Janujee, Author at FISU Meditation

How to Cope with Mental Illness in the Family: Acceptance and Strength

Acceptance, Christ, Dharma, Divine, Divinity, Ego, Faith, Force, God, Grace, Guru, Heart, Karma, Krishna, Love, Manifestation, Meditation, Mind, Peace, Self, Spiritual Force, Spiritual Master, Spirituality, Strength, The Abstract

Supporting Loved Ones Through Difficulties Mental illness in the family is just to be accepted for what it is. It is just common sense to do our best for those who are mentally affected or schizophrenic, or paranoid, or whatever. I could name you a hundred diseases, and some of them are considered terminal. The family can only accept it. But to accept it, you have to be strong. You need a hundred times more strength to accept than to reject. So, if you can make yourself strong enough, you will be able to accept the condition of your child or a family member, realizing that there is no accident in this world. Nothing happens in this world by accident, and it is the past karma of this person, family member, or friend who is afflicted by this ailment. So, the best one can do is send forth love. Every person has an abundance of healing energy in them, but if it is coupled with the right, sincere, selfless quality of love, those energies can be imparted. You can never take away someone’s illness, but you can ease the person’s problems, and this has happened in our organisation a lot: the blind have learned to see, the deaf have learned to hear, and the lame have started walking. I was looking at a newspaper clipping someone brought me, about a person who could not walk for 13 years and has started walking, things like that. It is the grace of God that does that, if energies are channelled. But it is very important to remember that no Spiritual Master can take away your karma. Never. He can defer that karma, or the payment for it, to a future existence, which will not help that person, because he will have to pay for it in some way or another, unless that person changes his entire lifestyle and banishes the karma. THE SPIRITUAL MASTER’S GENTLE PUSH In the time of Jesus, why did he only make a few people see, or a few people walk, when there were thousands and thousands of blind people in the world, thousands and thousands of people that were lame, thousands and thousands of lepers? Why only for one person, or two, or three, or five, and not the rest? Is everyone not a child of God? Here is what happened there. This person with a particular ailment was just on the verge of completing that little karma that was left. A true Spiritual Master can give him a little push, like a schoolmaster, where a child needs fifty percent to pass his exam to go to another standard. Still, the schoolmaster sees that the child has potential, but is only one point short of the fifty percent. So why take away a whole year of a child’s life and let him do the standard, or the form, as you call it here – different countries have different systems, we call it standards in South Africa – standard one up to standard ten, which is matriculation, and then you go to University. That is what the Spiritual Master does, “Look now, there is only one little per cent left. Let me give him a push,” and that push the Spiritual Master pays for by intense meditation and rebalancing certain energies. But if that person still has a long way to go, karmically speaking, it will not be removed by the Spiritual Master because it will only be deferred to another existence. That is how it works. So, they are very careful not to defer the payment where they would have to pay perhaps in a more extreme form, but if they require a little push, he will do that because they could meditate that away. Yesterday I received a little note sent by someone. One woman who is in a severe, severe nervous condition and very elderly wrote this note to me: “Guruji, would you please take over my total nervous condition.” She could not even write, so she had someone write it for her, and when you see her signature, you can see she is a total nervous wreck. “Could you please take it over?” So, in other words, look at the selfishness. ‘Oh yes, I must be totally well. It means total selfishness: “Take away my troubles, but you suffer for it.” THE MAHABHARATA’S LESSON IN SELF-CENTREDNESS There is a very amusing story in the Mahabharata, which is one of the great Hindu epics. It is a story of five brothers called the Pandavas, who fought the Kauravas on the field of Kurukshetra, which is the name of the place where they had this big battle. It is in this battle that Krishna taught Arjuna, and that is how the Bhagavad Gita was born. The Mahabharata is the background of the Bhagavad Gita. But amongst these five Pandavas, there was one brother who was a big eater; he could eat up five big platters of food. This is mythology, but it has a lesson. So, this brother was in such deep worship of this particular deity that the deity appeared to him and said, “Look, you have been so faithful, and your worship has been so deep; ask for a boon.” Meanwhile, he had an uncle, whose name was Shakuni, remember this is mythology, and he did not like this uncle. So, he says, “Lord, seeing that you have appeared to me and offered me a boon, may I ask you the boon to be able to eat even more, but Shakuni must go to the toilet.” So, is that not the general mentality? I must have the enjoyment, but let someone else do the suffering for it. That is the meaning of the story. It was reflecting the world’s mentality. SERVICE TO HUMANITY AS SERVICE TO THE DIVINE But a true Spiritual Master will show you, guide you, and help you to get rid of that which is bothering you and impart a

Selfless Service: Trusting Divine Will in Service

Acceptance, Attachment, Attitude, Buddha, Christ, Devotion, Dharma, Divine, Divinity, Ego, Evolution, Evolve, Force, Freedom, God, Guru, Heart, Impressions, Karma, Krishna, Law of Nature, Love, Meditation, Mind, Non-Attachment, Philosophy, Renunciation, Samskaras, Scriptures, Self, Self-Realization, Spirit, Spiritual, Spiritual Practices, Subconscious, Wisdom, Yoga

