The Heart is Always Right

 

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The Heart is Always Right

We have read so many quotes on how the heart is always right. It is alright to follow the heart, but it’s not safe to do so when one is feeling extremely happy or sad as those emotions can cloud one’s judgement and thus influence your decision. The best way forward is to rationalise your decision by removing the extreme emotions and then taking your decision.

When one listens to one’s heart then one is actually listening to the soul which is giving you the advice. Believe me that advice may not always appear sound in the short term, but its long-term benefits are lasting and always in your favour. Listening to heart is sometimes difficult as the heart also deals with pain and the stress caused by pain. But pain is also a great teacher if we want to learn from it. Most of us tend to mask our pain and pretend it does not exist. Unfortunately, we cannot mask the pain in our heart. The greater the pain, greater the need for you to attend to it. You can do so by forgiving all those involved in causing the pain, reconciling with them and moving on.

Life is all about love and humanity, we cannot allow pain to mask our true human nature. That is why the heart’s role is of utmost importance. If we keep listening to our mind, we will always be in a mood for confrontation and arguments. The mind truly represents one’s ego and that is dangerous for your spiritual development.

The heart is critical for your spiritual progress. You need to keep it enveloped in love and compassion so that the darker emotions don’t get a hold of it. Learn to be still, quiet as that will help you get closer to your heart. Meditation and yoga are of great help in quieting your mind and that silence will help you listen to your heart.

The heart plays an important role in all our relationships. Even if the other person uses the head, you should use more of your heart. Remember, ultimately the heart will win; it may take time, but it will win. If you really want to use your heart, you will be guided in that direction. God’s guidance will be there. Pray more and trust in that higher force.

Praying with Total Faith

 

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Praying with Total Faith

It is said that real help comes only from God and for that one needs to pray sincerely. Prayer has a certain power which comes from one’s faith and one’s belief in its effectiveness. Just mouthing certain words mentally without any faith or belief, that does not help at all, in fact it may work the other way.

Praying with total faith and belief means God listens to your prayers. Your prayer may or may not be answered – you will be happy if your prayer is answered, but if it is not answered does not mean God has not listened to your prayer, it only means that the time for the solution you are asking for has not yet come. It means it is not in your interest today, as God always has your best interest at heart. Always remember that.

Another thing I have observed is that when prays for oneself the prayer is not answered promptly, but when one prays selflessly for others the result is always positive and it happens within a reasonable time too!

When we pray, we are actually praying to the God within us, we are petitioning the God within, who then guides us on the path to take. Meditation and living in awareness help us connect with the God within, it unifies us with the God within and this ends the confusion caused by duality in life.

One should understand and respect the fact that God may not answer all your prayers. Don’t just trust God when you get everything. Even if just one out 100 petitions you made to God gets answered, you should still have that faith. This could eventually make you aspire to a higher form of prayer where you don’t ask for anything.

Now you pray to God saying that you know what is best for me, I will accept your will and face life as it comes. When this happens you will see that in tough times you get the courage and the wherewithal to face that challenge and it passes by without any serious harm. The more you trust God, the more you will get tested, trust and testing go together!

Wake up in Joy

 

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Wake up in Joy

No one can be joyous all the time, and sometimes we struggle with feeling gloomier than we would like to! Even though its challenging to be positive, especially during this corona pandemic, you can definitely maintain your inner joyous state while going to sleep and wake up the next morning with that same joyous feeling.

Remember that according to physics the energy in the universe is constant, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Every individual too is a mini universe – Aham Brahmasami, meaning I am divine, signifying one’s union with the higher self. At the core of the Sanatan Dharama is the tenet that the whole universe exists within each one of us. It is through our spiritual practice that we reach the state of Aham Brahmasami, after knowing which nothing remains to be known. The quantum of positive or negative energy that we give away is equal to what we receive over a lifetime.

When you help someone and that person doesn’t reciprocate the gesture, you receive help unexpectedly when you need it most from some completely different source. The joy and positive energy that one spreads returns to the sender like a boomerang at a different point in time, when one needs it the most. Therefore, there is no point in worrying about such things, karma takes care of everything, just be selfless and loving and the result will always be joy.

Happiness and joy are in the mind, so set your mind to be happy and joyous, learn to extract joy from nature – nature is always blooming – let your state of joy be natural and once you learn to do this, the people around you will feel that joyous energy. You will always be in a state of wakeful happiness, joy!

When you do something selflessly for others, that feeling of joy sets in – acts of selfless kindness bring out the divine in each one of us. Being kind and compassionate is human nature, but we have all forgotten this in the surrounding cacophony of urban noise!

Learn to be grateful for all the things that you receive, expression of heartfelt gratitude sets you free and clears your heart chakra. A pure heart chakra brings out the love and the joy within to the fore. Practice meditation and wakeful awareness, stay in the present moment and joy will be your constant companion. Once you reach this state, joy in others will be awakened in your presence!

