Recorded on 18 October 2025 with worldwide participants
0:00 Intro
0:20 There are so many myths about the powers that one can get through meditation. What powers can one get through meditation?
7:02 How can one be more successful in life when one meditates?
10:00 Is it possible for a Guru who has done a lot of meditation to resolve people’s problems?
15:52 Superstitious beliefs of doing rituals or fasting on particular days.
24:18 Can one know the future?
26:27 What is the soul and can one’s soul be read?
32:00 Is the soul and consciousness the same?
35:00 Some people who meditate claim they can heal people in the name of spirituality.
38:09 Meditation heals your mind and prepares you for everyday challenges in life.
38:58 Does Babaji have the power to produce something from thin air?
40:29 Through meditation one is protected from external influences that might harm one emotionally or physically, god intervenes at the last moment – does this happen all the time, or is it in the imagination?
41:46 I see blankness when meditating, am I doing it correctly?
43:05 What if our body moves forwards and backwards in meditation?
43:50 In day to day life, how to settle the mind – and what are the things that unsettle you from the Self?
45:30 When a blissful, joyful feeling in meditation comes, should we try to dissolve that feeling?
46:16 What is Dharma?
49:00 What does Babaji as a Yogi advise as the right path?
50:05 If the mind gets cleared, is whatever path one choses the right choice?
51:01 How to encourage open and honest communication with people?
52:26 What if the siddhi comes, unasked for?
54:25 Why is there more emphasis on ‘neti, neti’ (not this, not that) rather than all this, all that?
56:24 When I question my existence, I can’t find it.
57:34 How to remain unaffected by people who live in the same household?
Discourse: In Quest of Truth – online Q&A no.248
Myths, Miracles and Meditation
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/-hZHjeFZ-Uo
Recorded: 18 October 2025
Start of Questions and Answers
Mata Ambaji: Baba, today’s topic is ‘Myths, miracles and meditation’. So, Baba, can I quickly tell a short story about Ramakrishna? So, once, one day Ramakrishna was walking on the banks of Ganga, and a sadhu comes in front of Him and asks that “I heard that You have done a lot of austerities and a lot of meditation, can You walk on to the Ganga and show me Your powers?” So, Ramakrishna said, “I have no powers, but do you have any powers?” He said, “Yes, I have so many powers. I can walk on the river Ganga and cross the riverbed and come back, means cross from the one riverbank to the other and come back walking on the water.” Ramakrishna asked him “How many years of sadhana austerities or tapas have you done?” He said, “I have meditated for forty years.” AndRamakrishna said, “Why have you wasted forty years of your life? Because when you just pay a half paisa – in those days, that was calculation of the money – to a boatman who can take you across and bring you back, you have wasted forty years of your life doing meditation just to walk on to the river. So, what benefit do you get out of that?”
So, Baba, today my question is, we have so many myths in the world – myths that meditation can be done to achieve powers. So, what powers can one achieve when you meditate?
Babaji Maharaj: You see, importance is the purpose for which you want to meditate, and the purpose that a Self-realized Master would recommend you to meditate, recommending what you have to achieve. When you have to achieve, you must always aim to the highest, topmost, supreme. That’s how the Divinity is recognized as a Supreme Being. The Self is recognized as a Supreme Being. Definitely, we have read these things. And in fact, sometimes in my talks or answers, I have also quoted Ramakrishna, our own Guru, Shivabalayogi, and Ramana Maharishi also. So, all yogis have spoken, this tapas; and I myself have told many to people, “You see, with few thousand rupees or some dollars you can fly at 38,000 feet. You don’t need to do tapas.” Tapas is the highest virtuous sadhana, an exercise that a human being can undertake when he tackles his own mind. The mind that has gone out of control since time immemorial and has given so much of confusion, has made that mind to give an imagined individual self which does not really exist and forget its real Self, real existence, what it is; all these things have happened.
So, to achieve that, to realize the Self, that’s what it means. To regain what you have forgotten about your Self, that’s how from Buddha, Adi Shankaracharya, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Ramana Maharishi and our own Guru, Shivabalayogi, they all recommended sadhana to achieve Self-realization to one’s own Self; that is the most important thing. So, it is something like you have ten thousand dollars and you can see God, but instead of seeing God, you just want to waste it by drinking alcohol. So, all the ten thousand dollars is gone. Like that you are wasting.
So, when you meditate, the mind gains power, resolution power, concentration power, focus power. I have always tried to tell, the mind is your powerhouse to live in this world also. If it is best concentrated and more purified, not corrupted – corrupted in a sense if it is not confused with millions of thoughts and millions of its own assumptions and imaginations and judgments through which it would have acquired habits, which are sitting in the subconscious state. Actually, meditation’s basic aim is to teach so that you can get rid of all those imaginations, the judgments which are sitting as imprints in the subconscious state, which is preventing you to know your real Self. Something like your consciousness has become mind and has sucked into the movie that is happening on the screen, which is just a make-believe, and it is not a reality; it has only appearance value, not an existence value. And you have forgotten you are sitting and watching the movie. Instead, because your consciousness is sucked, you start thinking everything that is happening in the movie as happening to you; a good, a bad, a hero, a villain, a panic – you see yourself also in that movie.
