Janujee, Author at FISU Meditation

The Avatara Today: Not to Be Believed In, But to Be Experienced

Avatara, Buddha, Christ, Divinity, Evolution, Force, God, Gurushakti, Heart, I and my Father are one, Incarnation, Joy, Law of Nature, Light, Meditation, Mind, Oneness, Path, Relative World, Scriptures, Spiritual Force, Spiritual Master, Spiritual Path, Spiritual Practices, Spiritual Teacher, Superconscious, The Three Gunas, Unfoldment, Universe, Wisdom

THE AVATARA COMES TO STILL THE TURBULENCE It is said in the Bhagavad Gita that “When there is an imbalance of righteousness and evil persists, I take birth from age to age.” Why does the Personal God want to incarnate as an Avatara? He does not want to incarnate as an Avatara. You make the Avatar incarnate. This world, along with all the other planets, is the realm where the Avatar is incarnated. When evil rises, you are forced to bring that old chap down in human form. As every human being has an emanation around him, so collectively, there is an emanation, too, which we might call aura. A country has its emanations, a town has, this world has an emanation, and the universe has its emanations. And when imbalances occur, like waves in the ocean, the waves are high; at some places, the waves are low, yet underlying that is all such beautiful calmness. The Personal God or the Avatara is more concerned with the waves than the calmness, for it is to still the waves that the Avatara comes, not for the calmness, although he is calm too. THE THREE GUNAS, RAJAS, TAMAS, AND SATTVA The Gunas, Rajas, Tamas, and Sattva, which you have heard of and that I have spoken about many times, are not necessarily confined to man. However, the entire Earth is also composed of Rajas, Tamas, and Sattva because these are natural forces. So, because of our thoughts and actions, we allow Tamas to dominate or predominate, and when greater emphasis is placed upon Tamas, then a greater imbalance occurs, and the darkness and inertia of Tamas overcomes the light of Sattva or the finer quality. Tamas represents inertia and darkness, while Sattva represents light; the activating force between these two opposite poles is Rajas, which acts as the catalyst. It makes Tamas and Sattva interact with each other. Therefore, due to our thought forces on this planet, we either have a greater amount of Sattva or a greater amount of Tamas. And sometimes, we have an equilibrium where all these qualities of the three Gunas are at a steady level. Like the ocean, sometimes it is calm. The currents within it are so well balanced that calmness comes. WHEN DARKNESS PREVAILS, THE SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS IS AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATED As energies are shifted around, there comes a time in the life of any planet or solar system where a greater amount of turbulence occurs, and the emanation of this world causes this turbulence. When negativity arises, as it is happening now, with excessive permissiveness, an intense amount of killing, thoughts, and actions that are not conducive to nature, then it must be righted to preserve a balance between the Gunas that compose this world. When a greater amount of thought of a dark nature arises and composes the atmosphere of this planet, then it has to be righted. The finer energies of the superconscious level or the finest level of relativity are automatically activated and attracted to where it is needed, and that we call the incarnation of the Personal God. So, do a lot of evil, and you will attract him. Like a magnet, you attract him – he has to come. That positive force has to come to overcome the opposing force. He takes the form of a human being because all the other three kingdoms —minerals, plants, and animals — are proceeding according to nature and natural laws. They are proceeding according to the push of evolution without impeding progress. But the man, with his thinking ability, the mind I always liken to a cunning animal, starts impeding progress, and a halo of negativity surrounds the entire Earth. Just as clouds, when they become heavy, must come down as rain; similarly, negativity must be balanced out. Although this world cannot exist without Tamas, it is one of the fundamental components of creation. So, the Avatara is born, and he is born as a human being because he goes to the trouble spot, and human beings are the troublemakers. Not the minerals, plants, or animals; they are not troublemakers. They exist according to their nature. That is why a human form is required. EVEN THE AVATARA HAS TO GO THROUGH AN UNFOLDMENT TO FIND HIMSELF However, that Personal God has numerous problems. The most incredible suffering of an Avatara is to be born on Earth, and that is what we know as the suffering of Buddha or the suffering of Christ. Because from that vast universal field, from that super-fine, finest relative, from that vast field, he has to concretize himself into this little body. Can you imagine the pain? So, the Avatara has to go through various gradations. From the finest level of relativity, he has to grossify, grossify, and grossify himself until he comes to this level. It is like going through a funnel, so vast at the top and so narrow at the end. And, having to be born through human beings, it has to acquire the characteristics of human beings. Therefore, you will find that the greatest Masters never start teaching until they reach a mature age. They never do. Because even the Avatara, coming to this small little limited level and passing through this vastness of the universe, going through all this dirt, has to come here and take a bath. That bath, removing that dirt, is an unfoldment of the Avatara himself. That is why he has to live like an ordinary person, gain the experiences of an ordinary person, to find himself. And after having fulfilled his experiences, he then realizes, “I am an Avatara.” Christ realized who he was only on the cross. Although he had experienced oneness with the Father, “My Father and I are one,” the final realization came on the cross, and then he understood what resurrection meant. The same applies to Mahavir, Buddha, and Krishna. So, in reality, man would take lifetimes upon lifetimes to realize the Divinity that is

“Who Am I?” — The Journey from Question to Realization

Belief, Devotion, Divinity, God, Happiness, Heart, Humility, I am That I am, Kingdom of Heaven within, Love, Meditation, Mind, Philosophy, Relative World, Religion, Scriptures, Self-Realization, Soul, Surrender, Wisdom