Help Them If You Can

 

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Help Them If You Can

In life, we come across situations where people behave very nastily with us, to the extent that invariably our reaction too becomes nasty. But nastiness is not our core nature, but the energy emanating from the other person causes a reaction deep within us and we find that we respond in kind even though there was no initial intention. This happens when negative energy keeps bombarding us and by remaining in range we succumb to that negative power and react.

The best thing to do in such cases is to recognise what is happening immediately, apologise and excuse yourself and walk away. Sometimes, walking away will not be an option, but reacting is our choice – so, don’t say a word and keep mouthing a silent prayer for the other person/s without listening to a word that they are saying. You can do this through the power of your prayer – your mind is very powerful; just focus on the prayer and believe me you will not hear a word the other person is saying – you will just hear a buzz!

When you don’t hear anything, there is no reaction, you only feel sorry for the person. After some time, the other person will also quiet down and walk away – that is because you have not added fuel to the fire by reacting! Once upon a time you too would have vented out on others resulting in bruising arguments and relations. Look back and thank yourself and the God within for the change – it is all His Grace, the person who is venting at you today will also change because of your silent prayers – isn’t that beautiful?

We were all not born as saints, were we? So, accept the fact that he/she too will change in time. No one remains bad/good for ever – change is the only constant. When we learn to witness, we learn to observe both the positive and negative and do not participate in either the positivity or the negativity. We just see, we are not the positivity or negativity. Today’s sinner is tomorrow’s saint!

There is no point disliking such people. Just help them, if you can. If you can’t help them, at least don’t hate them. By not reacting at all or by reacting positively to their nasty and violent behaviour, they might even change there and then! We have no right to condemn anybody. Just send loving vibrations silently.

By showing compassion and kindness, by praying for the overall welfare of others we are changing the energy paradigm around us, in time you will notice that the negative does not even approach anywhere close to us. See, there is always a positive way of looking at things!

The Darkness will Disappear

 

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The Darkness will Disappear

Darkness is nothing but the absence of light, so the easiest thing is to bring light into the darkness and the darkness disappears. This is true of the real world, but what happens to the inner world – how will your inner darkness disappear? Our inner darkness is filled with desires, fear, anger, hate, jealousy, greed and so on.

When you live in inner darkness, illusions keep forming which create your perception of life. Suppose you see a ghost standing in the dark, you are afraid and light a candle or switch on the light, and you see that there is nobody. Just the shadow of a tree that gave you the impression that someone was standing there. The ghost has disappeared because in the first place it was never there.

Awareness helps, brings transformation, because the illusions that you are suffering from are not realities, they exist in your mind. If you become aware of a rock, the rock will not disappear but if you become aware of the ego, the ego will disappear sooner or later, because the ego is not a reality. It is one’s perception, it exists in the mind. The moment you become aware fear is going to disappear because fear is not a reality. If you become aware death is going to disappear, because death is a lie, it is not a reality. You may find this strange – but the Sanatan dharma believes in the soul, and the soul is eternal, therefore one never takes birth and one never dies – one just changes bodies till one reaches the state of liberation.

Awareness functions in two ways. One: if something is real and you become aware of it, it suddenly appears to be very beautiful, colourful. If it is unreal, it disappears. Awareness is a light. If you bring light into a dark room, the darkness disappears and the paintings on the wall appear. In the dark, the paintings were not there as you could not see them, but the darkness was there. When you bring the light in, darkness is no longer there and the paintings have appeared.

Something disappears when you become aware, and something appears. Death disappears and deathlessness appears, liberation, moksha appears. Ego disappears and egolessness appears. You disappear as a separate entity and God appears. God meaning – I am no longer separate. I am now one with universal consciousness. Darkness has gone forever!

How to Touch the Heart

 

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How to Touch the Heart

As children our parents would tell us to pray from the bottom of our hearts if we had any special wishes, specially during exam times! Prayer and heart are inextricably connected – you cannot pray with your head, as the head/brain as cold and calculating. The words may be formed in the head, but the prayer has to go from the heart!

In meditation, as the senses are absorbed in the heart, one reaches the center of the lotus. When you are a heart-oriented person and you touch someone, the touch immediately reaches your heart, and you can feel the quality. If you take the hand of a head-oriented person, the hand will be cold, the quality will be very cold. There will be a feeling of a certain deadness in the touch. But if you touch the hand of a heart-oriented person you will feel a certain warmth, and the touch will really melt you. You will feel a certain energy flow from his hand to yours, a kind of communicating warmth.

This warmth comes from the heart, it can never come from the head. The head is always thinking about how to take more; whereas the heart always feels like giving more. That feeling of warmth is just the feeling of giving energy, a giving of inner vibrations, a giving of life. That is why you feel a different quality in it.

