Dedicated to the lotus feet of the divine Guru Shivabalayogi Maharaj

Special Instruction – Ashtavakra Samhita – Q&A, No. 258

Recorded on 4 January 2026 with US participants

0:00 Intro
0:10 Desire is the root of indiscrimination, Chapter 16, verse 7
3:54 What causes attachment?
5:42 Why does desire arise in the first place?
6:45 So desire is not the problem, it’s the attachment to the desire?
7:45 Is a Self-Realized Yogi free of desire or just free of attachment?
8:57 What use is the body for someone who is free of attachment?
9:47 Chapter 16, verse 7. A Yogi is free from the dualities of likes and dislikes.
13:44 A Yogi is not attached to interesting places
15:00 How did Babaji get on this call without a resolution in the mind?
16:49 When you’re completely in the moment, there is no resolution. There is just awareness of the present.
17:21 When you make a resolution, consciousness seems to automatically provide to fulfill that resolution.
18:57 Chapter 16, verse 9 “One attached to the world wishes to give it up in order to avoid its miseries, but that One who is free of all attachment is free from those miseries, even if he is moving in the world.”
20:51 How the world appears as a dream for the Yogi.
26:46 So we have to quiet the mind, silence the mind, and then what’s left is your own consciousness of existing?
27:37 Chapter 16, verse 10 “True knowledge is that state where the imagined individual self, the ego, no longer exists.”
29:32 Does “the knowledge” mean Self knowledge—awareness that you’re the Consciousness of Existence?
31:16 Chapter 16, verse 11. “Even if the gods, Shiva, Vishnu or Brahma, become your teacher, until you forget everything, you cannot become settled in the True Self.”
42:20 “The yogi who is liberated while alive, after dropping the physical body, will become one with the ultimate Truth.” Wasn’t he already one with the ultimate Truth?
43:57 Somebody who hasn’t attained Self Realization may not be able to imagine a level of Supreme Peace. They might think they are enjoying their body and the world fully, so they might not want to give them up.
46:15 Did the creation or bodies, these humans and all of creation come as a result of a desire, or was it just a spontaneous uncaused manifestation?
46:37 Baba, is desire something for a more evolved nervous system? Did creation begin with desire?
52:06 Imaginations eventually develop into desires, and eventually reach the desire that we want to know the Self, and if it is strong enough, we dedicate ourselves to discovering the Truth.

Register your free place for the live online meditation and Q&A with Babaji here

Related posts:

In Quest of Truth Podcasts

Listen to Babaji’s Question and Answer sessions wherever you are.
Available to download and listen offline.

Shri Babaji App

The Shri Babaji App provides guidance, motivation and inspiration to meditate and a useful meditation timer with Babaji giving the Jangama Dhyana Meditation technique.

  • Meditation instructions together with a timer to aid practice
  • Talks from Babaji on meditation and spiritual matters including transcripts, and audio and video recordings
  • A selection of inspirational quotes to motivate a daily meditation practice
  • Latest news on talks and articles
  • Keep up to date with meditation sessions in your local area

Sign up to our newsletter

Sign up and subscribe to our mailing list to receive emails on Shri Babaji’s teachings, discourses, events and world tour details.

Newsletter registration

Featured Talks and Q&As

Babaji's latest Facebook posts

Or go directly to Facebook