MAN IS AN ENQUIRING PERSON BY NATURE Man forever wants to know, and even if the mind does not ask it, there is an inward urge within him which always shouts out to answer one question, which is only one question: which I?’ That is the main question that is central to man, “Who am I?” This question can go through many superimpositions, and his search begins by enquiring into various facets, including science, arts, and whatever. This search could start outwardly. To find the answer to the question “Who am I?”, he begins searching outside of himself to get an answer. The modern scientist is no better than the primitive man, they only do it in a more sophisticated way. The primitive man used to search outside himself, creating gods for himself, cloud gods and rain gods that could answer questions for him. Religion started with this primitive man’s mind getting involved in various superstitions. The modern scientist’s mind gets involved in various dreams. The difference between superstition and dream is very fine. A superstition is also a projection, just as a dream is a projection. The difference here is that the superstitious primitive man believed in what he thought, while the scientist’s dream is devoid of belief until he can verify the dream. Man, by nature, is an enquiring person; he has to enquire, enquire, and enquire. He wants to know the causes of things. He wants to see why this flower grows. He wants to know why the wall stands upright and a million things of that nature. By understanding the causes of exterior things, he thinks he will be led somehow to find the cause of himself, and there again, the question comes, “Who am I?” MAN HAS TO USE HIS HEART AS WELL AS HIS MIND There is nothing wrong with enquiry. There is nothing wrong with the examination of the environment. Examining the grossest matter and enquiring into the subtlest atom is nothing terrible. If a man has that enquiring ability, has the sophisticated thinking mind to see deeply into things and tries to know the causes of things, he can be very helpful to the world if he uses his heart and mind. The modern trend is perhaps very destructive, as we have seen in many of the inventions that have been misused. But if the heart is expanded, if that love is infused in the knowledge the mind has gained, then all these enquiries and the answers could be used usefully for the benefit of all around us, but we see how the wealth of the world is so misused. They would spend billions and billions and billions in sending rockets to the moon, while here on this tiny planet, there are millions of people starving to death. That is misuse. Why do you want to know what is happening on the moon? Why do you want to reach the moon? You want to reach the moon and climb Mount Everest because it is a challenge. Fine. Let it be a challenge. Let it be a challenge and face the challenge, but not at the expense of a suffering humanity. The difference would be that the challenge is mental and neglecting suffering humanity, which in turn means neglecting the expansion of the heart. So, all progress that we regard to be progress is very, very imbalanced. There is no balance. WE WANT TO GO BEYOND KNOWLEDGE INTO THE REALM OF WISDOM Being a finite mind, it could never know everything because it is limited. Scientists, for example, have been enquiring into the atom and the more they enquire into the atom, they come to various other factors of the atom which are sub-atomic, and even reaching there, they still feel that there is still finer matter and the search will go on and on. The real cause and the essence of matter will never be found with the mind because the mind is relative and has relative abilities and capabilities. Knowledge is a word that has been so misunderstood. Knowledge is but an accumulation of various facts which can be obtained from any good encyclopaedia. I have someone in Cape Town, if I want to know about something, I do not look up the encyclopaedia, but I pick up the phone, and I call this young man, his name is Harish, and I say what do you know about this and immediately he will rattle off all facts and figures and dates and what have you. But then he comes to me, saying, “Guruji, I am like a donkey with a whole load of books on my back; despite a load of books, I am still a donkey.” What we want to do is to go beyond knowledge and into the realm of wisdom. That is something different from knowledge. As we know it, knowledge is an accumulation of facts by which we burden our little brains. But wisdom is a knowingness, and this knowingness that wells up from inside can never be subjected to half a dozen Ph.D. degrees. If that were so, then every University Professor of Philosophy would be a self-realised man, and he is not. He is even more mixed up studying all these various philosophies. After having studied every possible philosophy to become a Professor of Philosophy, he is increasingly confused, and he is in a position, in a far lower position, to answer the question, “Who am I?” “WHAT IS THE USE OF GAINING THE WHOLE WORLD AND YET LOSING YOUR SOUL?” So, all this means that the enquiry into the various aspects and facets of life must not be stopped because if a person has an intellectual tendency, that is his starting point. As he goes analysing multiple things, he will know that this is just not it; there is something more. There is something more. It is very seldom that those who are so knowledgeable and who have pride in their knowledge will

Unfolding the Spirit Through Meditation: The Journey to Inner Harmony and Universal Love

Ancient Sages, Awareness, Bible, Divine, Divinity, Eternity, Evolve, God, Guru, Happiness, Harmony, Heart, Integration, Joy, Kingdom of Heaven within, Law of opposites, Love, Love thy neighbour as thyself, Mantra, Meditation, Mind, Relative World, Religion, Self, Self-integration, Self-Realization, Spirit, Spiritual, Spiritual Practices, Strength, Unfoldment, Universe