SERVING FOR THE SAKE OF SERVING Many things in life are paradoxes; one can be totally devoted to someone and yet be totally non-attached. There is a difference between detachment and non-attachment; detachment is to withdraw from all activities of life and to remain distant, becoming reclusive. To be non-attached is to be able to partake in every activity of the mind, body, and spirit, and yet be above it all. When one goes into detachment, it can be a form of escape. When one cannot face up to the responsibilities of the world, some tend to escape from the world. In India, there was a time when there were six million Saddhus, wandering mendicants, and after meeting many, I found that there were very few that were real Renunciates. Most of them just escaped and lived by begging. In other words, they were beggars in ochre robes, and they called themselves Saddhus; in reality, they were escapists. Non-attachment is something totally different. The greatest Scriptures, for example, in the East were written by people who were very busy people, who were totally involved in the affairs of the world. Krishna, for example, was a King, a statesman, a strategist, yet he could dictate the Gita. Rama was a King, so was Buddha. King Janaka, one of the greatest philosophers of the East, ruled a vast Kingdom, a very busy man, totally in the world, and yet could take himself above it all, and compose some of the Upanishads. So, one could be totally devoted to an object or an ideal and yet be non-attached to it. In other words, it implies that one serves, for the sake of service, without wanting or expecting the fruits thereof. It is part of Karma Yoga where you work for the sake of work, and the rewards come by themselves. And whenever these rewards come, they are accepted for one’s needs, for one’s daily necessities. But when the work is done, it is done in a sense of offering, that everything I do is an offering to divinity. It could be washing pots in the kitchen, sweeping streets, mending shoes, or being a Professor at a University, or a Scientist, but every action is performed for the sake of action. SERVING WITHOUT EGO Performing any action, there is a certain amount of desire. Desire produces attachment, but there are kinds of desires. The one desire would be for gain, name, fame, power, and therefore one prods oneself to act in a certain manner, to achieve something, to have the ambition for achieving a certain goal. The other kind of desire is the desire to serve, which causes non-attachment. We do find people serving. We do find people joining various societies, homes for people with disabilities, or for blind people, and so on. It is not the act itself that is important, but the motivation behind it. I have known of people who want to serve humanity, but the motivation is their own personal ego, inflating their personal ego, that “I am this. People look up to me.” That is one thing that our teachers also have to be very wary about, that it does not inflate our egos in serving humanity. This kind of desire, which is entirely for service for the benefit of humanity, does not form attachment, and when it does not form attachment, it creates no impression in the mind, or it creates no samskaras, because that desire is without motivation. And all desires for service, if it is minus the ego, would not have any motivation whatsoever. So, behind the act is the motive, or motivation, that causes samskaras. One could be totally devoted to what one is doing and yet be non-attached to the action, for the action is performed for the sake of the action, and not for the sake of its reaction. The cause is activated, but that cause becomes a causeless cause, whereby it would not have an effect, and the effect that is had, and that is long-lasting, is the impressions, all the samskaras one creates in one’s mind or one’s subtle body. So, then the samskaras pile up. ALL DEPENDENCIES STEM FROM THE EGO In the name of devotion, many people perform acts, but devotion should be without need. I am devoted to my wife because I need my wife for certain purposes, be it physical, mental, or otherwise. That is not devotion. There is a little story in which a man says, “I love you so much, but tomorrow, God forbid, even if you should have an accident and be shrivelled and burnt, I will love you just as much.” So, that love is not of face value only, for the man’s beautiful wife, or handsome husband, it applies both ways; it is for the inner self of the person. In any case, when a man loves a woman, or a woman loves a man, do you know what comes in between? Love comes in between. That personalised form of God is activated so that one feels love underneath, underlying the need to love or be loved. Once the need is removed, the underlying factor of pure love shines through. So, although there is a desire to activate the highest form of love, it becomes non-binding; there is no attachment. But as soon as the need is added, needs are created by one’s ego. I know a person who came to see me with so many problems at home, but who needed his wife. He could not be away from her; it was a purely physical need. For he could never have any other woman except his wife, but it is a purely physical need. And you find people like that, it is a pathological case, perhaps, we know. But that is also a need. Then you find a person, loving another with an emotional need, an emotional dependency, where the man sees in the wife a mother figure, perhaps, or

Why Attend Courses? The Subtle Power of Spiritual Togetherness

Bible, Chela, Consciousness, Enlightenment, Evolution, Guru, Harmony, Heart, Joy, Light, Love, Mind, Oneness, Path, Relationships, Samskaras, Spirit, Spiritual, Spiritual Teacher, Universal, Universe

