible – you can help the Trust, the Trust keeps making all these arrangements. All arrangements keep taking place through the Trust, by giving donation to the Trust can definitely do Guru-seva. Doing Guru-seva does not mean coming and massaging the legs. Just imagine, if lakhs of people come and massage the Swami’s legs, he will become lame! So, Guru-karya is different and Guru-seva is different and both have their separate places. So, do Guru-karya also and also do Guru-seva. In Guru-seva there are a very few people who get the opportunity to do Guru-seva, hence do Guru-karya. Now look, I got very little Guru’s proximity but in spite of that through the medium of Guru-karya I keep getting Guru’s proximity always and continuously. Next, do not waste time, time is important – every year introspect and see what progress my Nandi (soul) has made. What progress my soul has made. Every year look at yourself and see, your attachments should reduce slowly and steadily and your meditative state should become good. What is the meaning of your meditative state being good – it means you should get into that state in the blink of an eye, your state should be that good. And for that no miracle is going to take place suddenly, but everything is possible.

We are celebrating this year as ‘Year of Security Forces’, I have done shibirs for the military, navy, police, and after doing everything for the shibirs I will tell you that the state of the police is extremely bad. Look, why does man stay in society, he stays so that he can stay with his family, share his pain and sorrow and reduce his pain and troubles and that is why man stays in society. And after that, the police do not at all have the benefit of staying in society – they don’t have any family, friends, society – they are always with police, police, police. Recently a very scary report has been released, reports have come from different places – every year in Delhi police are committing suicide. On the other hand, a lot of police are leaving their jobs because they cannot give time to their families.  The worst state is that of the police, hence it is necessary – meaning that what the police should receive from society they don’t get, instead what they get is all the muck from society, they do the work of picking up all the muck of society. What is running after criminals, catching criminals, holding criminals – what is all this? It is just picking up the muck of society. Meaning they pick up the muck of society and they do not get any benefit of society. The state of the police is the worst, no other force has such a bad state – neither the military, the navy nor the air force. Next Guru’s compassion is also flowing in full force – now, in this month itself three-four shibirs for the police have been organised. One in Nagpur, one in Pune, one in Lonavala and one in Baroda – they all have been organised in this month itself. Now, it is necessary that you too connect with this work to the Guru-karya related to the Year of the Security Forces – look, if everyone going to Pandharpur is chanting ‘Vithal, Vithal’ and you are chanting ‘Ram, Ram’, then you will not get the benefit of the collectivity. Similarly, this year the Guru-energies are flowing for the Year of the Security Forces, they are showering their grace on the security forces, they are giving importance to the security forces so you too connect with them. You make your own efforts in your towns, districts, police stations, in your area – go and meet the police, there is nothing – meet them and tell them to see the first day of the Shirdi Mahashibir. If they have no time fine, let them see one day and not eight days – it is a programme of only one and half hours. This is actually of 8 days, but this is just one and half hours, if you like it you can hold the programme for all eight days you can show on DVD, on TV, on projector – but at least see that it reaches the police. The police are working so that we can remain safe, secure in our homes, police are protecting us – they are giving us a security shield. For the police to remain secure, society to remain secure, the armed forces are working on the borders. And like today, I had to leave the stage and give the programme from here – the coming time is such that you should learn to adjust in whatever situation you are faced with. Whatever situation you are faced with you should be able to adjust to it, only then will you remain happy, remain peaceful, remain balanced. Meaning, whatever situations are there, it is nothing to do with the situation, you should be able to adjust to it. Now the Year of the Security Forces is going on so why don’t you connect with it. By sitting at home also you can prepare a video of your experiences, spiritual experiences and post them on YouTube. Each individual, if he so desires, can select his own medium for doing Guru-karya. One sadhak had done it, and a beautiful video was prepared and circulated. He narrated his experience – what do I narrate? I too share my experiences, you too share your experiences. Did you not get a spiritual experience? You did, so talk about that experience. Whenever we talk about our spiritual experience, then our chitta is on the vibrations and then when the person sees this video, he will receive the vibrations and our chitta too will become holy pure – so the need is to talk about your spiritual experiences. Now, there is so much of literature – and in this there are books in which a living Guru has written about his own experiences during his own life-time, the importance of this is something else. Ordinarily if you observe the biography of Gurus have been written 500 years, 800 years after they have passed away – so how much is true and how much is false nothing is known. After 700-800 years there are many things which can be written through the imagination of the author, it is not necessary that everything is true. But whenever anybody has written his biography based on his own spiritual experiences then what will happen? When truth is written isn’t it, then the vibrations of ‘truth’ are different and can be felt. Like this, write about your experiences, and whenever you go for big programmes – I keep repeating this again and again – now these people have stayed here for 45 days, they too should do it; maintain a diary, whom you met, what you said, what you felt, write even the smallest of incidents. So, when you write your spiritual experiences in your diary and later when you open your diary and read what you have written then your chitta will go on a good incident and you will immediately receive the vibrations and energy of that incident. Accumulate the good incidents, if you accumulate and write, then whoever reads it will get the vibrations and you along with such people will benefit. First, start writing a diary. In that diary write your spiritual experiences, your experiences, experiences got while meditating and remember another thing – in life, in meditation whatever height you achieve, whatever spiritual experience you get remember that it is not permanent. Once you attain a certain state, then that state is not permanent – why? Because the effect of the surrounding atmosphere, thoughts affects us and then that state will go away. Every day – just as you polish a brass glass daily to make it shine – exactly in the same way you will have to polish your glass in the form your soul only then will it shine. Why? Because the influence of the surrounding environment and thoughts definitely affects it knowingly-unknowingly. Hence, we do not have any tool to stop that influence – but we have to live in society – and if we have to live in society then we have to bear all this. Then what is the path? – I will tell you the path which I have found. And the path which is based on my experience, that is what I will tell you – the path is meditate regularly, for 30 minutes meditate regularly. This will result in the muck you accumulate daily getting washed away daily. While going for any programme, while doing any programme, many times it happens isn’t it, that the acharya or centre leader complain to me that earlier lost of sadhaks used to come, now fewer sadhaks come. What is the reason? The reason is this – your state itself has started deteriorating, actually your centre is representative of your own state. Look, if you are doing Guru-karya then there should be no hidden agenda. If you feel that while doing Guru-karya, it is my time and I am wasting it, I am spending time then it is not like that. You do it with great feeling/emotion, if you are doing the work of propagation/promotion just to boost your ego then this work will not happen through you. This work is related to the soul, then you will have to become a soul isn’t it! If you try to do this work at the level of body consciousness then it will not happen. In the spiritual sphere efforts have no place. It is necessary to become empty, void; body consciousness and ‘I’ have a close relationship hence I have told you plainly that meditation is nothing but dying while alive. We are living but we have become completely free of body consciousness, it has completely ended, the ‘I’ has completely dissolved. If you attain this state in your life-time then that is meditation. While meditating again and again, the past karmas we have, we endure those past karmas and while enduring them we reach such a state that such a good aura gets developed around our body such that no bad work occurs through us. We do not even get bad thoughts so there is no question of doing bad deeds. ‘I’ has completely dissolved in life, body consciousness has completely ended and after that whatever work is taking place, then one does not even get the feeling that I have done this work. Because of this, we get the feeling that I am just a medium, the work has taken place through my medium, Paramatma has done Paramatma’s work, I am only the cause – when such a feeling gets established within us, then the good deeds we do, these do not get tied to us. And because they do not get tied to us, neither do good deeds nor bad deeds get attached to us. Man attains such a state – this state is called karma-free state. After attaining a karma-free state he has achieved everything in life, he has got everything – such a feeling gets established within him. There is nothing left to be achieved in his life at all. And after that neither does any good deed get tied to him and nor does he do any bad deed – then no karma remains for which he needs to take another birth to endure/enjoy. This karma-free state itself is called liberation. If you keep the objective of attaining this state of liberation, then your entire life will pass in a happy, blissful way. This information, this knowledge we get when we are leaving the body. At the time of leaving the body we get the feeling that we have wasted our life, this feeling should not come. Hence, make your life completely meaningful by attaining that satisfied state which is called liberation. This Deep Meditation Practicum of 45 days – in this Anushthan different sadhaks and sadhikas have give their important time and support, some directly and some indirectly have given their support for such a big programme – so I pray to the Guru-energies that whatever benefits of virtue have been received should be distributed amongst all of them – this is my pure wish. Namaskar!