Everybody has a heart you should just know how to touch it! Your behaviour should be such that you can transform the other hearts, melt them. That is the power of love that your heart holds, the power of pure, selfless love! Let that beautiful feeling come to the surface, don’t feel embarrassed by it, because that feeling is every human being’s true nature – let it surface and embrace everyone around you.

If you want to know how to go about it – just close your eyes and touch anything. Touch your beloved, your child, your mother, a flower or mother earth for that matter. Close your eyes and feel a communication from your heart to the earth. Feel that your heart has stretched out to touch the earth. Let the feeling of touch be related to the heart.

When you listen to music, you don’t listen to it from the head, you close your eyes and your heart listens. As you focus on the music, as you get lost in it, your heart feels the music, it lights up with joy, it vibrates and radiates with the joy of the music. Your heart and the music are now playing to the same beat, same rhythm.

Learning to Love

 

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Learning to Love

I am sure you must be wondering at the title! Love to us comes naturally right since birth when we first experience our mother’s unconditional love, followed by the love of the father, siblings and others. This does establish the fact that we know how to be loved, but does it tell us how to love? Some of us have such bad experiences in our life that we completely forget how to love as our hearts are filled with negative emotions such as hate, anger, remorse, jealousy and so on. The entire space in our heart is occupied by negative emotions and it becomes very difficult to get out of this web of negative emotions.

To break out of the web we need to first get over whatever trauma has driven us to our current state. We can do this by unconditionally forgiving the protagonists in our life drama and then forgetting that the incident ever happened. We can do that but we must always remember the lesson we learnt in that difficult time so that in future in similar circumstances we can take a more positive course of action. Once we get out of the web, we need to awaken a desire to love – a pet, a person, whoever – just that we learn to re-establish love in our heart.

Once we feel the want to love then we are on the right path. You do everything for the sake of others. You stop putting yourself first. Don’t put conditions to your love – “If you love me, I will love you otherwise not; if you do this for me, I will do this for you”, kind of statements! All our problems in life are caused by such feelings – love is not something you can trade! It has to come naturally, it has to flow from your heart selflessly, else it is just like any other transaction!

We lose trust and become miserable when love is conducted like a business. There is no way you can be happy with this kind of transactional love. Don’t worry about the other person, he/she will find his/her own path. You choose a path which leaves you happy and joyous within. Unconditional love for all beings will come naturally to you once you find peace within yourself, once you begin to love your own self.

Loving one’s own self first is the stepping stone to love others. If you don’t love yourself, how will you ever love others? Whether it is between husband and wife or even between two friends, if your relationship is going to be based on what is to be gained from the other person, you will never be happy. Remember, the other person cannot always give you what you want. Just be content to love unconditionally.

How to Recognise a Satguru

 

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How to Recognise a Satguru

There is a difference between a Guru and a Satguru – the difference being that of a teacher and of a Supreme Master respectively. A guru could be anyone – your parents at first, then your teachers, your friends, in fact anyone who teaches you something or the other could be said to be your guru, and you too could be a guru to others. A Satguru is a Master who comes enters a person’s life only when the spiritual seekers urge arises in the individual. For some the urge may be suppressed, but the time may be ripe, even then the Satguru knows that this soul’s time has come and he enters his/her life. Once this happens, life changes, it gets transformed – you become kind of born again.

Your parents give birth to your physical body and the Satguru gives birth to your soul – he awakens your soul and gives you the spiritual experience of the awakening of your soul. In the past, when the Guru-disciple tradition was alive, at that time the disciple’s entire past would be burnt on a funeral pyre; meaning, the disciple who was entering the ashram for initiation had to get rid of all his clothes and belongings, he would lie down asleep as if dead, and the belongings would be burnt – indicating a complete cut off from the past. He would then get up, bathe, and then the Satguru would give him a name to suit his soul’s quality – this soul was now a new person – born again, with absolutely no connection with the past!

We are taught to question everything today because there are so many duplicates and scams which do the rounds – the duplicates look as good as the original till they are exposed. We cannot know the value of anything unless we experience it. A true seeker always questions and tests the validity of anything said by a Guru or Satguru for himself. A person who just follows blindly is not a true seeker, because being blind in spirituality is more dangerous than being physically blind – the harm caused by blind faith could be tremendous. There are many cases where people have undergone great psychological trauma for having false beliefs.

Personal experience is the best experience. So, when I ask you to tell me one way to know whether the person who has entered your life is your Satguru or Master, what will be the answer? My personal experience is that when you are in the presence of a true Master, a Satguru who has attained the state of liberation or void, you do not get any thoughts at all. Your mind becomes blank and you feel a sense of calm, peace and profound love. You don’t feel like saying anything as the peace and sense of void of the Satguru envelopes you.