HOW TO ACHIEVE HARMONY? THROUGH OUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, WE ACHIEVE HARMONY WITHIN OURSELVES Achieving self-realisation means that self-integration has to take place within ourselves. By self-integration, we could say that there are three aspects to every human being: the physical, the mental, and the spiritual. In today’s world, we find that these three aspects of man do not function harmoniously, and because they do not, people do not live very happy lives. The purpose of meditation is to achieve harmony within ourselves, and by completing this harmony through meditational practices, one can experience that integration within us. It is a gradual process, but it is very successful, as thousands of people worldwide have experienced now. The process of meditation is scientifically based. It has no religious background regarding dogmatic religion, but it is a scientific process that sages have discovered through direct perception and experience. The proper way to understand something is to experience something, and self-realisation is one aspect that every person can achieve because each man is born with Divinity within him, and each person is potentially divine. We have to find spiritual unfoldment and not spiritual development because the very nature of man is divine. To achieve this state, we do these practices to achieve harmony within ourselves where body, mind and the Spirit work together. In daily life, a person says something, thinks and does something else. Such a person could not be called an integrated person Self-integration and self-realisation could be synonymous, and self-realisation could also be synonymous with God-realisation because, through these scientific methods, we are diving deep within ourselves. By diving deep within ourselves, we are bringing all the Divinity and the strength from that deep-lying reservoir into our daily life, firstly through the subtle mind and then through the grosser body. So, this is the purpose of achieving self-integration, which is synonymous with self-realisation. THE REALM OF THE SPIRITUAL SELF OF MAN IS BEYOND BODY AND MIND The scientific background of this would be that everything in this universe is nothing but vibration, and vibration can exist in many different forms. Vibration can exist in a subtle form as well as in a grosser form. The analogy I usually use is of vapour, which is very fine and subtle. The same subtle vapour could become grosser in the form of water, which can still become grosser in ice. The only difference there would be that the ice would be composed of the same vibrations in the vapour but in a more compacted or congealed form. Wherever there is vibration, there has to be motion because vibration can never remain static; wherever there is motion, a sound is emitted. Our meditation practices are based upon sound, and a true guru can go into deep meditation and hear the sound of every particular object. Everything that he sees in that state of meditation, it could be this table, this glass, or anyone sitting here, these chairs emit a vibration, and that vibration is heard as a sound. This sound is taken, the sound is evaluated, and the sound is assessed. On that assessment and analysis, a practice is given that might take the form of a mantra. A mantra means a collection of syllables, a sound which can be used to dive deep within our minds. We all know that we only use ten per cent of the mind. Ninety percent of the human mind is dormant, and through these practices, we dive deeper and deeper into our minds and discover for ourselves. We penetrate for ourselves the deeper layers that, up to now, were dormant. That is not the only thing we do; we even go beyond the mind. We transcend the mind because the realm of the spiritual self of man is beyond body and mind. MAN CAN EXPERIENCE A MORE JOYOUS LIFE BY A COMBINATION OF THE MIND AND THE HEART As we go into the deeper layers of the mind, we will find that our minds find greater awareness and more excellent perception. You look at this flower now as it is standing there, and after a few months of meditation, you will see the same flower, but it will be seen in greater depth. This has been proven by all our meditators who meditate regularly as they are taught to meditate on whichever meditational practice is given to them according to their specific need. Like that, perception grows, but at the same time, as the perception grows, one begins to realise the deeper levels of existence of which we are a part, and one also expands one’s heart. So here is a simultaneous expansion of mind and heart, so the thinking power is enhanced, and the heart being expanded can feel more freely and fully. In the fullness and the combination of the mind and the heart, man can experience a more joyous life, and as he progresses, the joy increases day by day, leading to absolute and complete self-fulfilment. In the relative field of life, we will find a certain measure of fulfilment that the body and the mind could govern, and these pleasures could be, and most times, very momentary. The capacity to experience pleasure also leads one to have the capacity to experience pain; if you can see white, you will see black, too. There are laws of opposites which govern the entire relative field of existence. But, if a man is taught to go beyond the relative field of existence through meditational practices, he can operate or live this relative existence in totality. There would be totality in all his conceptions, in his perceptions, and practically in his actions in life. Thoughts are only on the mind level. What man has to achieve is to go beyond the limited level of thought because if man is essentially divine and Divinity is infinite, the finite mind can never fully comprehend the infinite. So, by exploring the deeper levels of the mind, he will be able

The Mark of the Unfolded Man: More Ordinary Than Ordinary

Attachment, Christ, Devotion, Divine, Divinity, Faith, Force, God, Grace, Guru, Happiness, Humility, Integration, Joy, Light, Love, Meditation, Mind, Peace, Philosophy, Relative World, Self, Separation, Spiritual, Spiritual Practices, Spirituality, Surrender, Unfoldment

THE MARK OF AN UNFOLDED MAN? SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT Spiritual unfoldment has specific qualifications in our daily living life. The qualifications help us tackle the problems of daily living. The ability to turn what was previously un-joyous into joy is a sign of spiritual unfoldment. As we have discussed before, all unhappiness is produced by our worthless sense of attachment. We get so attached to various aspects and facets of life, which, as we said, is non-enduring. So as a man expands, as a man unfolds spiritually, he would seek the actual value not only within himself but also in the environment and finding the actual value within himself and in the environment, he will find it non-separate from himself. That is a sure sign of spiritual unfoldment. A spiritually unfolded man is more integrated, depending on how much unfoldment has occurred. There are no stumbling blocks to the spiritually unfolded man, only stepping stones. Those things which were stumbling blocks have now been turned into stepping stones, and by knowing that every experience in life is but a stepping stone to lead us up and ever onward, those are the marks of the aspirant, of the unfolding man. THE REAL SELF WITHIN US IS FOREVER UNFOLDED When we use the word unfoldment, we are not referring to the unfolded Self within us. The authentic Self within us is forever unfolded, encompassing everything tangible and intangible, animate and inanimate. But when we talk of spiritual unfoldment, we talk about removing the veils of attachments to unenduring values and recognising them for what they are worth. We are slowly, gradually and progressively going beyond all the shackles that tie us down to relativity. There is nothing wrong in being in relativity, but being tied down, bogged down, and weighted down are the things we are trying to uplift. So spiritual unfoldment is also spiritual upliftment. The light forever shines outside, and we try to draw the curtains. We are opening the curtains to shine light into our daily lives. All the philosophies in life are of no value whatsoever if they are not made practical. The spiritually unfolded man walks on a razor’s edge. He has to be even more careful in his daily living than the un-unfolded man. He has to be more cautious, vigilant, and alert so that he does not slip. THE UNFOLDED MAN MUST KNOW THE TRUE VALUE OF HUMILITY There is a story of a guru who had a chela. This chela had implicit faith in this guru, and the faith was so strong in him that by using the guru’s name, he could cross the river and walk on the water. This came to the notice of the guru, and the guru started thinking, “Oh, I am so powerful the I, I, I, that even my name takes the person walking across the water.” So, the guru thought that if the chela could do this with the power of my name, what else could I not do? So, one lovely frosty Friday morning, he thought, let me do it and sank as soon as he started walking across the river. He sank. What made him sink was the spiritual pride that he had gathered unto himself. He was a good man before then, but the pride that developed in him because of certain powers he could exercise brought him down and made him sink. We find this happening in various movements and with various so-called spiritual people. So, the unfolded man has to be humble. He must know the value of humility, where he can identify himself as a highly evolved human being and, at the same time, identify himself as the meanest worm crawling on the floor. IN HUMBLENESS, THE UNFOLDED PERSON CAN POUR FORTH GRACE This identification takes place because he has recognised that divinity exists. He has known the immanent God in everything around him, and by knowing that, he realises that his body and mind are nothing more than instruments. Recognising that the body and the mind are nothing more than instruments and that he plays in the power in the hands of a tremendous Divine force makes him feel insignificant. Yet, simultaneously, he knows the significance of Divinity because Divinity permeates every thought of his, every cell in his body. He knows that divinity can also be described as Grace, and being the instrument of that Grace, he can pour forth that Grace not in haughtiness but in humbleness. Those are the marks of the unfolded man. Otherwise, if he is not unfolded, he is packaged. Throw him in the sea. THERE IS NO SEPARATION WITH THE UNFOLDED MAN That is how the world works. That is how spirituality works. The unfolded man would have humility; with humility, there is a total sense of surrender. He becomes very ordinary. I have said before that the unfolded man becomes more ordinary than ordinary, which could be regarded as extraordinary. It is all so simple. It is all so simple. It is just these few virtues that have to be cultivated in man to find that unfoldment. It is not grown as a facade, as an outward show, but as a real living example of surrender, humility, and love. The unfolded man cries your tears and laughs your laughter because there is no separation. That is the unfolded man. DIVINE GRACE IS CLOSER TO US THAN WHAT WE THINK The unfolded man can stand apart from the world and all that befalls, all the strife and turmoil he might have to endure. Jesus went through a lot of suffering. We only know of the sufferings of Jesus, of the surface value, but do we see the inside of Jesus? Outwardly, he seemed to suffer; inwardly, he was at peace because he was one with divinity. He was one with the Father. In modern times, you can take the example of Ramakrishna, at the end of the 19th century; I would