WHY ATTEND COURSES? When people get together for a single purpose, their subtle bodies, or the emanations from their subtle bodies, merge. That is why, when you have group practices in a group like this, or when a group is gathered with oneness, then each one affects the other. Because of the oneness of goodness, everyone affects each other. They uplift each other, and there is a greater lightening of spirit. In the greater lightening of spirit, if there is a person who could exercise a lever, then the lightening of spirit is lightened even more quickly because an extra energy is added to what already exists. It is not necessary to tell you what can be seen and what cannot. If you could leave your body, to be out of your body, you would be very, very disappointed at looking at yourself. Seeing your gross body, you would feel very disappointed. It looks terrible, horrible! That flesh and blood and! The subtle body of man differs from man to man according to his samskaras. Whenever you find two people with very similar ideas or who have a strong attraction to each other, know that their subtle bodies are in intercommunication. If the mind also corresponds in that inter-communication, then that bond becomes stronger. And if the body can correspond to the man and wife’s relationship, then that bond becomes even stronger. But, in a varied group where people come from different parts of the country, or different parts of the world, if they are together for a one purposeness, then if the subtle body of one is suffering of a certain dullness because of his evolutionary status, he is reflected upon by those whose emanation of the subtle body is more stronger, more luminescent. That is, the duller subtle body feels the effect of those that are brighter. So, it is always advisable, wherever possible, to attend Courses, and I do not mean this course only. You do not need to attend our Courses if you do not want to. Nobody forces anyone. But I am making a general statement, and, of course, attending one of our Courses is the best of all, because we all do the same kinds of practices. At least, we are allied and related to each other through our connection to one guru. And that oneness of the guru extending to all the chelas forms that togetherness. So, great benefits are received by attending Courses. Other people, mixing in their groups, would find their strengths, togetherness, or joy very, very much dependent upon the guru they are with. Oh yes! A good guru can radiate an inexplicable substance or quality called love. He can emanate a certain light which could engulf all those around him. Therefore, when people attend the discourses of a real guru, they will normally leave the Satsang with a far lighter spirit than when they came in. They could come into the hall with a million worries on their heads, as if the whole world was collapsing around them. But the presence of the good guru would be so powerful that the burden would be lightened, even for that little moment only. It could be here in High Leigh or in Cape Town, South Africa. Wherever the guru is, all the chelas are with him. It could be in South America or Australia. A TRUE GURU NEVER PROMISES YOU ENLIGHTENMENT, HE ONLY SHOWS THE WAY I am trying to point out the universality of the spirit. There is one universal spirit. The hub in a wheel is that which keeps the whole wheel together, so if the hub of the wheel is in London or in New York or in Buenos Aires, it does not matter. The spokes from the hub extend throughout the whole Universe, and if it is connected to the hub, then the whole circumference would feel the power of the hub. The most important thing here is that the hub must be placed dead centre in the wheel, and the wheel must run smoothly. But if the hub is off-centre, then the wheel moves unevenly. So, therefore, it is so, so important, it is so, so important, not to join just any movement because of high-powered selling, or high-powered, high-faulting scientific charts, or any kind of device. No. We must always study and be aware of the hub and the wheel’s ability. If the hub of the wheel is not functioning smoothly, then neither the spokes nor the circumference can run smoothly. So, it is always important for a man to use his judgment and his discretion. – always. And if some people’s judgment and discretion are not powerful enough, then he has no choice but to use the method of trial and error. And through trial and error, he might come to the point of finding the right hub. That is why people move from guru to guru: they cannot centre themselves properly with any one guru. They cannot synchronise themselves. So, we must never be taken in by any form of promises. A real, true guru never promises anything. He never promises you enlightenment. He only shows you the way to find enlightenment. He only shows you the way to find inner harmony. He does not give you any guarantees. He wants you to find the guarantee yourself. Find the guarantee yourself: take this medicine, and by taking it, your body will cure itself. We know, as a fact, that when we are ill and go to a doctor, the doctor does not cure us. The body has the ability within itself to heal itself. What the doctor does with the medicine is just to help restore harmony in the body so it can heal itself. That is what a true teacher does: showing the way to create harmony within yourself. A GOOD TEACHER ALWAYS HAS THE WELFARE OF EVERY CHELA AT HIS HEART In a class, you have fifty pupils; if there

The Aim of Our Teaching: The Simplicity of Spiritual Realisation

Avatara, Belief, Bible, Buddha, Chela, Christ, Consciousness, Divine, Divinity, Enlightenment, Eternal, Evolution, Faith, Force, God, Heart, I am That I am, I and my Father are one, Incarnation, Karma, Kingdom of Heaven within, Krishna, Law of Nature, Laws, Love, Mind, Oneness, Philosophy, Purity, Reincarnation, Scriptures, Self-Realization, Spirit, Spiritual, Spiritual Teacher, The Abstract, Universal, Universe, Wisdom

TRUTH IS ETERNAL, BUT PRESENTED ACCORDING TO TIMES AND CLIMES AND THE MIND OF MAN The teachings of many teachers may be alike, and in the likeness of these teachings, the same eternal truth is forever propagated. Truth being one, it cannot be altered; it can only be told in different ways, and it is being told in different ways for one purpose, and the purpose is to suit the time and the clime and the mind of man. During the time of Christ, when he preached to the peasant folk, it was very easy to say, believe. Today, if you tell someone to believe, they will not take your word for it. Today, you tell them to believe in such a way that would be pleasing to their minds. You will find a peasant mind more apt to believe. A peasant’s mind can sometimes be like a child’s mind. When you tell a child, with all its innocence, to believe in something, it will believe, and we all do that when we tell our children the story of Santa Claus. We all do that; when we tell our children these stories, they believe them. But if you tell a grown-up person with a more sophisticated mind that Santa Claus comes down the chimney at Christmas time, the sophisticated mind will not accept that story. But if you tell the sophisticated mind how the presents originate and where they come from, and who has to work for them, and who has to buy them, then the sophisticated mind will start believing. So, the difference in the message from those times to our times is just in this manner of presentation. So, every teacher that comes into this world teaches the same old truth, and the difference is in how it is to be presented and to whom and what for. The “what for” always remains the same. The “what for” is for the enlightenment of the human being, to lead the man towards becoming a God-man; and from the stage of God-manhood to Godhood, where, as Christ would say, “I am and my Father and One.” That is the whole purpose and the aim. AVATARS AND THE UNSPOKEN DIVINE IDENTITY An Avatar is a person who not only attains self-realisation in this life, but who has already achieved self-realisation. But he takes birth by choice. He is beyond the propulsion of natural laws, all the laws of evolution; he is beyond this propulsion. When an avatar or Incarnation takes birth, he does so with a special purpose: to enlighten man. He does not need to take birth, but because he has this mission to fulfil, he takes birth. And such people who have taken birth are Krishna, Buddha, and Christ. The choice is entirely his, but the Avatar, the Incarnation, is also controlled. His choice, although free, also has some form of control. The mechanics of that control work like this: in the world (we will use the word world for our present case), a certain tension and atmosphere build, so that the Avatar’s choice is drawn. Even the Avatar, although having free choice, is drawn or pulled down by this magnetism created by the atmosphere and conditions of the world. So, here is a need. The magnetism could be interpreted as a need. And the need, combined with the free will of the Incarnation, comes together to make a Krishna, a Buddha, or a Christ take on life on this planet Earth. You will always find that a Krishna, Buddha, or Christ will never say from his own lips that I am that; and if he should use those words, “I am that,” He will always use it in the third person, never referring to his own body, or his own little personality. He will speak from the angle of the Supreme being that is within himself. If the personality of the person of the Buddha or the Christ is found to be one with the universal spirit he represents, then that recognition must come from the people around him. He will never proclaim, Christ never proclaimed, Buddha never proclaimed, Krishna never proclaimed; Christ said, “I am the Son of God.” He never said, “I am God.” Yet to his closest disciples who understood him, he would say, “I and my Father are One,” equating the Son and the Father on the same level. Because, as we have discussed before, the abstract has to be concretised so that it can communicate. The impersonal has to be personalised so that it can communicate with another person. But the Impersonal God that is now personalised will never say that I am that Personal God. He will never say that. But when years pass, perhaps centuries pass, his words and acts and deeds will be judged by man, and then man will say, “Ah, there was an incarnation.” And they always say that too late. Always. They always say it too late. And we find it in the lives of these personages, of these incarnations. THE TRUE PURPOSE OF THE TEACHER If people had recognised Christ when he lived in his time, he would not have been crucified. He would not have been crucified. He could have proclaimed his Divinity; he could have proclaimed it in no uncertain terms, but he preferred to remain quiet. So, a real Teacher, his teaching, his one teaching only, is to make man realise, and not to tell them that this is your realisation. Krishna, Christ, or Buddha can only be appreciated if man realises for himself that I am now face to face with that eternal spirit, even if that eternal spirit is embodied. And all these teachings that teachers give are not the universal spirit, but about the universal spirit. He takes you on a merry-go-round and tells you everything about it. He tells you everything about the flower, the beautiful petals, its softness, its velvetiness, the green leaves, the sap, but he