Now you need to overcome that effect and you need to know who you are, that is the highest thing, is real, and needs to be applied; that is what you need to achieve. Not that you go for small, smaller things. When you can become the factory owner, you don’t have to become watchman or any such things; you are the owner, you don’t have to be. Like, there is an old joke also. The wife complains to the husband, “I am very unhappy that you are the owner of the company, because all my friends always keep boasting, “My husband got a bonus, my husband got an increment, my husband got a promotion.” But I am unable to tell anything about you, because you don’t get promoted, you are already the owner, and you don’t get any bonus, because you are the one who gives the bonus.” That is the joke. See, you are already the owner, you don’t have to be an employee to get a bonus, so that’s what you need to realize, that’s what our Guru taught us. When you meditate, you go for the highest, not for small, small things.
Mata Ambaji: Baba, one meditates to keep the mind under control and keep the anxieties low. I can understand it helps for everyday life, but at the same time, what are the other benefits, means how one can be more successful in their life when somebody meditates?
Babaji Maharaj: See, one word I would like to use, if anybody meditates very well, understanding the technique, and clear the mind of its habits and keep it concentrated, and with that concentrated mind, the one who can apply the brains – he is able to utilize the brain services maximum; he can be like a genius. I told in the beginning, mind is like a powerhouse for everybody to live in this world also. Apart from living a stress-free life, achieving peace always, because everybody knowingly or unknowingly is looking for peace and happiness only. As Ramana Maharishi also has told, our Guru also used to tell, “You want peace and you want to do everything for yourself, try to know yourself, then all your problems will be solved.” You can become a better, matured personality, matured, real human being, upholding moral values and human values, you can learn to consider each other; you won’t be narrow-minded and selfish, you will overcome.
This is the biggest hurdle for a human being when they become selfish and narrow-minded, and their behavior will always be revolving around a small thing. That’s what is known as the ‘kupa manduka’. ‘Kupa manduka’ means frog of a small pond, which refuses to recognize the existence of the ocean; Swami Vivekananda telling this story of the frog. So, it will be like that. You can overcome when you practice meditation. This is the worldly benefit, apart from going for the Self-realization. The rest is all you have to sacrifice, you must not go for this smaller thing, because you will lose. Suppose you are sitting in a rocket, and your aim is to reach Mars. After going some distance, you want to come out of the rocket, you will lose your life also, and you won’t be able to go to Mars. Like that, on the way if you get involved into this myths and miracles type of thing, and you will not be able to achieve anything. You will lose that vital Self-realization that which can give you the Supreme Peace, which can help you to merge into the real Self of yours.
Mata Ambaji: So, Baba, here, because we get to read a lot of books, and we get to hear about people that somebody meditated, or a guru meditated for many years, and they achieved certain powers – they can read other people’s minds, or they possess some kind of siddhis. Siddhis means some kind of occult powers, like they can produce something from the thin air, or they can change somebody’s destiny, or they can read the future, or they can tell somebody’s past and can resolve a lot of things in people’s minds, or people’s lives. So, is it possible for a guru who has done a lot of meditation to resolve all people’s problems?
Babaji Maharaj: In my opinion, these are all myths. There is no such thing, because a mind has come into existence of the consciousness coming in touch with the brain. I tell that in my experience of tapas and observations, what my Guru taught, every individual, when people are sitting with me, students, all of you individually know what is happening in your mind. Nobody else can know it. A Guru guides you how to control that mind, how to make it peaceful, how to achieve Self-realization through that mind. Mind is the gateway for Self-realization. That’s what a real Guru, a real yogi guides. The rest, all who talk is all myths only, they fool people. When people talk colorfully, people get fooled and want to believe. There is no such thing.
Often, you see, whatever is in your mind, if I talk fifty things, maybe one or two or ten, few might come true. Some may not come true what you are thinking, and very often you are likely to get carried away also. “Oh, yes, yes, yes.” Often, you are nervous in front of such gurus. You cannot talk the truth, because others will make fun of you. Such situation is created out of fear; you accept whatever such a person tells as the truth, whereas it is not true, you also know. It is not in your mind. Nobody can know this one. A Self-realized yogi means, after meditating, He would have known that thing after knowing which there is no need to know anything else. That’s what our Gurus taught, not what is happening in everybody’s mind. Suppose, I am a yogi, my mind needs to be always in the Self, settled in the Self. If I try to know what is happening in this person’s mind, that person’s mind, then I have to apply my mind, resolve, then I lose my own staying in the Self, and I lose that yoga. I will not be a yogi anymore. And with that resolution, I lose everything. So, that is not at all recommended. A Guru advises you must sacrifice all those siddhis if at all it comes, and there is no such thing. Often they are all the handful of magics that happen. We people get carried away. So that is not that thing.