The Freedom of Accepting Yourself: A Journey Back to The Diamond Within

Acceptance, Ancient Sages, Divine, Divinity, Evolution, Force, Love, Meditation, Mental Patternings, Mind, Philosophy, Scriptures, Self, Self Discovery, Self-Realization, Soul, Strength

WE HAVE TO LIVE AS HUMAN BEINGS We accept many things throughout life, and as the Serenity Prayer goes, “We try to change the things that we can, and we accept those things that cannot be changed.” In other words, it means looking at ourselves, our weaknesses, and our strengths and accepting them for who they are. Most people live in a projected world. They live with an idea of themselves, who they think they are, not who they are. The process would be that by self-examination, without any exterior aid, one could find what is lacking or overabundant, and by seeing that, we slowly come to understand and accept ourselves. I accept myself as a human being. That is very important to understand. As I accept myself as a human being, I would also know that there are other forces which make me a human being. For example, I have animal instincts in myself, and I have godly instincts in myself, too. So, accepting myself as a human being, I would also consider the other aspects within me. Animal instincts that are within me have to be disciplined if they cause harm to myself and others. So, with the principle of acceptance, discipline becomes very important; to live an undisciplined life is to live an animal life. Yet, you will find many animals so well disciplined within themselves because of a natural force that pushes them on. We say that they proceed instinctively, and by being pushed on by these various evolutionary natural forces, their instincts are permanently fitted to themselves. For example, if a tiger kills, it is his nature to kill. It is not wrong. But for a human being, it would be wrong to kill another. So, human beings are reverting to their animal instincts inherited from past lives and experiences. So, to accept oneself as a human being, one has to know what a human being is, which is very quickly known by a very brief study of the Scriptures that tells one of the various do’s and don’ts that make a person a human being. We have the instrument within us to discriminate against this. We have a thinking ability, and because of this thinking ability, if rightly used, we develop the discrimination to know that we are human beings. We have to live as human beings, and that human nature, which is the highest form of manifestation on this planet earth, the highest form of manifestation has to be lived accordingly. Only when we do not live according to our natures do we raise conflicts within ourselves and fail to accept ourselves. So, the first point would be that man strives to accept himself, and by accepting himself, he is in a position to be able to take everything else around him. His perspective changes, and that which seemed so horrible to him a little while ago will now appear more beautiful because he looks at it as a human, not an animal. So, discrimination has to be developed by oneself. WE HAVE TO ACCEPT OURSELVES, AND MEDITATION HELPS ONE TO DO THIS It is no use trying to analyse the mind to find discrimination. Analysis is not necessarily discrimination because all forms of analysis are biased, and all forms of analysis are patterned. Visit another country whose customs you do not understand with your analytical mind. You will find those customs entirely wrong because they do not fit in with your upbringing, learning, circumstances, and lifestyle. So, the analysis does not form any part of discrimination, yet it could be used as a tool if it is used objectively. But it plays a very minor part. Accurate discrimination comes only when one can be quiet and silent within oneself, which is what we teach. Then, a spontaneous thought arises within oneself, and that spontaneity would be of such power that we would be able to accept anything and everything first of ourselves. If I am lame, I accept that lameness. If I am blind, I accept that blindness, and I would not indulge in wishful thinking that I should not be blind. If I were not blind, I would be doing this, and I would be doing that. A fantasy world is conjured up, and most people live in this fantasy world. They do not live within themselves. Most people indulge in a form of daydreaming where they dream of things which they are not. They place themselves in a position in their minds of which they are incapable. So, the first thing one has to do, and meditation helps one to do this, is to accept oneself, and things which we regard as shortcomings are not shortcomings. I always say that if my milk turns sour, I will convert it into yoghurt. So, there are no shortcomings. Man is essentially divine, and once he realises that and accepts that as an affirmation to himself, I am Divine. Whatever shortcomings in me are also created or manifested by Divinity. Not every flower smells sweet. Some have a higher content of fragrance. Some have a lesser content of fragrance. So, if I have less fragrance, why should I not just be what I am? For I have been born as that particular flower with little fragrance, and I will not image myself or go into daydreams thinking of myself as a flower with an abundance of fragrance that will do something for this whole world when I cannot do something for myself. I cannot do something for myself because I fail to accept myself. The beggar walks in the street and daydreams that he is a King. How can he be that King? Yet he is a King, a King unto himself. For even if that beggar analyses his position, he will find that within himself, he is a King, a Master in his own right, even if it is in begging. WHATEVER I AM, I HAVE CREATED FOR MYSELF Like that,