The discourse ended at 7.45am after which MAA-3 was launched in four languages – Hindi, Gujarati, English and Marathi at the hands of His Holiness Swamiji. After the discourse, the bhajan team started singing the bhajans while His Holiness Swamiji’s chariot was pulled by different teams of sadhaks and taken around the gathering along the designated path for His darshan. Simultaneously, the paduka-naman ceremony commenced. Based on last years’ experience a 100 padukas were kept for the ceremony and the process implemented by the team ensured that the function went smoothly without ruckus. The movement of sadhaks was also well controlled and those who finished their prostration ceremony were guided to go to take their prasad packets. The event got over by about 8.45am with the end of Swamiji’s chariot ride after which He got off and went to the kutir. The bhajans continued and the overseas sadhaks enjoyed themselves along with local sadhaks by dancing to the bhajan music. The atmosphere was filled with joy and vibrant energy. You could see smiles on everyone’s face and I felt just a tinge of sadness that such a bliss filled event had ended.

By 11am, we had our prasad and carried our bags to the car. We had three more sadhaks who joined us on the return journey. We then left the Ashram carrying memories of a wonderful 45 days, the journey back was uneventful and we reached Mumbai by 1.45pm with the roads being mostly empty. I reached home by 2.20pm.

I would really like to thank the Ashram Committee and all those who helped in directly and indirectly making this 45 day event not only a successful one, but one which went off smoothly, without a hitch and which gave joy to the thousands of sadhaks who passed through during the 45 days. The number of sadhaks who attended Mahashivratri numbered around 30000 people.

Jai Baba Swami

PLEASE EXCUSE MISSES IN TRANSLATION OF HIS HOLINESS SWAMIJI'S LIVE DISCOURSE WHILE TRANSCRIBING THE SAME.