I used to think… I’m not quite trying to criticize any guru or any name, any individual or any group of individuals; for sake of education, to answer your question only, I’m talking. I used to think as a youngster also, “God comes all the way and is it only a ring that He is going to give you?” You want peace. That’s when I have told, if there is anybody who can wave their hand and give peace to humanity. Everybody claims “Peace, peace, peace,” they talk “Peace,” but nobody practices peace. That’s why there is no peace in the world. Conflicts are going on, going on. Everybody wants to claim, “I stopped the war, I am the one who gave peace.” But where is the peace? Can you make two people stop in the mind? If one is going to keep attacking the other, where is the peace?
So, you remain as a student, I remain as a guru and teach you, then we both can have peace. If I want to take my Guru‘s place, there won’t be any peace. Because I won’t be able to teach like my Guru. So that is why conflicts happen always. So, we need to understand these points, what God means, why do you need God? You should be able to get the Supreme Thing. And you think, what is the Supreme Thing that you want? You want peace. Not a million dollars cannot give it to you; emperorship of the whole earth cannot give you happiness or peace. Even if you win the whole solar system, become the master of all the galaxies, then also you won’t have peace.
One more thing, jokingly I have told when people have asked me, “Is their life nearby in any other world?” In my opinion, I have told, “Thank God there is no life, at least nearby, so far. Because if they are weak, we will attack and destroy them. If we are weak, they will come and attack us.” This has been the history of humanity on this earth also. Whichever country is weak, the stronger country bullies them. Nobody wants to live peacefully with each other.
Mata Ambaji: So Baba, there are other big myths in society, and especially in the Hindu religion. I’m not sure about the other religions, but in Hindu religion we get to hear – “Certain day you do this much of fasting and certain day you do this prayer. If you don’t do this… you should not eat this, you should eat only this.” So, these kinds of food things, these kinds of “On a particular day you have to do a particular prayer. If you don’t do this, you will be…” In my opinion, it weakens the humanity. It weakens the human mind. Because it instigates fear in us.
Babaji Maharaj: You see, often these are traditional things, in earlier days recommended for a specific purpose. We should know the limitations. Simply by fasting we cannot get Self-realized or we cannot please God. It is another thing. For sake of body’s health, for some time if you undertake fasting, that can be helpful. But not that you remain whole day fasting. Swamiji used to joke with the ladies also, “You keep fasting and you are annoyed, and you show all your anger to the children. Instead, eat a little bit, little bit. And then do the puja. Then try to remember God. God will be more happy. You can apply your mind better. It will not be stressed out.” It will not be. I have seen many people, they make it a fashion. “O, I have been fasting the whole day.” But the whole day, hundreds of cups of tea they will be drinking tea, drinking to kill that hunger that is inside and to control their mind.
The original idea is, particularly for ladies who are supposed to look after the house and kitchen or any work – now we can take it for both men and women – this was prescribed so that once in a while, once a week, once a month they can get some rest from the kitchen. So, they could fast a little bit, whatever that is possible. In that fasting time, they can try to remember God, do some sadhana. Either meditate or do some chanting, do some devotional songs, all these things. After doing which they need to take the food. That is why in Bhagavad Gita it also tells, “Those who eat too much also cannot do yoga. Those who do not eat at all also cannot do yoga.” Even in Buddha’s life, those people who have read Buddha’s story, they all understand.
First in the beginning, with the advice of some priest and pundits, Buddha used to fast, terribly He used to fast. But peace did not descend. At one place, Buddha says, “My belly was touching my back.” He had become so thin. But the peace was not coming. The truth for which He came out, it was not descending. He could not understand what the truth is of the Self or what the truth of the birth and death. He could not understand. Then one day He got up. He went to the village. He begged for some bhiksha. A young girl gave some yoghurt rice, curd rice. He ate that and He felt peaceful. Then He came and sat under the tree in Bodha Gaya. And then He meditated. Then He became totally peaceful. Peace descended and realization occurred. “Ah, this is the truth of my own existence.” Thus, He could talk about nirvana, meditation, all such things. So, that is what is necessary.
Sometimes unnecessarily, propagandas are done. Our own Guru was very sincere. In the midnight hours, He used to get up, have a glass of milk, have a bath in the nearby pond and then come back to the temple and sit for samadhi again. And for the next twenty to twenty-two hours, He used to remain in samadhi. He used to say “A little bit of food to sustain the physical body is necessary.” All those people who propagate that… a certain yogi used to be there on the other banks of the river. And they, in 60s and 70s, their people propagated, “This yogi does not open eyes for the whole year. He does not eat anything and he always remains fresh as if he had a beautiful shower.” And as if his kaupin, was washed and ironed, everything was propagated. People came in millions because people want circus, curiosity, to seek; out of curiosity only they come. They cannot understand what are these things.