Offering Ourselves Selflessly

 

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Offering Ourselves Selflessly

Not everyone can go out and serve others. Swamiji too tells us that if you do have the financial means to connect with any large work for the benefit of mankind then one should try to donate one’s time and work for the cause, do physical labour, and if you cannot do any of this, then offer a selfless prayer for all those who are working for the project, to make it successful. Selfless prayer is as good as actual participation, because prayer has a lot of power of positivity in it.

Your positive thoughts go a long way. In fact, thoughts are said to be more powerful than actions. There are several sages and saints sitting in the Himalayas, sending out positive thought vibrations through their prayers all across the globe. There is no doubt that thoughts are more powerful – of late several groups of monks in Asia have formed prayer groups to pray for the welfare of mankind – aren’t we seeing an awakening of spirituality all across the world. Today, this is happening on a mass scale – one needs to contemplate on how one got this sudden idea of ‘turning spiritual’ – the answer may surprise you!

Those of us who have the capacity to do something physical should take that opportunity. I remember my first days in the Samarpan Family – I was so captivated with the idea of doing ‘something’ that I forgot my education and started with physical labour at the Goa Guru-Purnima camp, I still feel the divine vibes of being part of that team singing devotional songs in heavy rain while doing the physical work of putting rubble in the puddles. It was exhilarating and elevating, that’s all I can say. If you get an opportunity for work just grab it – it could be mental, physical material - do something, whatever you can! God has given us those faculties for using them for the benefit of others.

We should mould our lives in such a way that whatever we do directly or indirectly is for the benefit of others. It does not mean we should not do anything for ourselves – but it is a universal law that anything that we have in excess should be used for the benefit of others. If we don’t do that, the universe conspires to take away the excess from you against your will! Just remember that we are here for the sake of everyone. We should be in a position to offer ourselves and our possessions for the benefit of humanity and for entire nature!

The Highest Realisation

 

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The Highest Realisation

Have you observed nature in complete awareness? Do you breathe consciously? Lots of things are happening to us and with us and we don’t even realise that these things are happening! In nature, trees grow, flowers bloom, butterflies do their job and so do the bees – it is so natural, it is just happening. It is like life has its own symphony and the musician keeps playing the music and changing the tunes, so that no day appears the same!

We are so stuck up in our own life that we do not see the beauty of nature and its cadence as it plays out day after day. We are stuck in our ‘problems’ and we cannot see beyond them. Our mind is focused on things of material, financial and emotional interest to us, very few of us find the time to enjoy the sunrise and sunset and the beauty in nature between the two.

Everything in nature is happening according to God’s will. Everything. God is the force behind everything. We are just puppets in the hands of God, he pulls the strings and we dance to his tune. Once we accept that we are all puppets then there is no point in worrying about the role we are playing, is there? Play whatever role has been assigned to you by His Grace, no role is big or small, just play the role given to you. If you accept this unconditionally, then you are surrendering to God’s will, with this realisation and by knowing this truth, you become free. You are not worried about where you are headed, where you are, what you are doing!

It does not matter whether you are single or married or divorced or living together or living as a recluse and don’t worry about what kind of life is good for you. Whatever role you have been assigned, just play that role with complete faith and confidence and you will realise that you find happiness in just playing the role and going with the flow.

All this is possible if you know one little secret. We are all like tops and God – the only player - has the strings. He simply winds the string around and pulls it, and then we spin. Depending on how tightly the string is wound and how powerfully God pulls the string, you rotate according to that power and when the energy in the spinning top dies, then you fall down.

It is not how you present yourself, or what your job is, or what you call yourself that’s important. The most important thing is: knowing that you are nothing but a top and that at any moment you could stop spinning. That is the highest realisation. Know that every moment you are spinning because of His Presence and Grace that is in you, functioning through you and you are nothing but an instrument.

Biggest Barrier to Realise Truth

 

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Biggest Barrier to Realise Truth

Swami Sivanandji used to say, “When shall I see thee? When the ‘I’ ceases to be!” He would sing this question as he asked God, “When shall I see you, I know that will happen when ‘I’ ceases to be.” So, when does one reach this state of ‘I’ ceasing to be? If we talk about samadhi, the transcendental state of enlightenment, then we are talking about being in a state of being ‘dead’, yet ‘alive and aware’.

Here, who is dead? The mind is dead, and the rest of the being is living in a state of complete conscious awareness, in a heightened state of awareness. This state comes about when the ‘I’ dies, and you truly begin to live. If the egoistic ‘I’ goes away from you, you become free from the ego, you become pure and clean. In this state you are fit to experience the highest knowledge or the highest truth which one can say is like going to ‘heaven’. That is the state of samadhi – and if you go to see, this is the essence of all spiritual teachings and practices, whatever label you may give it!