Beyond Words: The Silence Where Love Speaks

Attitude, Buddha, Chela, Divinity, Ego, God, Heart, Joy, Law of opposites, Love, Meditation, Mind, Non-Attachment, Oneness, Path, Relative World, Self, Self-Realization, Spiritual, Spiritual Force, Unfoldment, Unity, Wisdom

BEYOND WORDS In the lives of regular meditators, the day will come when there are no more questions left to ask. Buddha’s greatest teachings were given in total silence, where he would sit with his chelas around him, and because they were very advanced in the spiritual field, they would just think the question, and their answer would be there. Certain problems, in themselves, would be resolved, and when they left his presence, some change would take place within them; they would be transformed. That is the power, the spiritual force that a man like Buddha will emit from himself, but at the same time the recipient has to be receptive, too. As the old saying goes, “The seed has to be good.” Vivekananda said this, “The seed has to be good, and the ground also has to be fertile because seeds on barren ground will have no value at all, it will not grow.” There has to be a readiness in the chelas. Over all these years that I have been giving talks around the world, those who have attended many, many Courses, perhaps you have found one thing: that I have led you, slowly and stage by stage, into deeper and deeper knowledge. Sometimes a question is repeated, yet at one stage, when I look around, I will answer it in such a way that will make your mind enquire more, and as the mind enquires still deeper, fathoms still deeper, goes deeper, then I will take the same question and answer it in a still deeper level. LOVE IS ALL AND EVERYTHING Therefore, I say that when you have reached total depth, I will just sit here with you and say nothing. But what I would say to all my children, to all my chelas, to all, is “I love you,” that is all. But then we go beyond those words of “I love you,” because really speaking, those are the most misused words, that love has come between the “I” and the “You.” Why should it be so? It is a fallacy to say, “I love you” when the reality of love is to bring about a total oneness that knows of no “I” and neither “You.” So, when that stage is reached, then you will say, “I am love. My guru is love. All that surrounds me is love,” for love is all and everything. THERE IS A VAST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM When man’s mind becomes fully realised, no questions will be left at all. But it is good to ask a question, for that just shows that one is on the path. The mind starts enquiring, enquiring, enquiring. It will enquire so much that you will start saying Neti, Neti, Neti, which is Sanskrit for “not this, not this, not this.” When a person asks a question in true questioning, the answer must inspire half a dozen more questions. When those half a dozen questions are resolved, a dozen will spring up until the stage is reached where you become the questionless questioner. For naturally born human beings, questions come from the mind, and the mind has to be appeased. But when all questions cease, and the mind ceases functioning or revolving itself around questions, or gets involved in questions, and all that ceases, then the heart just knows. So, I normally try not only to answer questions or give you some understanding of an aspect of life, but also to convey, through the words or the presence, all the emanations, something that reaches your heart and aids spiritual unfoldment. I used to be the greatest questioner. I used to be the greatest doubter, and thank God I was, for that very attitude of mind led me on until I could read no books anymore. I do read them, but not to learn. I just read them to corroborate, perhaps, or know of the experiences of others, for if you, as you all will, gain the totality, then you go beyond knowledge because the mind can only give you knowledge. All knowledge is acquired knowledge, and once one goes beyond this, one reaches the area of wisdom. There is a vast difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is of the mind, which can always be added onto, for today you will believe in one thing and tomorrow another thing, and like that you go on and on and on. And that is how all discoveries in the world are made. But when you reach wisdom, that means you have reached the totality. BECOME NON-ATTACHED SO THAT ONLY DIVINITY REMAINS So, in the love that is there, let the time come when the “I” and the “You” are not there anymore, and only love remains. The realisation we have when only love remains is that only God remains, and “You” and “I” are gone. When I say “You” and “I” are gone, it does not mean you will lose your physical body, ego self, or self-identity. That will be there, yet underlying that is that total stability, that living and feeling of a beautiful oneness, that unity around which the diversity just floats on. And that floating on will never affect the unity, the oneness that has been created within you. Then you become the real observer of the relative things of life that we have spoken about. You become non-attached to the world, and when you become non-attached, nothing can affect you. And when nothing can affect you, neither pain nor pleasure, then you are in a land of joy, such beautiful joy that knows of no opposites and no contradictions. So, the second thing or the third thing I would say is become non-attached so that no more conflict remains within oneself, and only the Divinity that is there, only that remains. … Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1983 – 17

The Complementary Dance: Embracing the Roles of Man and Woman for Mutual Evolution

