Recorded on 17 January 2026 with worldwide participants

0:00 Intro
0:07 The feeling that we exist, beyond the thoughts.
3:30 Your existence beyond your thoughts.
7:05 Applying the mind to itself, the infinite entity.
10:17 How is the imagination within the Self, but also away from the Self?
15:38 The vastness of the universe is only in relativity.
17:15 Why there is a feeling of individual consciousness, within the all-pervaded consciousness.
20:36 To be quiet in the mind, does the ego have to completely disappear?
23:56 Only because of the existence of the brain, the consciousness gets sucked into it, and then it becomes an obstacle.
29:15 Science does not understand what anything is.
30:26 You can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
33:01 Once Self Realisation is achieved, how is the connection between the consciousness and brain maintained? Why does the body not drop?
40:28 If one is not supposed to react to anything during meditation, why did Babaji interact with the manifestations of His Guru during Tapas? How did He know not to ignore them?
42:13 Does meditating regularly help to eradicate fearful thoughts?
43:07 How can we develop wisdom to differentiate between true and false and moral versus immoral?
44:08 Did Babaji face challenges when He started on His meditation journey and how did He overcome them?
45:16 Is ok to tell myself to ‘just watch’ during meditation?
45:56 Does karma of our last birth affect this birth if we are going for Self Realisation?
47:04 After the Self has been experienced, do we have to make effort everyday or only have to sit still and calm the mind and Self will be experienced again?
48:09 Does the boundless space also only have appearance value?
49:05 The difference between the mind and the brain and how they differently play upon the consciousness.
50:23 When you are asleep and dreaming, is the power of creation the energy part of the consciousness?
51:09 Is the awareness of the Self the same for all human beings?

The mind and the Self – In Quest of Truth – Q&A with Babaji, No.259

Recorded on 17 January 2026 with worldwide participants
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/YNpjREvQ7sI

Questioner: Babaji, you’ve said many times before that amongst the millions of thoughts that are within the mind, there is a feeling that you exist, which is not a thought. So, Babaji, is this something that we all feel day to day, a subtle feeling inside that we exist, which is not generated by the imagination?

Babaji: If you keenly observe, this feeling is there for everyone, that you exist, you are there. But where that exists, in which form, what it is, is the puzzle. Just now, because the consciousness is totally stuck with the brain’s reflections, thus it has shifted to the body. Though it is not on the body; if we keenly observe, that illusion will go away. But we keep thinking that we are the body. We have assumed that we are the body. And we have named this body and that name has created a personality for us, like this. And then we are preoccupied with the thoughts and visions that are in the mind. We seldom notice this feeling, though it is there. I can say, we don’t care much about this. We take it for granted. Keenly we don’t observe from where it is coming and where it is. So, that is what we keep telling. This is what is the consciousness of existence. Like others sages, like great Ramana Maharishi said, ‘Who am I?’ For this only he told, think who are you actually, ‘who am I’. And where is this located? For that, you have to keenly observe by keeping the eyes closed from where the ‘I’ is coming. If you observe, if all your concentration falls on that consciousness of existence, then the mind gets absorbed into that, giving you the awareness of yourself as ‘that’.

Otherwise, the mind will be preoccupied with thoughts and visions that are getting generated within the mind. So, it has no time to observe itself, but it is so busy, it has been dragged into this since time immemorial. So, that is how we have lost the track of our real Self and are always feeling something else as this. Whereas this consciousness of existence is not giving any such thing that which we have assumed or are imagining. So, that’s why meditation is also taught, so that your attention can go to this consciousness of existence or the feeling of the ’I’, the ‘I’ that is coming. For that you have to give up your attention to other thoughts and visions, you have to totally remain focused on this, then the mind will get absorbed into that.

Same questioner: Thank you Babaji. Because generally people in society these days, they think of consciousness as being the thoughts, the experiences that you have in your mind shows that you are conscious. But the fact Babaji is saying that you still exist when in a total thoughtlessness state, that means that you can’t be the thoughts – you still exist, you have an existence without the thoughts.

