Perth Tour  Oct 2006 Day 4

Prostrations with deep love and reverence to my beloved Guru.
May His Lotus Feet be on my head at all times.

May you all be the luckiest ones to find time to follow this dhyana meditation on the path of yoga marga – the path of yoga.
Many people wonder how it is for a Yogi to live in this world -how His physical body is, the mind, the thoughts. After the mind gets absorbed into the Self, then there is total Peace and Contentment. The physical body is the same – it does not suddenly become ‘supernatural’. This is the truth when you go back through history. The physical body may however become more sensitive to things. During Tapas for instance I took special food as the body became more sensitive – but food is still required. Sometimes when we were young we used to hear devotees telling things about one or other Yogi – such that it was said they did not need to eat, or their loin-cloth remained ever-new with no need for cleaning – and many stories like that. Ordinary people often get attracted to these stories – it is something they feel they can understand. It is difficult to visualize the inner changes which occur, so they need an external change which is easier for them to understand. There was once a Yogi staying nearby to Swamiji who it was said never took any food and other stories like that were also said. Swamiji denied that such a thing occurred.

During Tapas there is a time when the sadhak  is unable to look after themselves and there is a need to have someone to look after then during this period – for instance with Sri Ramakrishna there was His nephew, Hriday. For Swamiji, He was taking some milk once a day during His Tapas; some of the nearby villagers misunderstood and felt that He should not need food, because in some of the old legends there are stories of saints in Tapas for years, without taking food. So Swamiji at this time in His Tapas stopped taking this small amount of milk also, but His body became very thin and weak. One saint, Tapaswiji Maharaj, came and advised Him to eat adequately, saying,
“The villagers don’t really know what is necessary. You need to look after the physical body – do not make it a circus item.”
Finally Swamiji dropped His physical body, but He always told us, “Where will I go when the body drops? – I am with you always, everywhere.”
He was referring to the Self, not the physical body.

So in the same way, people misunderstand what meditation was really for. To understand this, we need to understand the mind itself. The mind is portrayed like a monkey. It is not that shape of course – just like the kundalini is not really the shape of a serpent; but when one reaches higher states of meditation, the energy moves up quickly in a serpentine way. During my Tapas I experienced this rising of the serpentine force. To explain what kundalini  is – from that whole consciousness, one portion has formed the mind, while another portion has gone into the body and thus bodily identification occurs. That portion of the consciousness through which body consciousness occurs, is called the kundalini. As you go into meditation deeper, one will initially have the thought, “I must achieve Samadhi”. But this thought itself will have to cease eventually – then the merger can occur, like a droplet, back into the Self.

Some years ago a beautiful plate of food was brought to me, and someone nearby said, “How wonderful to be a Yogi and get these things.”
I told them, “If you like food, don’t become a Yogi, as the interest in food then disappears. Even the greatest wonder in this world, the greatest miracle, even if the greatest of great things in this creation occurs – the Self is so much more than anything in this world.”
Thus Ramana Maharshi said, “Even if the Yogi  is gossiping, still He is the Ever-silent One.” Also He said, “When He moves, His Feet are not on this earth.”
Thus Shri Krishna became annoyed with Arjuna when he would not fight. Shri Krishna could see the larger cause – “If you will not do it, I will do it.”
Even these days people often say that Shri Krishna is cunning – but He simply always saw the larger cause and fought on the battlefield and advised people to fight when necessary. He even forced Yudhishtira to tell a lie – Yudhishtira could not do it by himself as he did not have that habit.
In the story of the Mahabharata, Shri Krishna tried to stop the war in every possible way, but after the war was over everyone said, “Krishna could have stopped this war – it is His fault.”
But Shri Krishna took it graciously.
Shri Krishna taught, “What is dharma? For instance if one tells a lie for a larger cause, then that is not a wrong thing.”
Krishna was noble and behaved cleverly, but people misunderstood and wrongly say it is ‘cunning’. So a Yogi  might be angry and scold people – but only to carry out a duty, a larger cause. It would not be for a selfish reason.
With Shri Rama who was an incarnation of the Divine, He fought Ravana and killed him for a larger cause, but some of His actions might be seen as controversial today.

But with all these things, the important thing to remember is that if you practice meditation its aim is that you can become Free and at Peace. The mind is in bondage and meditation will break this bondage.