Acceptance, Awareness, Buddha, Christ, Compassion, Dharma, Divinity, Evolution, Evolve, Force, God, Happiness, Harmony, Heart, Joy, Karma, Kindness, Krishna, Laws, Love, Meditation, Mind, Oneness, Path, Peace, Relationships, Self, Self-integration, Spirit, Spiritual, Spiritual Practices, The Abstract

WHAT IS A CULTURED MAN? In the conditioning of a man or woman, there are three factors to be considered: one’s karmic values, which have made us who we are today, and this is the most critical factor. The second factor would be what the environment does to us. By environment, we could include all the cultures of the world. If you live in India, you are in a different kind of culture, perhaps. If you live in America, you live in a different culture, which shapes your behaviour. Those two factors are the most important in shaping who you are. The question should be, am I happy with what I am? If I am not satisfied with what I am, what should I do about it? That is bringing a metaphysical question down to its practical, day-to-day values. What people think of me, how important is that? We have spoken about this before. That we become creatures of the environment, and we are sucked into this whirlpool of what we call culture. What is culture, really? If a person sits at the table and does not know how to handle a knife and fork, we call him uncultured. He is not cultured. He might be coming from Tibet, where there are no knives and forks. Culture is from the heart. Culture is an expression of a person’s essential self. Culture contains all the fine qualities of man; the refined man is cultured. He might have a crude exterior, but that refinement is from deep within himself, where every action of his is a glorification of creation itself. Every action of his is kind, compassionate, and all-encompassing. That is refinement, that is a cultured man. WHAT IS CULTURE? When we talk about cultures, we misuse the word so much. In certain parts of the world, certain kinds of clothing are worn; in other parts, different types are worn. In certain parts of the world, certain kinds of food are eaten; in other parts, other kinds. That has nothing to do with culture. That is just environmental factors that we are mixed up in or brought up in, which man can change at will. A man does not need to wear a pair of trousers, for example. He wears it to be a conformist. He wants to conform to society or within the framework of the society he lives in; therefore, he wears a pair of pants. A woman sometimes wears a dress because it is part of the culture or environment that has forced her to wear that kind of clothing. What does this have to do with culture? It is nothing but conformity, and conformity is never culture. A man can be totally unconventional yet highly refined and cultured. His every action shows that refinement. His every word, his every smile, his every gesture show that deep, beautiful refinement. That is culture. We call ourselves civilized. Ask ourselves: are we really civilized? Are we really civilized? Let us go back a hundred, two hundred years, where a midwife would deliver a baby. Those times in the backwoods, there was a lot of superstition in every country. The midwife, in delivering the baby, would tell the mother and father that there is a complication, and this baby will only be delivered safely if we call upon the local doctor. Which doctor? The witch doctor. So, they call the witch doctor, and he performs his mumbo-jumbo, and the baby is born normally. That was primitive people, uncultured people. Meanwhile, the fees were shared. There was a kickback. Are they really primitive people? What is happening today? The same thing. The doctor can treat you; he knows the symptoms; he has properly diagnosed you. But he refers you to the specialist. Why? For the kickback. Are we civilized? Are we any better than those people that we call primitive people? If we study primitive societies, we see greater oneness, where everyone stood together. Although there might have been tribal customs, if one tribe invaded another, they would all stand together despite their differences. What happens today to civilized people? We live in a block of flats, and nine times out of ten, we do not know who lives next door. Is that not so? Are we civilized? This happens all the time. What I am trying to tell you is that culture does not depend on the environment or on the way we live, which is conditioned by the environment. Culture is from the heart. A cultured man is a man whose heart is opened, who has expanded awareness of the surroundings, who has that awareness of the environment in such a way that he, being refined, can only see refinement. That which is not refined, he can overlook. He learns to see the good and not the bad. That is the cultured man. You see how backward we are! Even more backward than the primitive man, perhaps. Technological progress does not mean that we are more evolved. DEVELOPMENT SHOULD BE OF THE HEART Go back to the time of Christ, or even further back, to the time of Buddha or Krishna. People still have hatreds and wars and petty jealousies, and all those negative qualities still exist in today’s society; yet we call ourselves evolved. Technological progress is no sign of evolution. It is a sign of mental development. One invention breeds another one. Technologically, we can make discoveries. Yet, if we study ancient literature, like the Ramayana, written 9,000 years ago, we are told about airplanes, machines that fly through the air. So, what have we really invented? We have only rediscovered things that were buried in the past. We have not even fathomed the mysteries of the pyramids, the Bermuda Triangle, or stuff like that. What progress have we made? We do not so much want the development of the mind, but the opening up of the heart, where all things are known, and all things are felt,

Transcending Patterns: Achieving Enlightenment in This Lifetime

Acceptance, Bible, Bliss, Buddha, Chela, Christ, Compassion, Devotion, Divine, Divinity, Effort, Ego, Enlightenment, Evolution, Faith, Guru, Happiness, Heart, Integration, Joy, Karma, Love, Love thy neighbour as thyself, Meditation, Mental Patternings, Mind, Path, Relationships, Samskaras, Self, Self-Realization, Spirit, Spiritual Master, Spiritual Practices, Unfoldment