One could be a Jew, a Catholic, a Protestant, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Sikh, a Buddhist, a Jain or belong to any organised religion or not believe in any religion at all, it does not matter. Even if you don’t have faith and do not believe in any organised religion, it is alright. That is not the criterion to have this realisation. All you have to ensure and accomplish is that you get rid of all selfishness. How do we get rid of selfishness? What is selfishness? What is ego? Where does ‘I’ dwell? ‘I’ resides in the ego. And ego actually resides in the mind.

In a way, the ego is the very source of the mind. All the expressions of the ego, thinking, feeling, willing, could be defined in one word – mind. If the mind gets completely purified, then it is no longer a barrier to your experiencing the Truth. When the mind is pure and clear, it does not colour the appearance of the true and pure Self. It becomes so clear and pure that it becomes like a mirror to reflect and see the Self, to see its own true nature. That is the essence of spirituality!

Once you reach the state of ‘no mind’, then you have reached the state of purity which reflects your own true nature. Your conscious mind gives way and your super conscious mind comes into play, now you begin to see things as they are, without any colourings of past impressions which were buried in the conscious mind. You are truly free as the final barrier to realising the truth falls away!

God is in Everything

 

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God is in Everything

There are believers and there are non-believers and those who really don’t bother themselves whether God exists or not. The beauty of both the believers and non-believers is that their belief is not from personal experience but from what has been told to them and what they have accepted. In almost all religious faiths God has been defined as a medium of God – but still a human being – all the Abrahmic faiths accept Jesus, Allah, Judah as their God and each faith says that theirs is the only true God, thus putting down the faith of practitioners of different religions.

This is really not helpful as you cannot control what others think or believe, thus how do we really ‘believe’ in God without having the ‘experience’ of ‘God’? In India when we talk of God, we say that God is in everything – God is in nature, God is inside you, God is in the air, God is everywhere. In fact, the Sanatan philosophy says that you can believe anything and everything to be God and still find your path to realise the ultimate truth. Freedom is given to the individual to find his own path! And if one does manage to reach the stage of self-realisation, then that is based on your own individual experience – you do not have to believe what others say, you have reached the stage where you now ‘know’ God.

When we sit for meditation and we go into a trance, we completely lose the sense of time and sometimes enter other dimensions which are beyond description. God is universal consciousness and is formless, though for our understanding and our faith we give it form and shape, as that is easier to worship rather than something that cannot be seen or visualised! God is essentially nameless, formless, omnipresent. And when God is omnipresent then saying God is only ‘this’ or ‘that’ is ridiculous!

While defining God, we say God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, but this is very difficult to understand. If we stop to think of the real meaning of these words, then all this limiting of God does not make sense – we cannot slot God into this category or that category! Out mental capacity is limited, then how can our mind fully comprehend something that is unlimited, infinite? We end up limiting God for our own understanding, so that we can focus on something.

In deep meditation, you get a glimpse of that limitless God, that energy, that consciousness, that infinite source of love and then you realise that God is in everything – in me, in you, in the air we breathe, in the trees and plants, in the mountains and valleys, in the animals and birds – in everything that is free flowing and in the present moment. Life itself is just this moment in full realisation of God!

The Best Compliment

 

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The Best Compliment!

We receive lots of compliments throughout our life – you look good, so beautiful, what a wonderful dress, you are so kind and so on and so forth. With time you become spiritual and start following a Master – then what is the best compliment you can ever give your Master? What do you think the Master expects of you, if he expects anything at all?

The connection between a spiritual guru and their disciples is emotional, personal and spiritual. It is based on trust, faith, innocence and the promise of liberation. The spiritual path is just that…..a path, a journey. Without waiting for a thank you or a compliment, seva comes from a desire to serve.

In truth, no one needs a guru; however, the blessings a guru offers make it extremely desirable to have one. Imagine the spiritual journey being similar to having a large student loan that will take the rest of your life to pay off in sizable monthly instalments. After living years with this burden, imagine meeting an incredibly wealthy person who offers to pay off your debt because they are so wealthy that they wouldn’t miss the money. You now have the option to carry this hardship for the rest of your life or let this wealthy person relieve you of the burden. Wouldn’t you say yes please? This is the gift and the grace of the spiritually wealthy guru. They wash your karma, transform any and all pain you offer them, and fill you with infinite love until you embrace your true self — the eternal light within.

You learn to serve the guru by doing his work, spread the knowledge of spirituality and have a deep desire to give what you yourself have received to others. Our seva or service is in giving with an open heart, whether that person receives the blessing or lets it go is not our responsibility. If we touch that person’s heart then great, if not great.