Babaji: You are conscious of the thought. So, that means you are not the thought. You are conscious of that thought. That means you have generated that thought. What is this you? You are not that thought, that which will disappear simply like that. So thus, attention has to go to this. So, we seldom notice or think about this. We simply get carried away with the thoughts and the visions that are there. Nobody ever will bother what the mind itself is. What the Self is. That’s why these have been taught since ancient times; to bother about the Self, to know about the Self, where is the ‘I’, all these have been taught repeatedly by great masters and the ancient sages also. Self-realization, that’s what terminology is used.

So, for this only you have to practice. Every day you practice so that first you remove your attention from the thoughts. And then in that process you will see the thoughts also disappearing, dissolving into the mind. As the purity comes, that we call ‘consciousness’. When it is involved with the thoughts, engaged and preoccupied with the thoughts, the same substance we call it as mind. When this involvement is removed, all thoughts disappear, the same mind comes to be known as ‘consciousness’. We use this word ‘consciousness’ because it is available and anywhere you can apply, you become aware of that. You apply it introverted, you become aware of yourself, or you apply it to your own imaginations, or any object matter that is outside your body. Then further; applying to object matter generates further imaginations. Applying yourself to the thoughts generates further thoughts. That is how you have been involved into these thought processes since time immemorial and experiencing all the stress, craving, happiness, unhappiness, everything is happening. Now you have to remove your attention to these thoughts, to these imaginations, stop its imagining effects. Then its attention automatically goes to itself, its observation goes to itself. So, that is what is this ‘I’ or the consciousness of existence. Both are the same actually. Simply I use this a little nearer terminology to tell elaborately that that is where the consciousness of your own existence is arising. That is why it is known as the ‘I’.

Same questioner: Thank you, Babaji. So, we have got to apply our consciousness to the infinite thing rather than the thoughts. The Self is not something that you can say has a location and ‘this is what I have to focus on’. So, somehow you have to apply to that infinite immortal soul?

Babaji: Yeah, only the infinite can catch the infinite, matter cannot.

Thoughts come to be known as matter, even the thoughts that are in the mind also. That mind can never comprehend the mind itself, or this ‘I’ itself, it cannot. It will end up imagining further, it will end up. When it imagines, it is simply limiting, like it is trying to measure the space with a measuring tape. Only the space can measure the space, like that. Only the mind can comprehend this ‘I’ because they both are connected to each other. Just now for sake of understanding, I can tell this consciousness of existence, mind is a droplet and that consciousness of existence coming is from that real Self, real ‘I’. So that is connected to this. So this only can observe that, thoughts cannot observe.

So that is how, no matter how many times we try to teach, we try to give the nearest clue to what you are supposed to do. When you do that only, you are able to catch that observation and focus on that one. If we just tell, you try to imagine, can it be like this, can it be like this? Some people, when they get to hear me and they think, “Oh, I had a big thought that I am out of this body, I am…” They are all pure mind’s imaginations by reading books or listening to somebody. They try to get endorsement from the guru, but that is not the truth. In truth, only the infinite mind can observe that ‘I’, can concentrate on that ‘I’. For that, our effort is that you remove the attention to the thoughts. By just watching, it will automatically be taken care. It will go to that only. So now remember, in many ways I have tried to teach, the mind has no third way. Either it will be preoccupied with its own imaginations or it will go back to its divinity, its ultimate truth, its real, one single Self. Any terminology you use, it is the same. Either you call it the Self or divinity; divinity is when you are a droplet, it is the ocean. Once this individuality is lost, it is the oneness simply, that’s what it is.

Same questioner: Thank you, Babaji. So Baba, you’ve said that the mind is nothing but you yourself, but also somehow you’ve come away from the Self in imagination. So, how has this imagination happened? It’s within the Self, but it’s also away from the Self?

Babaji: Yeah, you see, the thoughts, visions, they are all there. It is within the mind. But those thoughts and visions, they create a beautiful story, a separate world for you, giving all effects of emotions, whereas it really doesn’t exist at all. Because the infinite, like, the space, for example, scientifically, if we talk; space, nothing in the space… you must understand, I’m talking of the space itself – not any proton, electron, this, that, ether, nothing, just the space itself – cannot be a raw material for producing anything. In a scientific way, if we try to think. So that’s how we say the divine has not created anything at all. Yet in illusion it has appeared to be so. That’s why the other day when answering a question, I tried to tell, this universe has only appearance value, not an existence value. It is impermanent, it will not exist like this always. It has appeared, if you say so, it’s okay. We won’t argue. But its value is only appearance.