WE CAN GO BEYOND THE PATTERNS SET BY SAMSCARIC AND KARMIC VALUES Any person can, in this very lifetime, reach the stage of Samadhi, or self-realisation, or experience oneness with Divinity. When we are born, we are born within and with a specific pattern. Say a child is born with an IQ of 100. Another child could be born with an IQ of 150. So, the child with an IQ of 150 has a greater mental capacity to reach a certain level, but the child with an IQ of 100 can be tutored and trained, with proper supervision, to achieve the same results as the child with an IQ of 150 would. When we are born, we inherit a particular pattern set by our past samskaric and karmic values. The pattern is set, but that does not mean that those patterns are limiting. Those patterns can be transcended. We can go beyond those patterns. A river flows in this direction, and it is possible to change the course of the river by altering the banks whereby the course of the river could be changed. Likewise, in human life, it depends upon our sincerity, upon our honesty, upon our perseverance in our practices, and greater and greater unfoldment can come. When a person starts unfolding within, it snowballs very fast. In the beginning, the progress is slow, but as greater and greater unfoldment comes to him, his progress becomes faster and faster. Like a snowball rolling down, it is small, but as it rolls, it gathers more and more onto itself, and the bigger the snowball gets, the more it still unfolds within itself. Likewise, it is definitely within the reach of every man to reach self-enlightenment in this lifetime. THE QUALIFICATION OF A SPIRITUAL MASTER IS HIS CAPACITY TO LOVE A Spiritual Master does not go through the Universities learning the three R’s (reading, writing, and arithmetic). When you go to university, they tell you about a thing, but they do not tell you what a thing is. That is what you get at university. A Spiritual Master goes through the university of life, and his continual quest is to find what a thing is. His finding of what a thing is is not limited to his intellect. He goes beyond the realms of the intellect, and he is in touch with the reality that is within himself. Finding the union between his small “i” and his Big “I” in annihilating the ego that stands in the way, and actually living and interpreting that reality that is within him in his daily life. That is the qualification of the true Spiritual Master. The qualification of the Spiritual Master is his degree of self-realisation, and how is that to be known? A Spiritual Master is a person who has only one quality: his capacity to love. He loves entirely, selflessly. There is no selfishness because, to him, he has not remained himself. I always say that a Spiritual Master is not the little flesh and blood that you would see that composes his body. I made a joke the other day that the composition of flesh and blood, its chemical value is only one shilling and fourpence. It is worth noting, perhaps, that with inflation it is two shillings and eight pence. So, the qualification of the Spiritual Master is his expansion of heart and his ability to portray that heart. Buddha, the Spiritual Master, was known for his great compassion. He could embrace the entire world in the folds of his arm. Christ was known as a Spiritual Master because of his intense love, which he gave his life for. Like that, you will find in the lives of true Spiritual Masters that they are dedicated to the cause of doing some good, trying to uplift their brethren. He is the one who really practises the Commandment, “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” How can one love one’s neighbour as oneself? It is valid in its fullest sense only when he can identify with his neighbour. Then he can truly love his neighbour. A true Spiritual Master feels the joy that wells up within your heart and cries your tears for you because his nature is love. He is bliss. He is Ananda. Those are the qualifications of a true Spiritual Master. A true Spiritual Master does not have half a dozen diplomas hanging on the wall in his office, and the proof of the true Spiritual Master is not only in his teachings but in how he can transform your life. The proof of the pudding lies in the eating. That is how a true Spiritual Master is known. And a true Spiritual Master, if he claims to be one, must be tested in every way. No blind faith is involved. Do not accept the word of the man. It is not necessary. Prove it to yourself. It is a quality that the mind cannot analyze. For example, you can break up the sugar in the laboratory and say what the chemical components of that sugar are, what constitutes those grains of sugar, how it can be reproduced, how it can be refined, and how it can be synthesised. You can explain all that, but you cannot explain sweetness. You have to taste sugar yourself to know sweetness. In like manner, when it comes to the relationship between a guru and a chela, it is the experience that counts, not what the guru does for the chela. A TRUE GURU DOES NOT ASK FOR DEVOTION, WHICH SHOULD BE A SPONTANEOUS ACT We have Spiritual Masters, and most of them are so-called Spiritual Masters. The chela comes along, a practice is given, and it is said that this will cost you fifty pounds. Those are also Spiritual Masters. They call themselves Spiritual Masters. In our organisation, which is practically worldwide and continues to grow, no fees are charged for any teaching. What we want is only the person’s sincerity. That

Beyond the Ego: Rediscovering the True Self through Meditation

Awareness, Belief, Bible, Divine, Divinity, Ego, Eternal, Evolution, Evolve, Force, Free Will, God, Happiness, Harmony, I and my Father are one, Impressions, Law of opposites, Laws, Love, Manifestation, Manifestor, Meditation, Mental Patternings, Mind, Path, Relationships, Relative World, Self, Separation, Spiritual Practices, The Absolute, Universe