In Swamiji’s time also, when He was very young – this is very important to understand for people who do meditation and sadhana, who want to go for Self-realization – He used to take one glass of milk when He was young in the beginning of years, then villagers used to make fun. Because myths are all there. In ancient times, sages used to do tapas for thousands of years without taking anything. But that is not true. Sages also used to take food, a certain amount of food and then do sadhana. Then Swamiji also, when villagers made fun, “This Bala yogi takes a glass of milk. What type of tapas?” Then Swamiji gave up that milk also. For some time He did not take, He was becoming very thin and it was dangerous for His body.
Then Tapaswiji Maharaj, the great saint, came to Swamiji, who knew about Swamiji, who had met Swamiji already. He came and woke up Swamiji and advised Him, “Swamiji, do not make Your body a circus item. People of the world are foolish. They do not know what the truth is. You must take a little bit of amount, at least, that You can sustain Your body. Otherwise, if the body goes, you cannot help anybody. You cannot create an awareness about Self-realization. And this vidya, You cannot give this meditation vidya.” Then Swamiji again started taking a glass of milk. Swamiji used to recall about this always. So, everybody has taken sincerely, but those people… Then Swamiji showed me his photo in the magazine about that yogi, “See, how can he be so fat and stout if he has not been eating anything for the whole year; he would have died. This is all propaganda gimmicks the committee is making; committee wants to earn money for them, that is all. People come out of curiosity. They do not know what the truth is. That is not the truth. The truth is that you control your mind, you realize the Self that is within. For that you do not have to make the circus item of the body. You take a certain amount that you can digest. That is necessary.”
That’s how Swamiji taught us also to do tapas in such a way, not to spoil the body’s health is so important. Because the health is good. Otherwise, if the health goes, we cannot teach, we cannot communicate to you. So that’s very important to be sincere in the path of spirituality, not to go into myths unnecessarily, try to understand. Some people might unnecessarily try to impress people, masses, they try to claim all these things, boast all these things. But that is not the truth. People don’t know. People are ready to believe anything. Anybody, anything. Even if the government declares a certain monk as a culprit and he is wanted, but people are established with him and they want to believe him, whatever it is. “I have established a Kailash and I can do anything.” You can tell anything and people are ready to believe. That’s why I have always told my principle: careful. If you are ready to get fooled, there are people ready to fool you. Beware of that one.
Mata Ambaji: Baba, what is Your opinion about knowing the future and telling the past of somebody? Sadhana is needed for those kind of things? Because people believe that, people do get carried away a lot. And they think the meditation or any kind of sadhana, any kind of austerities are to be done to know the future.
Babaji Maharaj: See, majority of the people in the world definitely believe for this because they want to know what’s going to happen. But you know that tomorrow morning you have to get up and you have to prepare your bread. You have to earn your bread. Nobody else is going to earn for you. This is important. Even Bhagavad Gita talks that there is no such thing called future. Future is only in the planning, in your imagination; that is all. Past is in your memory. Present is the only truth that when you can put an effort. That’s what, in the present effort only you can shape your future in a better way. If you are more positive in the present, you can shape a better destiny, positive destiny for yourself.
People tell; when you are ready to listen to them, they will tell colorfully. And the jokes are also there. The parrot reader was sitting on the footpath. The person came. “Can you tell through your parrot whether I will get the lottery or not?” He tells, “Idiot, had I known about this would I be sitting on the footpath like a begging alms person? I would have got the lottery first and built a mansion for myself.” That is the joke in a magazine that came. But we are ready to believe that, and we will give him some money. Then whether it happens or not, that money has gone. Once our nose is cut, we don’t want to tell anybody that our nose was cut. That is another thing in this world I have seen.
Mata Ambaji: So, Babaji, another thing is like ‘soul reading.’ People describe about the soul, about the atman in so many ways. Somebody says that the soul is in an air form, somebody says it is like a light form. It is so amazing because in this world, everybody has their own imagination about the soul. The amazing thing is the reading of the soul. So, what is Your opinion about the soul and reading about the soul? And what is this whole myth around the souls?
Babaji Maharaj: Nobody knows. All those people who talk like that, they don’t know. Sometimes some teachers would have symbolically mentioned, ‘compared to the light’ or anything. Anything that is visible to naked eyes or in the laboratory or to the telescopes, that is not the soul. Soul is not visible even to the telescope or anything. When it is not visible, they try to call it with some name. So, ‘soul, soul’, the name has been given. So, that is what it is.
In ancient times, when the sages realized the Self, that soul, they call it ‘tattva’. That is the original word they used. ‘Tattva’ means, simply ‘that.’ That was such an awesome experience. They understood in naked eyes, it cannot be seen. Even if it is seen, it will not be accepted. We have known this space as void or nothing, but that nothing could be everything; who knows? But we won’t accept because already we have been fed this space as a void place. So, then our mind refuses to accept anything true. You have been used to call ‘apple’ as an ‘apple’ because everybody in the world calls it as an ‘apple’. But nobody knows the truth. If I come and tell you “This is God,” you will laugh at me because you are used to call it as ‘apple’. That is the fun of the language. When majority of the people accept, that becomes the truth – in this world. For sake of communication and understanding, we imagine.