The Missing Spirit: Why Churches Are Empty and How to Fill Them

Ancient Sages, Awareness, Bible, Buddha, Christ, Divine, Divinity, Force, God, Heart, Joy, Kingdom of Heaven within, Love, Love thy neighbour as thyself, Meditation, Mind, Peace, Religion, Spiritual Force, Spiritual Practices, Spiritual Teacher, Spirituality

HOW TO FILL THE CHURCHES? I have travelled six, seven, or eight months a year. I have visited churches, mosques, and temples and have been asked to speak there. Invariably, I found that the churches, synagogues, and mosques were becoming emptier and emptier and emptier. The younger generation today, for example, would rather go to a disco club than go to a church. It is not a matter of castigation or condemnation; it is an observation, and what can be done about it is that every person who goes to a theological seminary to become a priest should be put through certain practices to experience it themselves. If these Doctors of Divinity, as if Divinity requires doctoring, while studying are put through certain spiritual and meditational practices, they could gain that inner experience, feel that inner joy, that inner Divinity, and then when they speak from the pulpits you will find that people will gain something by it. It is not only words that are important, but also the spiritual force a spiritual leader can impart to people. That is important, and that is unfortunately very much lacking in Christian Churches, Hindu Temples, Moslem Mosques, and Jewish Synagogues. It is general, everywhere that is happening. So, if these priests had some experience, every word they spoke would contain so much power and force to pierce and open the hearts of the listeners. It is not condemnation or castigation. It is an observation, and what can we do about it because I would like to see our Churches and Temples and Mosques become more and more fuller. A TRUE MAN OF GOD CAN MAKE YOU FEEL SO MUCH BETTER Some good ones are very true. But the statement is not complex; it is observation and what is happening. To speak from the mind may have a specific value, but to speak from the Heart, from inside, has a far greater value. When we say Heart, I do not mean the organ, but I mean the very core of your personality, which is Divine itself, and this is where all our revelations have come from. When Sages have reached deep inside them and become one with the Kingdom of Heaven within, and when they speak from that level, every word is revealed as a revelation. There are good Priests, Pastors, Rabbis. There are some good ones, but the majority are just doing a job like a motor mechanic would do, an accountant would do, or a lawyer would do, just a job to make a living. Of course, our duty as church members is to provide the priests with a living. They also have to have bread to live, exist, and survive. As the saying goes, they cannot just live on love and fresh air; in return, spirituality should be given. A true man of God can make you feel so much better just by a touch, just by glancing into your eyes. Buddha used to teach by giving a sermon, but there came a time in Buddha’s life when he never said a word. He would just sit there, close his eyes and be in total silence, and the people that came to sit around him left the place feeling different. Some realisation dawned in their minds without Buddha even saying one word. That is the force and the power I am talking about. All the Priests, Pastors and Ministers cannot reach the stage of Buddha, perhaps, but if they have experienced something within themselves, at least they would be more qualified to teach. I believe in one thing: I will never talk of God if I have not known or experienced Him. For if I do, then I am a hypocrite. MEDITATION AND SPIRITUAL PRACTICES HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RELIGION It is not a matter of being hard on anyone. It is a matter of how people’s lives can be transformed, how this world could become a better place to live, and how you can love your neighbour as yourself. I have seen, and I have heard some Ministers just wailing, “Oh, when is this damn sermon going to end?” I have seen that and had a long chat with this Minister. I said, you are just rushing through; do not do that. After I talked to him for about an hour, he was pretty convinced, and his whole style changed, and he started meditating. In fact, in Las Vegas, the year before last, I think they asked me to speak at a Unitarian Church there; I cannot remember the name. Two or three hundred people were in attendance, and after I finished the talk, the Priest came up to me and asked me, “Can you teach me to meditate.” I said yes, and we taught him to meditate. After that, he introduced meditation to his entire congregation. Meditation and spiritual practices have nothing to do with religion. You can believe whatever you like, like the little hymn we sing, “Some call Him by Christos, some Ishvara, some Allah.” Believe whatever you want because you cannot throw away the culture in which you were brought up. Meditation is a scientific way, a scientific method where you gradually go deeper and deeper within yourself. You find peace, and when you see that peace, your whole understanding of religion will change. THROUGH MEDITATION, YOUR AWARENESS WILL EXPAND After being a meditator for a little while and reading the same passage in the Bible that you read, say, five years ago, it will have a different meaning to you because your awareness has expanded. You can ask some of our old meditators that when they today again hear Satsangs of mine, which they listened to three years ago, they find something different in it. Same Satsang, exact words. Because through meditation, their awareness has expanded. This reminds me of a little boy who said, “My father knows nothing”. But when the boy of fourteen reaches the age of twenty-one, he says,

The Personal God: Bridge to the Infinite

Acceptance, Bible, Brahman, Buddha, Chela, Christ, Compassion, Conscious Mind, Consciousness, Devotion, Divinity, Evolution, Evolve, Force, God, Guru, Impressions, Integration, Karma, Kindness, Krishna, Love, Manifestation, Manifestor, Meditation, Mind, Omnipresent, Oneness, Relative World, Samskaras, Separation, Spirit, Spiritual Practices, Subconscious, Superconscious, Surrender, The Absolute, The Abstract, Universal, Universe