But existence value is there for the mind, that mind itself, that ‘I’ itself has the existence value; all the time it exists. And that is what this space is. From externally, we have recognized this as a void place and thus started calling ‘space’. When we address for communication or understanding, we use ‘space’. When we use the term ‘space’, what comes to the mind is a void place, that’s all. More than that, nothing else. When I tell that it cannot be the raw material for producing anything also, then it would look like an ordinary thing. But that is not an ordinary thing. Why this was recognized as divinity? Why the Self was recognized as the Self’s existence there? It is this Self due to which so much is happening astronomically, universes, galaxies, milky ways, everything has come into existence. It has manifested though it is impermanent. Though it doesn’t have an existence value if we tell, but it is there. When it is there, it is there in its full strength.

That is what we call as manifestation. You, through your mind cannot make anything disappear of this world, any matter, and you cannot make anything be produced in this world through the thought of your mind. You might be able to handle the objects that are already there by focusing on that. So thus the creation has not happened at all, but in illusion only. It is like on the screen of the TV, no humans are there, no cars are there, no roads are there, no cities are there. But yet, an appearance has been made. It appears so solid and perfect. A car chases another car for miles and miles and on the same screen it is going and going, it appears, an optical illusion gets created as if it is racing hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. A plane is going, a train is going and people are rushing, they are fighting, they are killing, they are dancing, they are doing this; everything appears, but it is only an appearance. Like that, a dream also, it doesn’t really exist, but when it gets created, see the power of the creator. Whichever one creates, if the mind creates from itself using the brain’s help. But when it creates, it creates so solid that in the dream it’s impossible to make out that it is a dream. It will create all emotions, good, bad, happiness, unhappiness, panic, fear, courage, everything comes. So this is what is inexplicable. This is, what to say, the divine has such abilities, which we cannot imagine. It is beyond our imaginations.

Same questioner: Thank you, Babaji. So when we look at this universe, we see the vast distances and all of the things that are within this universe. But actually, the space itself, it is like having a dream in a mind which is infinite. The space itself doesn’t have vast distances, it is actually infinite itself.

Babaji: Its vastness is in relativity only, in relativity of another existence. Now here, this physical body and the physical eyes, its vision is limited. These physical eyes, nobody can see the space as it is. Its vastness is not possible. And its vision is limited. When it is limited, the vastness is vastness. Suppose if there is nothing else, only space exists and nothing else is there, and that vastness also disappears, all-pervadedness, that loses its significance. If a smaller finger is there, this becomes a bigger finger. If there is no finger at all, this is the only one, it is neither big nor small. That’s how the divine and the devotee and the droplet and the ocean, all these things keep happening. Finally, everything merges, oneness is there. Everything disappears. There is no ‘I’, there is no ‘I’ becoming Self-realized. Nothing is there, all ideas get dropped.

Same questioner: Thank you, Babaji. It does feel that we have an individual consciousness within this all-pervaded consciousness. It’s like there is a potency of consciousness that is my individual self within this all-pervaded consciousness.

Babaji: This is also because the infinite consciousness has come in touch with the brain and spread into the body. In relativity with this physical body only, that appears to be individual consciousness. When we think about the mind also, it appears to be an individual consciousness. Such an illusion has been created by the brain’s effects. That is how with the body, selfishness or narrow mindedness comes. One needs to overcome, means he has to overcome this effect and merge with that Self. Then only the oneness comes; all are same. That consciousness – my example of belonging to a state, belonging to a country, belonging to a continent, belonging to planet Earth, finally belonging to space. That thing comes when the consciousness expands. Without that we always try to keep ourselves into a small home, into this small body. Beyond this we hardly bother or care or try to know anything. Such knowledge and wisdom, we never bother to obtain at all, we never think about it. Whether there is anything at all, what is the connection between me and the universe? So all these things, we never bother.