When we discover a planet, we don’t know what it is. We have named it as a planet. And we name it with a number or an exoplanet for sake of communication in that topic, in that field of understanding. In the same way, spirituality also used certain terminologies. As time went by, people wanted to call in their own way. Those people who did not know what it is. When other students asked them, they did not want to tell, “I don’t know.” No guru wants to tell that “I don’t know about it.” They want to show that they know it. They think that “If this student doesn’t know what it is, whatever I tell, he will accept it. Let me tell something.” He tells something and the student accepts. And that becomes the order of the day. You simply tear your jeans, pant and walk in the streets, that becomes the fashion. First time somebody make fun of you, “Hey your trousers are torn. What are you doing?” You will tell that “This is the fashion of the day. This is the order of the day.” Then the other also thinks, “O, I also need to tear my pants. That is the fashion.” That person also tears. Another tears. Ten tear, fifty people tear, and then that becomes the order of the day. That is the fashion. So, now when they become majority, they look at all the people who wear pants or the trousers without getting torn and they laugh at them, “O, their pants are not torn at all. They don’t know what the fashion is. They are uneducated people.” So, that’s what happens, when I talk the truth, they will make fun of me, that I am uneducated. Because those people who talk otherwise become majority. That is what happens in this world. Funny things. But the truth is truth.
If anybody wants, sincerely wants to go to the truth, they need to be sincere also. If they get involved in these mythical things, they will be revolving there only. The Self will never be visible. The Self is the highest thing. Once you achieve that one, you get rid of, you transcend the entire creation. Everything vanishes, disappears. All the fun becomes trivial. As a child, you would have been playing with a small toy. Now, as you are grown up, when you are fifty or sixty, that toy would be trivial for you. At that age, you would have fought a war for that toy. But today, you won’t like to fight with anybody for that. You would like to give away that toy. “Take this toy, you play. I have played enough. Enough. It’s over for me.” So, that’s how when you realize the highest things, everything becomes so trivial.
Mata Ambaji: So, Baba, what is soul? Are soul and consciousness the same?
Babaji Maharaj: Consciousness. Only clue is within your mind. That’s what I will try to tell one more time. In your mind, just now there might be millions of thoughts. They are all imaginations. But in the midst of all these thoughts, in your mind, which is nothing but consciousness actually – when it is thinking, it is known as mind, when it becomes purified, it is pure consciousness; that is the terminology we use, nearest to clue to give understanding to the seekers – in the midst of such millions of thoughts, there is one thing, that is the consciousness of your own existence. You always feel that you exist. But just now, because your attention is scattered into millions of thoughts and everywhere, so you are unable to focus your attention onto the consciousness of existence and know from where it is coming.
You might be simply thinking it is coming from the body, because the consciousness is in touch with the brain. It has shifted so strongly, that you appear to be yourself as the body, but you are not this body. When we tell “You are that consciousness of existence,” that is the soul. This will be possible in your meditation when you follow and understand the right technique, just to watch in between eyebrows and don’t get involved with the thoughts and visions, don’t try to analyze and don’t get engaged with them. Then all the thoughts and visions will disappear. That is the technology. If you hold on to the thought, that thought will be there. But you just watch the thought, that thought will disappear. It won’t be there anymore. Then finally, you will be able to notice this consciousness of existence within that consciousness. That is the awesome. You cannot make that disappear. You focus on that. You get absorbed into that more and gain the awareness of the Self. This is the gateway. This is the method that one has to proceed, in the truth.
Any other myths will never help you to progress further in meditation. You will all be simply going on into the vision after vision, vison after vision, you’ll be simply playing with the toys. And the mother will not come and take you. She will be busy in the kitchen. As long as you keep playing with the toys. Mother working in the kitchen means the Divine. Only when you want Divine and nothing else, then the Divine will come for you.
Mata Ambaji: So, nowadays Baba, there is another thing; I have met some people who meditate ten minutes every day and they say they are great healers. And they can heal. They use different techniques of healing people. And it’s just so funny to me. In the name of healing, it has become a big business. What is the need of the doctors who go to the university, college and they spend ten years, twelve years of their life, studying medicine, go professional, and then they work in the hospitals for several hours. So, I don’t understand why this healing business suddenly is related to the meditation. And people, they just don’t know anything about the meditation and they claim that they meditate ten minutes every day and they have acquired some powers and they have become a healer. They can heal people. So, this is another big myth in the meditation, or in the name of spirituality.
Babaji Maharaj: Yeah, this healing; they don’t know anything about meditation. They don’t meditate really. They have not achieved any Self-realization. Simply for sake of ‘healing, healing, healing.’ It can work like a tranquilizer for a short while; I tell you something and you believe something. I tell you “I have healed you,” you believe that you have been healed. That is all. If I simply take my hand like this, “I am tying; your kundalini is awakened” and you have to believe it. That doesn’t happen like that one. It is the most infinite thing.