THE IMPERSONAL AND THE PERSONAL The concept of a Personal God is designed to please man’s analytical mind. But beyond the personal God, there is the Impersonal God, which is an energy that is devoid of quality. It is a neutral energy possessing inherent attributes. But for this neutral energy to be of some value to the manifested universe, it has to concretize itself. This impersonal energy – the Brahman can manifest itself. Manifestation is not creation. With the Impersonal God, the totality of all, there is no creation but a manifestation. By manifestation, we mean that it is the nature of the Impersonal; it is the inherent ability of the Impersonal to concretize itself. The flower does not create fragrance; it is the very nature of a flower to give off fragrance. The fire does not produce heat, but heat is the manifestation of the fire, and the nature of the fire is to exude this heat. So, from the primal impersonal force and by its very nature of manifestation, the entire universe has come about. However, being such a subtle force, it cannot solidify itself from one step to the next. From that subtlety, there must be a gradual concretization. The impersonal force has no power of thinking. When we say God’s Will or “Thy Will be done,” it is not the Will of the Impersonal God. Will only come about with the Personal God, not the Impersonal God. So, as it would be said in the Bible, “First was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word is God.” What is meant here is that the very manifestation of the unmanifest impersonal in its concretization assumed a specific vibration, and it is because of this vibratory factor, due to its conjunction with other vibrations also exuding from itself, that various forms come about. So, the Word, which is the vibration, has undergone a long process of evolution since the Big Bang, from which this entire universe has been composed. Through this process, the minuscule atom, in its concretization, continues to evolve. THE EVOLUTION OF FORM AND THE BIRTH OF CONFLICTS The atom can duplicate itself and replicate, for the very act of replication is inherent in the atom. As it progresses further through the force of evolution, it solidifies into a very subtle gaseous form. This gaseous form, in turn, condenses into matter, and with further condensation, we recognize this matter as the mineral kingdom. Proceeding from this mineral kingdom, we find it evolving into the plant kingdom and from the plant to the animal kingdom. Throughout this entire process, there is a consciousness. There is consciousness in a stone. We think that a stone is inert, but a stone, too, has life because, if it did not have life, it would not have the quality to change. If you leave a stone outside, you will find many changes taking place, and through scientific analysis, you will discover that the stone contains all the same atoms. It has a molecular structure, and there is intense motion in that stone, and that very motion that we find in all these forms, from stone to plant to animal, is that consciousness or life force. This entire process, from the animal level up, is automatic. The trouble only begins when evolution takes a further step and reaches the stage of man. That is where all the trouble starts because man’s inherent quality is thinking, and with these very thoughts, the Law of Karma begins to operate. One thought in a particular experience conflicts with another idea in another kind of experience. With all these experiences accumulating, we become the complex beings that we are, filled with the impressions that we call samskaras in Sanskrit. It is the samskaras that are troubling us. All conflicts and all sufferings are not from Divinity. All disputes and all sufferings are made by man himself because of his thought processes. Although composed of an excellent matter, for thought too is a thing, thought can only find its validity in the relative form of existence and not beyond it. Through spiritual practices, we go beyond the thought forms. We go beyond the finest levels of matter and into the impersonal, where nothing remains, and all the motion that we see becomes illusory. So, all the conflicts, all the waves of the ocean that are so turbulent, are all within the confines of relativity. There was a chap who gave a lengthy talk on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, thoroughly exploring the subject for an hour or two. So, one person in the audience stood up and said, “You seem to know more about Relativity than Einstein.” So, this man says, “Why do you say that?” “Well, statistics have proven there are only twelve people in the world who could understand Einstein. But you must be greater because none of us understand you.” WHAT IS THE PERSONAL GOD? Therefore, all the problems and troubles we face in this world stem from that. So, where does the concept of the Personal God fit into the scheme, and what is its meaning? Most Personal Gods that people believe in are creations of man’s mind. Most people find different kinds of Gods. To one person, there might be a God with four arms. To another person, it might be an older man with a long beard sitting somewhere in the clouds on a golden throne and a few dozen bookkeepers writing everything down that everyone does. That is also a manufactured concept of a Personal God. The concept of God has also been regarded as “Father” – “Our Father which art in heaven.” Why not Mother? For if everything emanates from himself, then it should contain both aspects of what humanity is all about. It includes both the positive and negative aspects. By negative, we do not mean anything bad. It is similar to electricity, where you have positive and negative currents to make the bulb

To Master the Universe: Change Attitude, Unfold the Spirit

Attitude, Bliss, Conscious Mind, Devotion, Divine, Divinity, Effort, Ego, Eternity, Force, God, Happiness, Joy, Kingdom of Heaven within, Law of Nature, Law of opposites, Laws, Light, Love, Meditation, Mental Patternings, Mind, Path, Self, Self-Realization, Spirit, Spiritual, Spiritual Force, Spiritual Path, Spiritual Practices, Spirituality, Strength, Subconscious, Surrender, The Path, Unfoldment, Universe, Yoga