Questions and Answers

Question:

When You were doing service, did you think You would later do Tapas?

Babaji:

My idea was not to exactly aim for this as it is now. I simply served and focussed on that service. After my Guru passed some visions came and made me sit for Tapas. Initially after Swamiji attained Mahasamadhi  I withdrew and had a vision of Swamiji and He told me, “The ripe time has come to do Tapas.”
I was not sure I could go for such long meditations for years, though I had done long meditations up to 8 hours. Swamiji said in the vision, “The destiny, the ripe time now is to do Tapas.”
I didn’t think of Tapas except early in the period of service. Others of Swamiji’s disciples went into Tapas and I asked Him, “What will these people do after Tapas?”
He replied, “They will serve Me only.”
I only wanted to serve Him and so the desire for Tapas  grew slowly.
But then I saw one disciple in Tapas got up and went away – so my desire for Tapas  went away after that.
In 1984 I asked Swamiji on my birthday to bless some vibhuti  so I could go into Tapas.
He told me, “If you do it now, you might become egotistic and go away from Me.”
So after hearing this I lost interest in Tapas  as I only wanted to serve. I saw myself as the servant, the watchman of the ashram.
I did eventually go for longer meditations up to 8 hours, but Swamiji Himself told me,
“This service of looking after the ashram and the mentally-handicapped boy – this is a sadhana for you and will take away your karmas.”

Question: 

Was does arathi mean?

Babaji:

It shows supreme reverence to the Guru. It is respect in its highest pitch.

Question: 

In looking at dharma, in the case Shri Rama, how do you explain the action where He sent His wife off to the forest?

Babaji: 

In reply to this I would say that when I read this story, I myself felt that it was not right that such a thing occurred. I felt that if it had been me, I would have gone with my wife.

Question: 

You said in a talk, that sometimes it is OK to kill.

Babaji: 

Yes. Even in the law of the land it is OK if it is in defence or if you were preventing a murder. Also if you are defending your country it has always been considered a righteous act.
In order to tell if it is right – pay attention to your consciousness. If the mind is in equilibrium, then always your actions will be for a larger cause.
It may sometimes appear difficult. The first two dharmas – looking after the physical body and then looking after the mind – are easy, but always I say that the third dharma – moral action – is the most difficult.
But if the mind is controlled, then you will know if your action is moral.

Question: 

In this world, we think we are making choices, but is it just karma playing out?

Babaji: 

You can never trick consciousness itself. If you behave wrongly, then karma is formed as an imprint in the mind.
If you look at the example of Shri Krishna, He always worked for the larger cause only. He travelled about Bharata Varsha and worked for the larger cause.
I have often said in this, that if you live for yourself, that is ‘Life’, but if you live for a larger cause, that is ‘Mission’.
You will find comparisons of various behaviors in the lives of Shri Rama and Shri Krishna. They teach us lessons and what happens when we behave in certain ways. These are all lessons for humanity, but humanity fails to learn.

Question:  In the Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna tells Arjuna, “They are already dead.” Can You please discuss this?

Babaji:  While teaching Arjuna, Shri Krishna taught by philosophy and also by psychology. So it is in this psychological teaching technique that He said, “They are already dead.”
He advised Arjuna always to act for a larger cause. Though the characters on the other side of the war were themselves noble people, they had sided with the wrong side.

Question: 

Arjuna thought He had free will, but Shri Krishna suggests this is not free will, just destiny.

Babaji: 

This was a psychological technique to brainwash him to make him to fight on that day. If it was left to the free will of the soldier, he would not do it. Just like the parents employ techniques to teach children, and in the same way Guru will do this also.

Question: 

With birth after birth, does our progress go with us?

Babaji:  Yes. Like in my case, just by hearing the song ‘Bhaja Govindam’  it started me off on this quest – because before this I must have tried to aim for this in previous times. This is from the samskaras – the acquired habits – that follow.

Question: 

How is it that I met you early in life rather than by later – is it destiny or by chance?

Babaji: 

It can be destiny or chance. Also you will see so many people meet me, but not all are attracted to stay with me.

Question: 

How can one maintain the peace of meditation in our daily lives?

Babaji: 

If you take $100 and then spend it every day, then it is all gone. In the same way, one must practice austerities to maintain the state throughout life. Meditation gives peace and also there are many other exercises that can help to control the mind.

Copyright © 2006 SRBY, All rights reserved.