So that’s why it never occurs. For that only this sadhana was done by the ancient sages. They understood one important thing. To understand or become aware or gain the conscious knowledge, we need to observe. That observation was what they all understood. It is necessary to observe. And in the process, they also understood when we observe, in that observation, no imagination must come. If an imagination comes, that limits. If the unlimited is there, that is when we can realize, now the imagination effect has gone in the mind. Until the imagination effect is there, any individual will always feel about the individuality only when he behaves. No matter a hundred times they might listen to my talks, but when they go out and they behave, they will end up behaving with that narrow-mindedness only. Because the practice is not there, that awareness is not there with a sadhana of practice. So, that is what is needed to overcome this once for all. So, that effort is what is the final battle, that is the final purpose. Once that is achieved, what else is there to achieve?

Same questioner: Thank you, Babaji. So, as Baba said, we have to make the mind quiet through practice, sadhana, meditation. But to be quiet, the ego has to completely go. Is that right, Babaji?

Babaji: Yeah, this narrow-minded self-idea has given rise to an ego. Ego means here, if any praise comes, it becomes excited, or if any criticism comes, if any threat happens, insecurity, all these things, it gets threatened. Then it reacts, it goes into a conflict if necessary, all these things happen. So thus, internally also it can get disturbed. If the realization is not there, the awareness is not there. So, that is how a person goes into conflict. This needs to be overcome. For this, first, we have to achieve the silence of the mind, this is necessary. Till then, the mind will always give rise to egoistic things. Ego, everything becomes an ego, every imagination; “This is me, this is not me. Why like this? Why is this?” Even when you ask why this world is like this, it is also because of our ego. We don’t know what the truth is. That’s why we are asking this. We are also a part of that trouble. But we won’t like to accept it. We try to find some scapegoat always. When that question is asked, “Why the suffering in the world is happening? Why so much of things are happening?” We want to find that God. “Where is that God? What is he doing?” But nobody knows what is that God, where is that God. Simply they want to argue, they want to go into a head spin. “Where is that God? Why is this happening? Has God done this? Why doesn’t God do like this?” We want God to do as we want it to happen. “Why is it not blue colour? Why is it white color?” And we have an agitation; that becomes an ego.

So that is how the ego… It’s very difficult to catch hold of what ego is, definitely. It’s very wide. Anything can become an ego for us. A yogi overcomes all this and totally surrenders when he merges with the Self. So that disappears. That ‘I’ itself has to disappear. Until the ‘I’ is there, the thought of ‘I’, there is always a danger of that ‘I’ trying to behave as an individual away from its mothership. So if that ‘I’ itself is gone. Means, in Hindi there is an old saying, “If there is no bamboo, a flute will not be made.” If the flute is not there, there is no sound trouble at all. Means the source itself, if it is not there, there is no trouble that somebody will become a demon and something happens. The source itself is over, finished. So then everything is finished; seed.

Same questioner: Thank you, Babaji. But it seems that because a brain has come into existence, then the trouble is there. Then the consciousness is sucked into that. And we have an intellect and intelligence, but that also seems to be an obstacle.

Babaji: Yeah, you see, from the brain to anything that we have built in this world, mega things, amazing engines, mega buildings or mega-mega things from the mind’s focus, concentration, ideas, imagination; once it is constructed, it becomes a demon for us. Our physical body is nothing in front of that; a railway engine or any car or anything can simply smash our bodies like that. We only created that, but when that gathering has happened, so much of energy is there, our body becomes a micro speck, simply. Like that it grows in illusion. So that is how in the mind also, the illusion has grown so much. Today, we are only a micro speck in front of our own illusion that we had created. Since time immemorial, we became so habitual that we are unable to overcome those habits. It looks very impossible and we give up very often. People give up meditating, [saying] “Nothing is happening, nothing is happening.” We have to pacify; “It will happen. There is something wrong in you, you have not understood the technique, means your mind hasn’t been able to just watch. That is the problem. It is getting involved with the thoughts. Try for that, try not to get involved. When you see,” I have to show [Babaji raises hand], “anything, any object you see. Don’t try to analyze whether this is a hand, Babaji’s hand, how many fingers, no need for all this. Just watch. Then you will see that perception will disappear in your mind of what it is.”