MAN IS A SPIRITUAL BEING Man is a spiritual being because that spiritualness, which we might call God, permeates him entirely, and it does not only permeate the physical or mental body but also everything that governs him. That spirituality within himself also empowers all his thoughts. In our organisation, we talk about unfoldment because, through millions of years of existence, man has gathered a lot of dross around him, and it is like a dirty window. So, the path of spiritual unfoldment lies in cleaning the window so that pure light can shine through. HAPPINESS IS DEPENDENT ENTIRELY UPON THE MIND Consciously or unconsciously, everyone is seeking happiness. It all depends on what we mean by happiness because if you find happiness, you will find misery, for they are the opposite and reverse sides of the same coin. The search for spiritual unfoldment, realisation of the Spirit, or self-realisation is not for happiness. Happiness could be a side product. Where does happiness come from? Does it come from the senses? You look at a beautiful flower, and you feel happy. You see an accident on the road, making you feel unhappy. Here is the sight. If we come to the other sense of hearing, you listen to a beautiful Symphony, and you feel elated, and you hear discordant sounds, like a bomb dropping, for example, and you will feel unhappy. So, happiness or unhappiness is not dependent upon the body and the motor organs. It is not reliant on the senses. Happiness is dependent entirely upon the mind. HAPPINESS AND UNHAPPINESS IS BECAUSE OF TURBULENCE IN THE MIND The secret lies in how the mind interprets the perceptions it receives. Remember, the mind is like a lake full of waves bubbling up and down, and as long as these waves remain in turbulence and turmoil, your receptivity will be likewise. So, by changing one’s attitude, we simply mean changing the mind, re-patterning the mind, as I always say, if the mind is well trained through meditation and spiritual practices to bring a greater calmness within the ripples. If this is not achieved, then self-analysis, which is Jnana Yoga, which you might have heard of, also has excellent results. Through self-analysis, we know the value of the turbulence. We know that all the happiness or unhappiness we undergo is because of the turbulence in the mind. When one can look at this turbulence objectively, the turbulence or the ripples in the mind lose their value and sting, and you do not become unnecessarily elated or deflated. So, this area is beyond happiness and unhappiness. You reach an area where happiness and unhappiness become the same. THE NATURE OF MAN IS JOY, WHICH IS BEYOND HAPPINESS AND UNHAPPINESS When you change your attitude, you are objectifying what you are going through, and by objectification, you witness what is happening. Most of you know that there are two hemispheres in the brain. The one section governs all thinking and analysis, and that is the section that has to be brought under control. In this section, the brain’s left hemisphere undergoes all analysis and interprets it through symbols and words, interpreting any happening or thing, but it has limited means. If that limitation is removed, then you can objectify anything happening. So, we draw from the intuitive or spiritual faculty in man, which can be expressed through the brain cells. Through spiritual practices, we activate that section of the brain, the right hemisphere, whereby you draw forth specific energies that quieten the turbulence in the left hemisphere. This cannot be done by the left hemisphere alone; it is not that the two hemispheres are apart, but it is not alive as it should be. When the spiritual energies are poured into the analytical side of the brain, the judgmental part, the rationalising part, then your rationalisations will have or will assume a different meaning altogether because, to a specific measure, it is filled with that spiritual energy within you. This will change the entire character of your thinking, and when character as the whole of your thinking is changed, your attitude will change. The attitude one has to have for spiritual unfoldment is tackled from so many different angles. Firstly, by enforcing it with spiritual energy. Secondly, by looking at things in the right way. I quoted this couplet a million times before, and you must have heard it: “Two men behind prison bars, one saw mud, the other saw stars.” Both were in the same circumstances, but the attitude – one saw glory, and the other saw gloom. And this gloom is produced by man himself because he has not found the secret. It is a secretless secret instead because it is inherent in man, but he has failed to activate that inner force within him. That the Kingdom of Heaven, which is within, he has failed to open the gates so that this flood of energy could rush through into his mind’s stuff and help him change his attitudes in life. For the nature of man is joy, which is beyond happiness and unhappiness, beyond the laws of opposites, but one has to release the pleasure. There has to occur an explosion within oneself, and that explosion comes about by yearning for that joy. Nothing is achieved for nothing. You get nothing for nothing and very little for sixpence. IN EVERY ADVERSITY, THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY When we open the doors of that infinite source within us, then with the power and added energy given to the analytical mind, our attitudes change. One person can go through the severest misery in life and yet look at it objectively so that he does not feel it. For in every adversity, there is an opportunity. Anything adverse can be changed. I know a friend during business days who had quite an excellent job and was sacked from the job – redundancy is what the bosses always tell you. So he was at

What to Eat and Drink? A Spiritual Perspective on Nourishment

Attachment, Christ, Divinity, Effort, Evolution, Force, Happiness, I and my Father are one, Impressions, Law of opposites, Laws, Light, Meditation, Mind, Oneness, Path, Spiritual Path, Spiritual Practices, The Path, The Three Gunas, Unfoldment, Universe

YOUR SYSTEM HAS TO ADJUST ITSELF FOR MORE REFINED FOOD AND DRINKS People on the spiritual path have to have specific observances. I recommend a book by Swami Vivekananda called “Raja Yoga”, or I have done two tapes on Raja Yoga (UK 1978 – 03 & UK 1978 – 04), which you could purchase and listen to. A person on the spiritual path has to have specific observances. There are movements in the world that will tell you that if you want to be initiated or join their movement, you must not smoke, you must not eat meat, you must not drink, you must not – something else which men and women do. They make it conditional upon you. In our movement, we do not enforce these things because if a person has been eating, say, meat for ten, fifteen, twenty years, fifty years, hundreds of years, it would be hazardous, and any doctor will tell you that it would be perilous to withdraw from that just immediately. The system is so used to that. But as you go on with your meditational practices and as the system becomes more refined, your need for grosser foods will become less and less. So here, you do not force yourself into things because as the system becomes more sophisticated, you will want more refined foods and drinks, whatever you have. When you have reached the stage where you have gone beyond it all, you become a law unto yourself. Then you can do anything you like, and you will not have any effect whatsoever. You are beyond it all. So, it is effortless. I would advise those contemplating vegetarianism that if you eat meat three times a day, which many people do, bacon and eggs in the morning, steakburger for lunch and at night some kind of stew, something like that, then cut it down a bit. If you eat meat seven times a week, cut it down to six, and later on, cut it down to five or four. Cut it down slowly because food affects a person’s thinking. FOOD ALSO CONTAIN THE THREE GUNAS Food also has the Gunas. That is a different subject, and we have a whole catalogue of audio files where the three forces of nature, “Tamas, Rajas and Sattva”, are explained. Tamas is inertia, Rajas is the activating force, and Sattva is the pure force of the Light. These three elements control the entire material universe, from the subtlest to the grossest. Food also contains these three forces. In grosser foods, you will find Tamas more dominant; in finer foods, you will discover Sattva, the purity and refined aspect of the material universe more dominant. So, the grosser the foods we ingest, the grosser our bodies and thinking could become. EVERYTHING CONTAINS LIFE After all, what is the human body? The human body is nothing but food. That is all what it is. The human body is nothing but food. The human body is composed of food. Food has formed all these muscles, blood, bones, etc. As we go on in our meditational practices and become more refined, our need for Tamasic food, grosser foods will become less and less. Some people go to extremes, such as “Oh, this is Tamasic food, so I must not touch it” and things like that. They go to such extremes that they would even harm their bodies, and overnight changes are no good. So, see how you feel. As you go on, the needs become less, and you will eat purer foods. Some Indian scientists had discovered a heartbeat in a cabbage. So, everything contains life. Some forms of life are of a lower developed stage in the scale of evolution, and naturally, animals are of a higher stage in evolution than the plant stage. So, we sustain life by consuming life, and when our systems become refined, and we can consume that which is of a lower evolutionary stage, by all means, that is good. When you reach beyond all this, beyond the laws of opposites and even beyond that which is beyond life, you can be in the world and yet not of the world. When that stage is reached, you have the licence to do anything you like, for there will be no attachments no impressions created on the mind that will perpetuate happiness and unhappiness. YOUR CHOICE, LET THE CHOICE BE GOOD So, in our organisation, we leave it entirely to the meditators. You have to walk on your own feet. I can only show you the path to unfoldment. The choice is yours. Let the choice be good, wholesome, wholesome that leads to wholeness; then we have life. We enjoy life when we become one with the Father. Is that not nice to become one with Divinity? Christ ate fish, and he drank. He had a good old time of it, the old boy. But remember, he was in complete control of all nature. He was. He dined with the Pharisees in the Inns and the Innkeepers, etc., but he was not affected. He was still one with his Father. How far are we? … Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1980 – 13