LIFE IS TRUTH, AND THAT IS KNOWN BY ITS VARIOUS DEGREES There is only one form of life, really speaking, and this form of life has its separate gradations. Scientists have even discovered a heartbeat in a cabbage, and they found that when you grow flowers, if you tend them with love, they grow much more beautifully. You can communicate on that level even with a flower. So that flower has life. Everything existing in the universe is nothing but life. It is all life. But why are there differences in different forms of life? It is due to the evolutionary process. In a mineral, in a stone, there is also life. It might seem inanimate to us, but if you leave it out for a few years, you will find changes in the stone, and those changes are not only caused by the external conditions but also by what is within itself. So, even in the stone which seems so inanimate to us, there is life. This table standing here, we think it is dead, but by studying it, we will know that there are millions of molecules swirling around. There is motion, and wherever there is motion, there is life; a specific energy propels it, and that energy itself is life. So basically, the force between the stone, between the plant, between the animal, and man is still the same, and that force is life, that force is the breath of life. The human being might be at a far more advanced stage. On this planet, the human being might be considered the most advanced at various stages of life. Still, there are other existences with higher forms of life that are even further beyond the capacity of the human being. So, it is a matter of gradation. Life is truth, and that is known by its various degrees. BECAUSE OF FREE WILL, THE INTELLECT CAN BE USED TO DEVOLVE OR EVOLVE A PERSON The human life that we possess has a unique value. The difference between animal life and human life is that humans have the thinking ability. The human can think, and it is only his power to believe that differentiates him from the animal. But what do we do with our thinking power? We have been given the intellect that can evaluate various things. We can determine from the cold to the hot; we can discriminate. We can distinguish between black and white, and we can differentiate between all the various laws that constitute the law of the opposites. But the human intellect can also be an instrument to unfathom the deeper levels within himself, and yet the same intellect, with its power of discrimination, can decide wrongly. Why can the intellect be taken into devious paths? It is because with the intellect we have something called free will. What is free will, and what is the relationship of free will with Divine will, for example? Divine will is a pattern that says water flows down a hill, not up a mountain. The sun rises in the east and not in the west. And like that, in the machinery of the Divine will, the human intellect functions with an ability to have free will. If we have to go to Birmingham from here, the intellect can decide, weigh the pros and cons, which will tell him which is the best road to take, which is the shortest route, which road has the least amount of traffic, and the road that will take him there the soonest. Exercising that intellect would be due to free will. Yet the intellect, being cunning as it is, can use the ability of free will in things and in ways which will prove to be a retrogression instead of a progression. It could be evolutionary, and it could also be used to devolve a person rather than to evolve one. Through meditation, we develop the ability to use free will to lead us to that which is evolutionary. So there lies the choice of man, the free will. When we, through meditation, develop the ability to go deeper and deeper into the subtler and subtler levels of the mind, our awareness increases. We expand our awareness, and in that expansion, we gain a greater perspective. Our perspective, our vision, our conception, our perception widens, and in the widening of the perception, when we have a general, a wider view, we develop the ability to be able to decide and evaluate with our intellect, so that the free will could lead us to that which is evolutionary and not to that which is retrogressive. That is the purpose. So, across all the realms of existence, there is only one life, and there are gradations within it. Man, the highest on this planet, has been given the power of thought that elevates him above the animal. And yet in man himself, the plant life exists. In man, the mineral life exists. In man, the animal life exists. And in man, also exists that Divinity which can take him and make him a God-man whereby he could live more in tune with his higher nature than his lower nature. And this is the primary purpose of meditation. The incredible benefits we receive in meditation: greater harmony, whereby one’s blood pressure is regulated, one’s heart condition is controlled, various psychosomatic diseases are eradicated, and organic diseases are helped towards a remedy that makes one feel better. It could act as a cure, but these are side benefits. The main benefit and primary purpose are to become one with the source, to return to that source from which we have come. So, we have progressed from all these various gradations of the one life, and because of the intellect, because of the ability in man, we want to become one again with that one life. THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS IS THE REAL COMPULSION FOR MAN TO BECOME ONE WITH HIS MAKER So, what is

Going Within: Discovering the Divine in Everyday Life

Belief, Bible, Bliss, Conscious Mind, Divine, Divinity, Faith, Force, Guru, Happiness, Harmony, Heart, Joy, Kingdom of Heaven within, Laws, Meditation, Mind, Path, Philosophy, Relative World, Scriptures, Self, Spirit, Spiritual, Spiritual Practices, The Absolute, Universal, Universe, Wisdom, Yoga

HOW TO TAP THE KNOWLEDGE THAT IS WITHIN OURSELVES? Many people maintain that seeking spiritual knowledge by going to a particular place is the way to find it. But if we do analyse the problem of going somewhere, we will see that going anywhere is not necessary at all. The place that we have to go is within ourselves because all knowledge and all wisdom are within ourselves. The problem would remain how to tap the knowledge that is within ourselves. Man is born essentially Divine. The Divinity is there in him. It is his inherent right, and it is just because of man’s mind that he cannot fathom the depths that are within himself. Man’s mind is such a cunning little animal that it stops the quest, and yet it is through the mind that one could really find. We do know that the mind is finite, and yet that which we are trying to find is infinite. So, what can we do? How can we use the finite mind to find the infinite? Going to America, India, Spain, or Japan is not necessary when we are here in Guildford. Sitting in Guildford, we can find that Divinity is within us. Our organisation proposes a method for diving within oneself, and that method, as you would know, is through meditation. Through meditation, we go beyond the limitations of the body and the mind Meditation is a scientific method whereby we transcend the mind and experience that which is within. The Bible tells us very beautifully that “The Kingdom of Heaven is within.” So, it is not necessary to go anywhere. We just go within ourselves. Through the scientific method of meditation, we go beyond the limitations of the body and the mind. The conscious mind cannot fully appreciate that which is so infinite. We do know that human beings use only ten percent of their minds. Yet, there is ninety percent of the mind that lies dormant, and how do we activate that portion of the mind which is dormant, and yet in the activation of the dormant mind, we will still not be able to find the true Self that is us. So, what to do? The method would be to go beyond all the completeness of the mind through a scientific process, and that which is left after traversing the whole mind, the hundred percent mind, will be the spiritual quality that is resident within us. The extent of the mind is the extent of the entire universe. So, sitting here and now, we can traverse the whole universe, because if you study science, you will know that the entire universe is contained within a single atom. Within the structure of a single atom lies the structure of the whole universe. This knowledge is not anything new. If we study the structure of the universe, we will find that it is nothing but a set of vibrations, and vibrations can exist on various levels. Vibrations can exist on a subtle level as well as on a much grosser level. When they exist on a grosser level, in a congealed, compacted state, they become perceptible to the five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. But that would be limited; the mind can experience the subtlest level of itself. If we should use an analogy of vapour, the same water vapour, which is very subtle, can become water which is grosser, and the same water can be solidified into ice, which is still grosser. All existence is nothing but vibrations, and these vibrations exist in different forms from the subtlest level to the grosser form. If we take the human body, or this table, or this hall, these walls, they are congealed, compacted vibrations on a grosser level. So, we start from the grosser level of things through scientific meditational processes, go to the subtle, then to the more subtle, and finally to the subtlest level of the mind, and then we go beyond that, which is known as the mind. THE PURPOSE OF MEDITATION IS TO UNCOVER THE REALITY THAT IS WITHIN US In this journey, we cover the entire range of the universe, and this is the purpose of meditation. The purpose of meditation is to go within ourselves internally. By going to other places, other locations according to geography, we are achieving nothing. By going to India, you might want to go for a holiday, and that is about all. They do maintain that at certain places the vibrations are more conducive to the spiritual quest. That might be so, but the conduciveness of the atmosphere does not necessarily change the grossness within us. The grossness within us has to be tackled here and now, and shifting this body or this mind to another geographical area will not help. It is true that by association with the holy people, by association with that which is very good, could help us, but this is still very, very elementary. It is elementary because the study of various Scriptures and various books is still on a mental level. They are still on the level of the mind. Therefore, that which is still on the level of the mind is not the truth nor the reality that is within us. We have said before that the nature of the mind, although its extent is as large as the universe, is still not enough. THE PURPOSE OF BEING IN TOUCH WTH DIVINITY IS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF OUR LIVES So, to unfathom the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven that lies within, there are various Yogic practices, scientific principles, and scientific methods following and practising, which we can use to unlock the doors that lead us to that Divinity. These practices are years old. Do not think that this knowledge is Eastern. Do not think that it is Western; it is universal knowledge, and geographical barriers are only made by man. We live on one planet as a