You practice meditation, sincerely, long time, then you can heal all your mental problems. For physical problems, yoga exercises can be preventive and helpful, and also many times you may need a medical expert’s advice. We always advise; if any ailment is there, you need to consult a medical expert. So, those are very important things. Otherwise, simply temporary beliefs and tranquilizers; that happens. So, that is what happening in the world. So, it has nothing to do with healing. A healing really can happen only when you yourself meditate for yourself. That mental healing will happen. Mental healing will happen. And for physical healing, you have to undertake such exercises, such lifestyle as advised by the medical experts and go to a medical expert if there is any healing necessary physically. That is very much necessary. This is my opinion.
Mata Ambaji: So, Baba, meditation heals you, heals your mind and your soul, means it heals your mind. And it makes you prepared to face the everyday challenges in the life.
Babaji Maharaj: Yeah, it is through the mind that either you become weak or strong. If your mind is concentrated and purified, it is under your control, then you become strong. If your mind is scattered and is stressed out, it is confused, then you become weak. Then you need healing. For that you have to meditate, then you can heal yourself in the real sense. That is what happens.
Mata Ambaji: Baba, can You produce something from the thin air? Do You have powers?
Babaji Maharaj: I did tapas for Self-realization, I am telling. I didn’t learn anything to produce from thin air. My Guru never taught such things. And He never performed Himself any such things. He used to convey His blessings. Those people who are devoted and have faith, they can receive a yogi‘s grace. Faith and devotion can work wonders. Even Ramakrishna has said, our Gurus have told, Shivabalayogi has told, anybody has told. They can really work wonders, because when you have faith and devotion, your mind becomes receptive to receive the grace and blessings of a yogi, the vibrations of which are flowing in all directions. So, such things can be helpful in the bhakti marga. You have to be sincere. That is a different thing. I do not produce anything from thin air.
Mata Ambaji: Thank You, Baba. I am very happy to know that all these things are just make-believe things. Actually, they are not real.
Question: Through meditation, one is always protected from any external influences that might harm you emotionally or physically. Even if one encounters negative influences in his or her life, miracles do happen. God intervenes at the last moment. But is it true that this happens all the time or due to one’s own imagination?
Babaji Maharaj: See, imagination is the real thing which makes a person believe that these things are happening. But if you meditate, your defense forces increase; defense forces means your mind becomes very strong. You become the master of your mind. And none of the negative things can influence you ever. You will have total faith in the Divinity. You will always remain connected with the Divine in your consciousness. That will be helpful. So, if you meditate, you can overcome any such imaginations, which can give you such fear psychosis or negative psychosis, any such thing. You will be more positive.
Question: Babaji, in meditation, when I am concentrating the mind and sight in between the eyebrows, I see a blankness, even though the eyes are closed. Can you please explain this blankness? Am I doing the meditation correctly?
Babaji Maharaj: You do not think it as a blankness. A void or a blankness is also an imagination. The thing that which appears as space or the blankness is what the soul or the pure consciousness is. If thoughts and visions disappear, then concentrate on the quietness. That is not actually blank. Blank is also an imagination. Something and nothing both are imaginations. Just like this room is filled with space or room is void with space. They both are imaginations. The way you look into it, it appears so. So, without thinking any such definitions, you continue the meditation. So, then that will be helpful to you. Meditation will move smoothly.
Question: Thank You, Babaji. What if our body is moving forward and back during meditation?
Babaji Maharaj: You should take care that it should not move like that. Sometime if the breath is getting reduced, that time the body moves like that. The breathing should go on smoothly. You must not starve yourself of oxygen. That is essential. So, before meditation, you try to do some long inhale and exhale of Pranayama practice; that will be helpful for the breathing to mechanically go on. Then you will be able to keep your body stabilized.
Question: Namaskaaram Babaji. So, my question is related to where You mentioned settling within the Self. So, when I’m trying to meditate, yes, I feel that over a period of time, a little bit I’m able to now separate myself from the thoughts that I’m having. But my question is related to the day-to-day life. Like when we are doing some activity, how to settle and what are the things that unsettle you from the Self? So, that’s something which I wanted to understand.
Babaji Maharaj: Regularly if you practice meditation for one hour, one benefit is that slowly your mind will stop absorbing imprints. Means acceptance will come. You are active in the world, you go on putting in efforts. You won’t go into a brooding, disappointment, frustration when the results come for your actions. Acceptance will be there. Again and again, you can put in efforts. Like that, your mind will remain purified and it will not get affected. Even when it happens according to your expectations or if it does not happen according to your expectations, you will remain unaffected. This benefit will be there when you practice meditation regularly one hour. Slowly, you will see changes after a few months or a year or so. Then the changes will appear within you. You will not feel agitated.
Same Questioner: Sure, thank You.