But the best compliment that any disciple can give his guru is to become his mirror image or come as close to that as possible. If the Guru is able to see that his disciple is experiencing all the joy and happiness and good health that the Guru himself is enjoying, then that would be the best compliment. Not just words or praise – but if the Guru is able to see that the disciple is enjoying life just as He is, then there could be no greater compliment than that.

Bathing the Soul

 

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Bathing the Soul

As a matter of hygiene most of us bathe every day, some twice, thrice a day to get the dust, grime, sweat off our body. After bathing we feel nice and fresh, we are energised and feel good about ourself. Similarly, we need to give our soul a bath too, so that we can cleanse whatever much has accumulated on it throughout the day!

When it comes to purifying ourselves many of us believe that bathing every day, chanting mantras will purify us but in an actual sense, they are trying to purify something that is deteriorating continuously and anything that deteriorates continuously has to end one day, but the soul is something that is constant, infinite. It is the life force that enters the body and gradually over several births and continuous progress it realises itself with higher awareness. The more the awareness, the greater the realisation that one is a soul rather than the physical body, the greater this awareness, the greater the detachment from worldly pleasure – and hence the need to continuously purify this life force by bathing. The soul’s equivalent of a bath is meditation on a daily, regular basis.

Death is the ultimate reality which is definitely going to happen at some point in our life as the body is continuously deteriorating and with this deterioration dawns the realisation that we won’t last for too long, and along with this realisation comes the fear of death. The way to surmount this fear is to live in awareness and from moment to moment, knowing full well that you are not the body which is perishable, but the soul that is permanent and infinite! For soul realisation to happen, the soul has to be awakened either by your own spiritual practice or through the medium of a Satguru who can plant the seed of awakening within you, and you nurture that seed through regular meditation and grow it into a massive oak tree which shelters all those who come in its shade!

This regular meditation is the bath that you need to give your soul, preferably twice a day – morning and evening – sit in the same place and at the same time every day, so that your energy gets established at that place and also your soul knows that it is time for its bath! In fact, it will remind you about it and you will have this urge to sit for meditation at the designated time, in fact you will leave whatever you are doing and go and sit for meditation.

This bath, cleanses the soul of all the impressions that it gathers throughout the day – the good, the bad, the ugly – and cleanses both your conscious and subconscious mind and leaves it pure. With no impressions left, your chitta remains pure and you radiate that purity throughout the day.

Real Spiritual Experience

 

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Real Spiritual Experience

During our spiritual journey all of us at some point or the other have felt the cold vibrations in our body, sensed our chakras, got wonderful fragrances – all this has happened during our journey. These are just indicators of our progress from ‘thing’ to ‘no-thing’. And as I have mentioned in my earlier posts, this journey is never ending but totally joyous and uplifting.

We all feel happy, feel good when something ‘good’ happens – our tennis star wins, our soccer team wins, our Olympic participants return with medals, we read feel good stories, we experience and observe humans behaving humanely and lending support in trying times, the list could be endless. What I am trying to say is we all feel good when something perceived by society to be good, happens. We all feel like human beings as opposed the negative vibes created while watching/reading the hate and negative news which we get on TV or in the newspapers.

One thing I have observed over the last thirteen years while watching Guru-karya take place through this physical body, is that the joy and feeling of camaraderie which one experiences while participating in His activities is amazing. There is joy, laughter, teamwork, precision work, intellectual work – everything takes place in collectivity in an atmosphere which is far more captivating and enchanting than that of one’s own family (specially if they are not into meditation, if they are, then they become part of the larger family)! During such activities, time flies, hunger and sleep become secondary as the energy one receives while doing this work is unbelievable, keeping you alert and active. Sometimes the work goes on through the night, non-stop, with no let up in tempo or in the feeling of joy that one gets – this is remarkable and for me now, it has kind of become second nature.

Living and working together as one beautiful family with total love is God. Many people say that they have not had any spiritual experience – I have described some above, but these are individual experiences and not the real thing. I don’t know what spiritual experience one is expecting, to walk without the feet touching the ground, no hallucinations, no visions, no lights, no sounds? Real experience means moving around with a smile on your face and love in your heart. That is spiritual.

To see the spirit in others and to love everyone; to rise above these little differences of the lower nature and bring harmony wherever you are. If you can’t live harmoniously with others, what is the use of other spiritual experiences? Ultimately, everyone should love you. Keep that in mind: “I will live the kind of life that will make everybody love me, and I will love them.” If that happens in your life, you will know that you are growing spiritually.

Nothing is Impossible

 

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Nothing is Impossible

In the current trying times I know several people who have come very close to their breaking point. Lots of people have lost their livelihood, near and dear ones have passed away due to the pandemic leaving quite a few people financially and emotionally shattered. But through all this there is always a ray of hope which keeps people going, that is because God actually knows your breaking point and he never intends for you to break! You may think, “I’ve reached my limit. I cannot go on any further like this!” Just remember that if you could not overcome your current situation God would not be putting you in it. God knows you much better than you know yourself.