What is True Friendship? The Mergence of Souls

Acceptance, Bible, Christ, Devotion, Divine, Divinity, Effort, Ego, Eternal, Evolution, Faith, Force, God, Guru, Harmony, Heart, Joy, Karma, Love, Love thy neighbour as thyself, Manifestation, Manifestor, Meditation, Mind, Oneness, Path, Prana, Purity, Relationships, Samskaras, Self, Separation, Soul, Spirit, Spiritual, Surrender, The Abstract, Unity, Universe, Yoga

REAL FRIENDSHIP BEGINS WHEN A SPARK IS IGNITED IN THE HEARTS OF TWO PEOPLE There could never be friendship on a total physical level. There could be an attraction that seems like a friendship. Most friendships, like love, are based upon needs. You need companionship; you need support; you need someone to share things with, and that is what is commonly known as friendship. But to me, that is not real friendship, that is only the surface of what friendship could be; for real friendship, like love, should have no need. When there is no need for friendship, there is a total acceptance of a friend. Where does friendship stem from? If friendship is based only on the mental level where two people think alike, that is good. There is a particular kind of mutualness in their ways of life, their likes, and their dislikes. That is true on the surface level. But real friendship begins when a spark is ignited in the hearts of two people. Like love, friendship has to grow; and when this spark is ignited in the hearts of two people, then friendship really begins, and even when two people think differently, they might agree to disagree – and yet that friendship, that deep love, is always there. In true friendship, there are no expectations and no wants. The first quality of friendship begins with accepting whoever that person is, and when one accepts someone, one has to take them totally. The greatest mistake people make in friendships is introducing the element of expectation. Whenever there is expectation from anyone – “I expect my friend to be this or that” – then friendship ceases, then friendship just becomes a kind of acquaintanceship. You are acquainted with a person, you expect. Then it becomes a kind of business, here you expect from your friends to send you a present or a card, and if that does not happen, perhaps, perhaps you might have never thought of me on my birthday!” Meanwhile, he could really be a true friend, and, because of circumstances, whatever happened, you may wish him well; the welling-up and the value of friendship remain constant. So, in friendship, there is no expectation whatsoever. Then, with expectation, there is another quality a person develops: the ability to receive, to try to receive from a friend. You want, be it in the form of love, or support, or anything of that nature. And that, too, does not constitute true friendship if you always want to be and expect to receive. REAL FRIENDSHIP – GIVING OF ONESELF FOR THE SAKE OF GIVING Real friendship lies in giving, not because they are a friend, but for the sake of giving. When this quality of giving for the sake of giving develops in a person, it enhances the friendship without effort, for you are giving. Giving does not only mean giving a present or something mundane or monetary. It is giving of oneself; it is giving of one’s entirety. The most significant relationship between a man and wife, for example, is based on that kind of friendship. To be married is nothing but a friendship stabilised, and two people live together as friends in the same ship in this ocean of life. When the idea of giving is there, what do you give? As I said, giving has nothing to do with mundane things. But you give the core of your personality to the friend, and that core constitutes your every emotion, every feeling, good and bad. And yet there might be times in friendship where the friendship is heartfelt and truthful, but you might feel some anger for something which the friend has done, not to you, but some other act in his life, and you feel a bit angry. And giving that anger to your friend is also giving. It is not only a matter of giving love, but also of providing anger, for then you are a true friend. If I do not point out the faults in you to better yourself, not to degrade the friend, but for the betterment of the friend, then I am doing a disservice to my friend. In giving this service to a friend, a sacrifice is needed. You sacrifice the feelings that you have in you and put them at his feet. In other words, you are sacrificing your personality. All that composes you, you are sacrificing it at the friend’s feet, and this could be love and anger and everything that is connected to that, every emotion, every kind of emotion, positive or negative. You are sacrificing that at your friend’s feet. FRIENDSHIP IMPLIES A KIND OF ACCEPTANCE OF WHAT THE FRIEND IS The friend must be worthy too, able to accept the sacrifice, for that sacrifice is not a martyrdom but an offering. You are offering yourself entirely to a friend. To be able to provide oneself to a friend, trust is needed. If you ask the question, “Does that friend inspire trust in me?” That is the wrong question, because if the friend inspires trust in you, that trust will only be superficial. You have to have trust without the friend engendering the trust. So, in that trustful way, you offer yourself to the friend as a sacrifice of yourself. When we offer ourselves as a sacrifice in complete trust, then faith develops. Then you start having faith in the friend, and if you do, you do not see the friend’s flaws. You would begin to see only the goodness in the friend, and because of your faith, they will change. Your thought forces of love and devotion that have been engendered will overcome his weaknesses. I have always said that thought is a thing. It is powerful, and that very power, being so positive, will override all the negativity in the friend. So, you are not going out to help the friend, but by having the qualities we mentioned, you are automatically helping, and

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