Question: Pranaam Babaji. Sometimes when we are meditating, it could be very easy to feel like a blissful, joyful feeling. Is it recommended to feel that or is it recommended to dissolve that feeling to a more neutral state?
Babaji Maharaj: When such a feeling comes, simply do not get excited. Keep your composure and continue watching in between eyebrows. So, that will subside into more peace. Peace is more composed. It will not create any excitement. That blissfulness converts into a peacefully settling down. So, if you continue like that, that will be more beneficial.
Question: Pranaams, Babaji. Babaji, I am circling a question again which I asked last time. Probably I have not understood it well. So, talking about dharma. So, my topic today is, can Babaji in a most simple way describe what is dharma?
Babaji Maharaj: You see, the basic thing that you need to understand, what is in front of you; three things, that is what our Guru said. You have a physical body. You need to take care of the health of this physical body. Your lifestyle and undertake such exercises, yogasanas, anything that can help you to keep your body as healthy as possible. Though the body has its limitations finally, it will age and go away one day. But as long as you are alive, you can try to keep it as healthy as possible. This is one dharma, means your duty, ‘kartavya’. This is what it means.
Then using this body, you need to keep your mind healthier. Make that mind to overcome selfishness and narrow-mindedness, achieve a broad-minded viewpoint, appreciation to others, consideration to others, and purify and try to realize yourself as that eternal soul. This is the second responsibility – dharma.
Third one is upholding moral values. When your mind is purified, you will be able to see a larger cause and consider about others, and uphold this dharma, moral values also. Combined these three things, if you are practicing with proper exercises, then you are following the right dharma in my opinion. This is what we need to understand. Because upholding moral values can be a long, wide subject, not easy to discuss what is right, what is wrong, like that. It is not possible. So, usually human beings put one set of justice for themselves, one set of justice for others. We end up doing selfish things. But what Sri Krishna taught, “Try to see a larger cause.” That is what our ancient sages also taught. When you pray, pray for all the worlds, “May all beings in all the worlds be happy.” Slowly, slowly, how much you can become broad-minded. It is not an easy thing for any human being, many times. So, trying to overcome the selfishness and narrow-mindedness is the real dharma.
Same Questioner: Babaji, as a Guru, if someone asks you about the right path, then what do you advise in that case? Do you apply as a yogi some of Your own insight to it or how is the right path given by the Guru?
Babaji Maharaj: This is what I am going to advise just now. What I advise, general advice is this one. Anything else, particularly when we know about a particular case. Just like if you call a doctor and tell that you need some consultation, the doctor would say, “I need to see the patient. When I see the patient, then only I will be able to tell something.” So, if I know what the situation is, then I might be able to advise “If you go like this, it might be better.” At that situation, whatever is good, then you will be able to take a decision when you are left with no choice. So, that is not an easy one too. But if your mind is more clear, you will be able to take a clear decision.
Same Questioner: So, Babaji, can I say finally, coming to Babaji, if my mind gets cleared, then whatever decision I take would be as part of a personally right choice?
Babaji Maharaj: Yeah, once you take a decision, do not regret. Just be ready to face it and then you have not committed any mistake at all. If you regret, you did the mistake. If you don’t regret… Like I don’t regret leaving my home and coming to Ashram fifty years ago, I never regretted. Even today I am happy. Whatever came I just faced, both good and bad, positive, negative, everything we faced. At every time, I never regretted anything. It was acceptable. This is part of life. Like that you go like a soldier, then it is good.
Same Questioner: Thank You, Babaji.
Question: Babaji, in today’s world, friends are playing tricks, manipulating and trying to get things they want. How do we encourage open and honest communication, so we have positive thoughts and relationships?
Babaji Maharaj: You have to be careful; do not allow anybody to exploit you. Whatever is possible, you can help somebody, and it should be reciprocal. So, if the other wants simply to exploit you and not help you, you don’t need it. So, that’s what I would say. So, if you meditate, your mind will become strong. You will not allow anybody to exploit you. You will go for the need. If you need to be in the society, friendly, just be there and you stick to your principles. You don’t have to compromise. With that, for the other friend you are acceptable then it’s okay. If for the other friend, it’s not acceptable, you cannot help it. Many times, we all have seen in the life. Many people have tried to exploit us; when we have not allowed them, they have abused and gone. That’s it, no problem. At least I didn’t allow them to exploit me. That’s how you try to live. You practice meditation, your mind will become more stronger and clear.
Question: So, earlier You recounted a story of a person that meditated for forty years to walk on water. So, the siddhi was sought. Suppose the siddhi comes unbidden or unasked for, like I was thinking of an example. Suppose you were a miner and your goal was gold. And when you’re digging, you run across some copper and you think, “Oh, I was after gold. So, I’m going to throw away this perfectly useful copper that I could make a tool with., I could give to somebody.” Why would I reject a siddhi that came unbidden if it was useful?