The problem arises when you have doubts, when you begin to doubt yourself, when this happens then even God cannot help you. This is simply because doubt and faith don’t go together. If you have complete faith then nothing is impossible, nothing at all. Like the saying goes, “Impossible is a word in the dictionary of fools.” If you break up the syllables it just means – ‘I m Possible’. Have confidence first in yourself, then know that God is just testing you and he may appear to have shut the door, but he will always leave a window of opportunity open for you to fly through.

That kind of faith does not come to an impure, selfish mind, so learn to be selfless and humble. The human ego is always a hindrance to progress and will always try to break the door which has been shut by God rather than find the window which he has left open. An egoistic mind will never see the open window and thus you will never find yourself getting out of that situation with ease! Once the ego breaks and falls away, then the world of faith and belief, surrender and acceptance show you the golden path to inner peace.

This path opens up new dimensions as your current nature transforms into your true nature and you become more humane, more loving, more compassionate, more kind and accommodating – all this happens as you face life’s challenges as a witness than as an actual participant. The universe points you in the direction of your spiritual guide for this birth, and once you meet this guide your real inner journey begins.

Under his/her guidance you begin meditation, you turn inwards and start exploring your inner world and you realise that you have embarked on a never-ending journey to inner peace. As more and more dimensions open up, you turn more and more joyous, happy, compassionate, helpful and a source of wisdom and guidance for those who are close to you. You live in the moment and enjoy life to the fullest. For you ‘impossible’ no longer exists!

Ultimate Help

 

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Ultimate Help

We all have deep reserves of strength of which we know nothing at all. I am sure we all have faced situations where in the most alarming of situations we manage to find the strength and the wisdom to escape from it. Invariably when asked how did you escape from that situation, the answer is I don’t know from where I got the strength or knowledge, it just came when I needed it the most. Why does this happen? Where does this strength come from?

This strength and wisdom or knowledge comes from deep within you, it is your soul with the wisdom of thousands of births which comes to your rescue, even when you are unaware that it exists. When you set out on a pilgrimage with the bare minimum of necessities to keep you going, you find that your basic necessities are always provided for – some stranger or the other comes forward to help and support – this is the way divinity works, this is God’s way of working.

The day we decide to let go and submit ourselves to the mercy of a higher power, let that power take over the operation of our life saying, ‘you know best what is good for us’, you will notice that things start happening the way you wanted them to. But when you were making an effort, all kinds of obstacles kept coming in the way and you had to struggle – now there is no struggle – just life happening!

As you go along you learn that you cannot depend on anything or anyone else for your safety or for your peaceful life. All other things, though they are around, can help you only to a certain extent. They are limited. The ultimate help always comes from the God within.

It is best if we learn to tune in to the God within and then we will always have a guiding voice telling us what to do and what not to do. This ultimate help though available is not easy to access – to access that help you need to have faith and belief; you need to surrender to the higher power and submit yourself to its will. 99% of the people will not as their ego will come in the way – it will say, ‘don’t listen to all this nonsense, I will show you the way!’

It takes tremendous strength of character to recognise that there is a higher power and that you can take its guidance. Meditation and self-realisation lead you on the path to inner peace. That path will take you to the abode of the soul – your inner abode – once that door opens you will be protected and have a perennial source of wisdom available for your guidance. These days are high energy days – stay connected, live in tune with your inner being, spread peace and joy – because that is the need of the hour today. Stay blessed!

The 45-days Anushthan Begins

 

The 45-Days Anushthan Begins

Since 2007 Swamiji has been going into a 45-days Deep Meditation Practicum every year wherein he stays in isolation with only Pujya Guruma going into the cottage from 10am to 1pm for cleaning and cooking. During this high energy period Swamiji writes one complete volume of his Autobiography – Samarpan Yog of the Himalayas, he vibrates and instils life-force energy into an auspicious idol – this year’s is for Maharashtra (Such idols criss-cross the world – Canada, South Africa, UK, Germany, India, Singapore, Australia). Swamiji also writes messages for the sadhaks which are released every Thursday, and later compiled into a book.

This period is marked by extremely high energy levels, and those who have stayed at the Ashram for the full 45 days will vouch for their complete spiritual transformation as they ascend to heights which they would never have imagined before. Swamiji mostly remains in a very high meditative state and connects with each and every devotee in subtle form. All we have to do is meditate daily and connect with the subtle to receive the benefit of his high spiritual state. The energy levels have already started increasing and it is not even the first day – this anushthan is going to prove to be the best ever so far. I can feel it in my bones – just stay connected and enjoy the ride.