That is what sometimes I have told, in the beginning it may appear as funny or ignorance or anything but that is the truth; in this universe, nobody knows anything about the universe. Simply, they have named it. They have defined and others have accepted. “This is a void place and this has to be the space. Because it is just space, it has to be nothing,” I tell and a hundred people accept it. And they also start behaving in the same way. And that becomes the order of the day. In the beginning, nobody bothered whether the person really knew that it was only a void place or could it be something else. Who bother? Nobody bothers. Everybody, we all learn, simply. Like that, though nobody knows what it is, everybody tries to become an expert of everything. From God to a molecule, everybody wants to talk about everything, that they know everything, but nobody knows what it is actually.

Everything has been borne out of imagination, for sake of communication and understanding in this world. Just like a certain language. That language is useful if many people in the society are talking the same words, same language, same style. Understanding those words in the same way, then that language is useful and it has come into existence. It is like a reality. So that language, in another part of the world where nobody in the society can understand any word, no meaning comes to their mind at all. When you are talking in some other language which they don’t know, no meaning comes to their mind. “What is it they are talking, ‘kekekekeke…’ something like that.” See, the illusory effect. The same thing simply can become ‘kekekekeke’, or the same thing can become so meaningful; “You come and sit here, be my friend.” If this language is not understood by anybody, so that will be like ‘kekekeke…’, that is all. That is the effect of illusion. But that is useful in this world, when we both understand it in the same way. Hand in glove. So, I am going to cut my nose. You also cut your nose. Then let us tell the world that we both cut our noses and God appeared. This type of thing is happening, actually. People may laugh today at me, but one day somebody will appreciate and understand what I am talking.

Same questioner: Thank you, Balaji. There have been some people talking about Western science and how science is really looking at how things behave. But it doesn’t really know what anything actually is at the heart of it. Like Babaji has talked about the energy; you can see the manifestation of energy in an engine or something that is active, but what is the energy itself? And really science has not been able to understand what anything actually is in itself.

Babaji: Just like the modern art, you throw some paint on a paper and try to explain something, it is your imagination. And that becomes a beautiful art accepted by hundreds of people. “Oh, what great paint it is, what a great genius the person is.” So that is what happens.

Same questioner: So we make the meaning ourselves in our mind, in our imagination. But actually the truth of it is something beyond that.

Babaji: Beyond that.

Same questioner: Thank you, Babaji. So Baba, you’ve also said, you’ve quoted from the Bhagavad Gita before many times, that you can be your best friend or your worst enemy. It seems that the mind, it tries to deceive you and get attracted to this world and get involved in cravings. So really, Babaji, the answer is, one has to practice this sadhana.

Babaji:  Yes. To be precise, at first sight, the world promises you happiness. Then it traps you. Once you are trapped, once the world has spoiled you to its effects, then it starts showing its colors, unhappiness also comes. Happiness, unhappiness, this and that, dualities all come in to the mind. And the mind loses its effect of peace and it gets spoiled. It goes after this world for happiness, after this world for happiness. Like Vasistha talking, it’s like you are searching for water in the desert, that type of thing. The peace is within. You have to become quiet and you have peace, that which you are looking for. So that is what has happened.

To understand this, it takes a hell of an effect of so many lives simply passing by. When some life it occurs that something is wrong, something is wrong. That’s what whether Adi Shankara, Ramana Maharshi, they all thought. Ramana Maharshi also thought, “What is this ‘I’? What happens when death happens to the body? Something is there, some problem is there, why do we have to cry?” Ramana Maharshi thought, “That thing goes away which nobody has seen. If that is death, why cry? You don’t know about it. But if this body is the ‘I’, this body is there, why cry?” The body is there, you have it, this. But we all know this body is not the thing we want to have. We don’t know what it was in this body that went away or disappeared or what happened. Nobody knows. Hundreds of stories could be floated. So that led him to tapas and he became Maharishi Ramana.