Babaji Maharaj: I understand your question, but if you are aiming to go for a higher thing, without wasting your time, you need to go for that. Suppose you are going for Self-realization, becoming one with the Divine. On the way, if a siddhi comes, you need to sacrifice that at that moment. If you get involved with the siddhi, you will lose the Self-realization. That’s what will happen. And after some time, when you resolve through the mind, the mind will also lose its power and it gets scattered again. Always the siddhi will not be with you. That is why a Master alerts you, “Until you don’t reach the Self-realization, do not get attracted to any other siddhis, surrender.” Once you realize, you will know what to do. Because at that time, when you realize the Self, you will not be selfish and you will not get attracted for your selfishness. Instead, you will be able to help others with any such things. You will pray to the Divine. That is why it is recommended not to get attracted to siddhis if your aim is for Self-realization.
Same Questioner: Okay, I understand that. Could I ask one more like another subtler angle at that, just to try?
Babaji Maharaj: Okay.
Same Questioner: If all this is me, all this is consciousness. and then I say, “Not this, not that”, I could also say “All this, all that”. So, the siddhi is me as well. So, this gets to this other question of, why is there this rejection? There’s always more emphasis on “Neti, neti”, rather than “All this, all that”.
Babaji Maharaj: You see, that’s why in these days, personally I do not teach like that. You don’t have to sacrifice this world, your way of life, anything. Simply, what you need to sacrifice is your mind’s judgments and assumptions. They are the ones which are giving you unhappiness due to its own cravings, inability to accept the results. So, when you practice meditation, your mind becomes purified and acceptance comes. Then you will realize how you exist as the eternal soul. If you understand that, it is good enough.
For this world, what we teach is, what is alerted, this world, entire universe, entire creation is impermanent. That much everybody can understand. Because it is impermanent, including your own physical body is impermanent, you cannot depend on these things forever, for your peace and happiness. That’s why it is recommended, if you go to the eternal, you can achieve a permanent peace and happiness. So, now the choice will be with the individual.
Same Questioner: Okay, thank you, Swami. If I may, this question I’ve been storing up for three times, even though it’s a little off topic. Can I ask it?
Babaji Maharaj: Yes, okay.
Same Questioner: So, this idea, people just throw out this idea; existence; you know you exist. It’s self evident. You don’t have to question it. But when I question it, I can’t find it. So why do we say that?
Babaji Maharaj: If you cannot find means, you are unable to observe. Your attention is somewhere else. Because through the mind when you are able to observe only, you will know. Just now your mind is attentive to its own imaginations. There are millions of thoughts there, and the mind is scattered, paying its attention. So, it’s unable to pay attention to that consciousness of existence which I spoke during my answers. In your mind only, it is there; mind itself is that. Everything that is in the mind is visible to you, but the mind itself is not visible. Because your attention is all on the imaginations of the mind. So, if you stop your attention on to the imaginations of the mind, then the mind will be visible to you.
Question: Namaste Babaji, I just wanted to ask you, you mentioned that meditation makes a person more purified and they become immune to negativity around them. But sometimes it’s not so easy. If you have people, you know, in the same household, there are many times people living together. And due to practical constraints, we are born in certain families. So, it would take a very high level of meditation to not be affected by such people. Is there any way that You would suggest? Because meditation at the ashram is much easier, because there are no such distractions. But at home, it’s more difficult.
Babaji Maharaj: You see, anywhere, anywhere; whether it is ashram, a temple, a house, a kingdom, parliament, when human beings are there, this disturbance can always be there. It is the same human beings behaving everywhere. Everybody will not be a silent saint always. This happens. I understand what you are talking. When this happens, only way is to keep your mind quiet and diverted. Apart from meditation, you can try to engage yourself in other exercises like any chanting, any prayers, devotional music. Try to keep yourself as busy as possible, which can work like a therapy for your mind to remain diverted and not to get affected in the negative atmosphere that might be around.
So, this is the only way – strong exercise; regularly, you do it. Then only you will remain unaffected. Because it is like for the tongue to live in the midst of thirty-two teeth. The tongue cannot run away anywhere else. It has to live there. If it becomes a little bit careless, the teeth will bite it. It has to be skillfully moving in the midst of them, perform its duty and remain unaffected. That way you have to practice, keeping your mind engaged to Divine chants and Divine prayers, devotional music and meditation, all these things.
Wonderful. Some very good questions came. Thanks to Ambaji also for lovely questions.
End of Session
SUMMARY
This Q&A explores myths and misconceptions about meditation, miracles, and spiritual powers. Babaji Maharaj emphasizes that true meditation aims for Self-realization, not supernatural abilities. He debunks claims of mind-reading, miraculous healing, and soul-reading as myths, stressing that meditation strengthens the mind, fosters peace, and helps overcome negativity. Rituals like fasting or specific prayers are seen as traditional but not essential for spiritual progress. Genuine healing and transformation come from sincere meditation and self-discipline, not from external displays or claims of mystical powers. The focus remains on self-awareness, moral values, and practical wisdom for daily life.