Remaining connected is the name of the game – if you can do that regularly, believe me you will be on a spiritual roller-coaster which will give you highs that you never imagined possible. Your understanding of a whole lot is issues will become clear during these 45 days. Any questions you may be harbouring in your mind will suddenly get their answers. Don’t be surprised – Swamiji sees and hears everything from the level he is at – and believe me he is listening to you and observing you 24 x 7, 365 days a year. During these 45 days you are likely to get first hand experience of the same, but for that you need to tune in and witness your own progress from a distance in a detached manner.

Come let us all celebrate these 45 days and connect with each other through Swamiji’s medium – we all need to connect and form a positive protective shield against the bad times which we are likely to see in the coming six – eight months. Let us become the positive transformational force that protects and preserves our way of life very subtly without interfering with the day-to-day activities of others. Meditation with the Guru-energies and connecting with the global force of positive souls will see us all through the tough times. Lets stay connected!

Know Your Purpose in Life

 

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Know Your Purpose in Life

The earlier we come to know the true purpose in life the better it is for all of us. Very few people realise that their true purpose in life is liberation and work towards it. Such people become Masters, attain self-realisation and begin guiding others to realise their purpose in life.

When we go through school and college, we are all asked what is our purpose in life, what are our plans, etc – and we all give the usual platitudes – make money, make a name, become famous, do the best one can etc. Discovering one’s “purpose” in life essentially boils down to finding those one or two things that are bigger than yourself, and bigger than those around you, values that will determine your priorities and guide your actions. It’s not about some great achievement, but merely finding a way to spend your limited amount of time well.

I was asked this question very often by my family, my brothers and friends and I would always respond, ‘to practice as a chartered accountant’ – this answer was always wishy-washy, but I would say it and avoid saying anything further. It is only about 12 years ago when I went for a meditation camp and had the seed of awakening planted within me that I realised my true purpose in life.

Those eight days are imprinted in my mind as probably the best thing that ever happened to me – I was not seeking spirituality, nor was I looking for a Guru – it looked like universal consciousness pulled me out of nowhere and plonked me at the venue, it was as if the Guru-energies had already selected me and brought me there. The spiritual experience that I got was mind-blowing and I was totally sold into the concept of Samarpan Meditation.

After the eight days, I did the follow-up of 45 days regular meditation and I got hooked. I have never looked back since, nor regretted the decision to go for the camp. My purpose now seems to have become how to inspire other people to come onto this path and share what I have received with them. Probable over the last 13 years more than a hundred people have connected and are now meditating regularly. This feeling of joy which one gets for showing the ‘path’ to your friends and relatives is indescribable. There is no selfish motive – just the joy of sharing your Guru’s bounty with others.

The Guru does everything else, we just become empty pipes through which his energy passes and does the work. The emptier we become, the better mediums we are for spreading the knowledge that the Guru wishes to share. So, do become empty and help spread the message so that others too find their purpose in life.

Maintaining Balance in Adverse Times

 

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Maintaining Balance in Adverse Times

The coming six months are going to be very tough – political situation-wise, natural disaster-wise and while also considering the ongoing pandemic. We may see limited cold wars or short battles between nations as countries try to flex their muscle to get out of sticky political messes in their own countries. What better way to divert attention than to start a war?

I am sure these days too shall pass as have the other days – all we have to do is remain balanced and centred in our own being so as not to get disturbed by the circumstances around us. Swamiji keeps telling us to make our world peaceful – by that he means the 20-40 feet area around us, that is our own individual aura – he tells us to make that so strong that no negative energy can enter this aura.

Meditation and chanting of the Guru mantra help in creating this aura. I have written about internalising the Guru-mantra in such a way that you do not have to chant it consciously, it keeps reverberating in each and every cell and atom of your being automatically. Once you feel that you know that you have reached a state of void and are now living in the moment. This state of being will help you tremendously face the coming adverse times with equanimity and poise.

People will begin to find peace and joy in your presence, they will come and say it to you – when that happens say it is Guru’s grace and nothing to do with you. Because to be honest, it is always His Grace and energy that is carrying us on the path to liberation. Always remember to express gratitude to the Guru-energies, as nothing that you and I are doing is to our credit, the credit goes entirely to our Master and his Masters. We are nothing but a speck of dirt in this vast cosmos in comparison to them.

Whatever happens do not lose balance, have faith, maintain your dignity and balance, the bad days will pass by as we celebrate our life in the midst of a positivity of millions of meditating souls who are connected to Swamiji. We need to connect with Swamiji through meditation and through the Guru-mantra and through Swamiji to those millions of positive souls whose energy encompasses this earth.

Once we are connected, learn to remain connected and be positive, nothing will affect you as you witness the events unfolding on earth. Do whatever you think is right for yourself, your family and friends and for your country and at the same time remain balanced and centred – do not get affected and spoil your energy. Always remember the higher you go, that much more you fall – so maintain your balance and remain stable.