Dedicated to the lotus feet of the divine Guru Shivabalayogi Maharaj

Special Instruction Pt1 – Ashtavakra Samhita – Q&A, No. 264

Recorded on 9 November 2025 with US participants

0:00 Intro
1:16 Chapter 16, verse 1 “…one cannot become established in the Self unless everything is forgotten.”
3:10 Some people could read that and think you have to erase all your memories, but what you’re doing is stopping all the thoughts?
3:44 “Reading and listening to the teachings of great Masters alone cannot give Self-realization.”
6:50 “By habits only, consciousness goes out of control, and by habit only, it can be brought under control. That’s the practice of sadhana.”
9:13 What happens to those people who sit for a long time, meditate for a long time, but they don’t obtain?
11:19 Plugging the oven in to the power source is bringing the attention back to focusing when the mind goes off onto thoughts?
13:12 You start meditating, you focus, and then shortly you’re off on thoughts.
14:13 No matter what you learn or achieve or acquire, the mind will never be satisfied – what you are looking for is beyond all that.
17:16 How can you become quiet mentally all the time and be active in the world, accomplishing your responsibilities?
20:17 The nature of a Self Realized person, that they can be engaged in thinking and activity, but at the same time, they’re always aware they are the absolute.
20:46 “While trying to do sadhana, often, seekers are likely to be in a rush and force it upon themselves”
24:45 You say there’s nothing coming to the mind, but you’re talking to us. You answer our questions. Isn’t there something in the mind?
26:00 All these answers are just coming out spontaneously? They’re not coming from your mind?
26:29 Is there anything we can do during the day, during our waking state, to help us quiet our mind or keep it quiet?
27:39 Verse 4 – Though a yogi remains in the Self at all times, when it comes to helping others, a yogi will show compassion, yet they will not get involved mentally into the world.
31:11 The difference between detachment and indifference
32:13 Would it be true to say that true detachment requires true compassion?
34:00 “If doing anything, a Yogi will not get involved in any way.” If you’re not involved in any way, then who’s doing it?
36:36 It says here a Yogi is always free from all karmas. What does that mean? What are karmas?
38:00 What does prārabdha mean?
39:10 “There will not be any imagination of doership, and there shall not be any desire to achieve anything.”
40:53 It says that abiding in the Self, after you have achieved that, there’s no need for anything.
41:44 So the body, the mind, just responds to what is necessary at the moment without any additional craving?
42:28 Would any Self-realized person want their body to live indefinitely?
43:34 When doing your tapas, did time go by very fast?
44:41 “That one who neither likes nor dislikes is neither attached nor unattached.” Would you explain that?
46:35 The body moves during meditation, and the eyes will open. I’ll get into this place of silence and stillness, and then I come out of it. What can I do to dissolve this habit?
50:14 The mind keeps trying to go into imaginations and doesn’t stay in the silent mode. Why is this?
52:06 If there is an idea of peace or losing all desires, why does the mind go into a depression?
53:58 Body can go through prarabdha of pain, but Babaji is not involved in it?
55:30 Is there a technique that we can use to disconnect from our body, so pain and suffering doesn’t come up?
57:15 Is there a technique where our mind is focused on Self Realisation and our body is mechanically doing the day to day activities?
1:00:02 I feel the past all the time, so it is hard to meditate.
1:01:37 Does a Yogi not differentiate individuals, only the one Self is seen?
1:03:37 How much effort should you make to concentrate your mind and sight between the eyebrows?
1:06:01 What is the connection between our breath and the mind?
1:07:08 If the mind shifts to the breath during meditation, is this ok?

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