The Path to the Absolute: Beyond All Attributes

Bliss, Chela, Compassion, Devotion, Divinity, Duality, Eternal, Eternity, Force, Freedom, God, Grace, Guru, Happiness, Humility, Integration, Joy, Kindness, Kingdom of Heaven within, Law of opposites, Laws, Love, Meditation, Mental Patternings, Mind, Non-Attachment, Path, Peace, Philosophy, Relationships, Relative World, Self, Spiritual, Spiritual Force, Spiritual Practices, Superconscious, Surrender, The Absolute, Unfoldment, Unity, Universal, Universe

BECOME THE OBSERVER When you become the observer, everything will have a different meaning. By becoming an observer, you become non-attached to all the happenings around you and the lower layers of your mind. You become non-attached because that Spiritual Force is permeating the lower, grosser levels of the mind. Then you do not need to love. You are love. There is no need, for need is a conditioning. It is not freedom. You are just love. You have just surrendered. That is how man is awakened. That is how man is unfolded to his higher self. He just cannot help loving. He just cannot help being charitable. He just cannot help crying through your eyes when there are tears. He just cannot help smiling when a smile is on your lips. He just cannot help feeling the pain when there is pain in you. To meet such a man, your life would have been lived well. For example, it is a privilege for me to have met my guru. Perhaps the many lifetimes I have gone through were a preparation leading me until the ripe moment came and I met my guru. BE A MAN When you talk of a guru and chela relationship, then, as I always say, it is a love affair. An unpatterned, unconditioned, undemanding and non-possessive love affair, just an all-giving of the entirety of oneself, not to the personage but to that which he represents. For whom are we to recognize the spiritual level of anyone? We cannot. And the greater the spiritual personage he is, the more humble and ordinary he becomes because of his contact with ordinary people. He lives a life of duality and yet of unity, a life of individuality and yet of universality. To use the words of Shakespeare in “Julius Caesar,” the elements were so mixed in him that the world could stand up and say, “He was a man.” Yes. Do not become gods. Become human, and that is what I mean by being a man. By reaching the highest limits or the pinnacle of how far a man can achieve. When you have captured the entirety of the Superconscious Mind, you become one with the personalized God. You find the ability at will to take on birth again, or you do not want to take on birth, and you merge away into the Impersonal God, which is the Absolute. IT IS A DIFFICULT PATH, AND YET SO EASY When they tell you that you transcend the relative and merge into the Absolute, they are talking bullshit. Promises, promises, promises. That is what they all do. All our churches: the Hindus, the Moslems, the Christians, the Buddhists, the Jews. The whole lot of them. What are they giving you? Truth? No. Experience? No. But promises, so well-fashioned. They are so made plausible. Because we do not understand it, that is why it seems plausible. Do you see, my beloveds? It is a difficult path, and yet so easy. Illumination is around the corner, for you are already illuminated. It is just to turn around the corner and find it standing there waiting for you, wanting to embrace you. It welcomes you, and you can call Grace. No one gives you Grace. You talk of the Grace of God. There is no such thing. I am giving you a lot of revolutionary ideas here. Grace is forever there, for that which you call God is Grace. He does not give it to you. God is Grace. God is love. God is compassion. God is kind. God is everything you can think of. It is all there. Right there. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All there. Everywhere. WHEN YOU GO BEYOND ALL PATTERNS, YOU ARE FREE Some of you may feel yourself so individual and apart from the guru. No. No. There are no parts in totality. It is not parts that make things total. Parts do not make the total in spiritual life. In spiritual life, there is only the total, but the human mind cuts it up into parts, which is fragmentation. Reaching the totality again and unfolding oneself to the totality is to get rid of fragmentation and find integration. Integration means realizing this is one vast continuum without any dividing lines. Man’s mind creates these boundaries where boundaries do not exist. Patterns upon patterns upon patterns. Layers upon layers upon layers. Those are the boundaries. When the final realization comes that there are no boundaries, you go beyond all patterns; when you go beyond all patterns, you are free. You feel that freedom, you experience that freedom within yourself, and you are free to do whatever you want to do because then you become a law unto yourself, and that law which you become unto yourself is the Law of Divinity. Then you become like a poem. Though set in its metric system, it has total freedom of expression. You find freedom in bondage and bondage in freedom because you are embodied, not only physically, but you are embodied also in a subtle body. That subtle body you could call the mental body that is the furthest man can reach. To reach the highest level of himself, which is the Superconscious Mind, where you have embraced the entire universe since its inception or instead since beginless time, and when you reach the realms of beginless time, at the same time, you also get endless time. BECOMING THE OBSERVER, YOU ARE SO UNIVERSAL There is no time. Time is connected to space. Space cannot exist without time, and time could not exist without space. These are conditionings. You measure six thousand miles from here to England, which will take eight hours of flying time. If there were no space of six thousand miles, there would not be eight hours; if there were no eight hours, there would not be six thousand miles. But you have to live it. Charles and Linda had to fly six thousand

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