Same questioner: Thank you, Babaji. Baba, in Self-realization, once that is achieved, it’s complete liberation from the body. No longer are you trapped in this body, in the brain. It seems amazing that the body isn’t dropped in that state, but still a connection can be maintained for a yogi to still exist.

Babaji: Yeah. You see, now, you have to be the master, not the brain. Then you can have the brain. If the servant is going to behave like a servant, you can have that servant. If the servant tries to be the master, then it’s not proper to have that servant. A disciple has to behave like a disciple, and the master has to be the master. Then the master can teach the disciple. If the disciple tries to become like a master, then the master cannot teach anything. So like that here also, keeping the brain is not a wrong thing. As long as this body is available, you can live in this world happily, at peace. Always using the brain wherever that is necessary, but you won’t become the victim of the brain’s reflections anymore. You are very well aware. Now, you have realized you are the director of the movie, and you are the producer of the movie. Once you are aware of this, can that movie affect you in any way? You will laugh at it when the shooting was done and everybody was acting and they were laughing afterwards. But when they were acting, they were as if they were going to kill each other. Such seriousness was there. But now you are aware that you are the one who had produced, so that effect goes.

That’s what the world’s perception goes for a yogi, any seriousness means. He is at peace in the Self, always, quietness; that realization has come. That you have to put an effort, work it out, that effortlessly all these things go away. But as I told, you can have the brain, keep only a little bit of touch of the consciousness to keep the brain alive. Because, along with the blood and oxygen, the mind’s application also is necessary. But you will not become a victim anymore. You are very well aware. You will just enjoy the world. You are at peace, enjoy the world means – you don’t need anything of the world for enjoyment. But you are already at peace, happy. You remain unaffected by the world. Then whatever you do, it will be for the sake of the larger cause. The welfare of the society, for the world. You won’t have any reservations that “I want to give my knowledge only to this person who is giving me five hundred dollars, not to the person who is not giving me any single dollar.” No such ideas come to a yogi. Anybody who wants to come and sit, listen to the answers, talks; if you can absorb, then practice it, it’s yours. That is all.

A yogi lives with the help of the brain. A thought is imagined to give the teaching, but that thought will not affect us. We will not create further thoughts. Once the thought has happened, we stop it, then it stops. Then the mind always remains the master of the brain. It will not simply listen to whatever the brain says. It will be able to apply wisdom properly. “Come on, don’t tell me about this world, I know what it is. This is what I want, you behave.” So let us try to give happiness to all. Let us dream that humanity lives for each other. Let us dream that happiness is there for everyone. Resources are there. Everything is there. Everybody could have lived happily. Definitely was possible. There is no such thing that it is not possible for everybody to live happily in this world. That is because humans are narrow-minded. That is all. If we all learn to consider about each other, like give happiness to the other, then it works. And that is why there is no happiness. That is all. That is why there is suffering. If all humanity realizes, “Just be there at your places, enjoy your life. I don’t need your pocket, you don’t need my pocket. You have your pocket, let me have my pocket. It’s okay.”

So like that, if only humans can live, there could be happiness. Like this a saint will always dream and try to advocate or teach as long as the body is available. So we call people, “you all utilize the body’s existence. It is here. Tomorrow it may not be there. I’m not going to lose anything, but you won’t be able to listen to me.” Recently, talking at last year’s tour also, I told, now I am able to talk in a language, in an imagination that you can understand. But if this body goes, then I will talk in such a language which you may understand, you may not understand at all. It will not be in English. It will be in infinity, it will be in silence. That means when I am silent, I’m calling you also to become silent. Like Buddha has told that dacoit, Angulimala, “I stopped long ago. When are you going to stop?”

When that dacoit stopped Buddha, he told “Stop!” when he was going. Composedly, at peace, Buddha turned and said, “I stopped long ago, when are you going to stop?” So, this had a mesmerizing effect on that dacoit, he came and finally he surrendered. “Why are you telling? What is it that you stopped? You just now stopped when I called.” “This is not the stopping. Inside. Inside I stopped long ago. Have you been able to stop? Have you been able to have that peace? Every day you loot people. Have you achieved any satisfaction? After today, going eating, again you have to come and do the same work. So one day you will also die, then what is that you will have achieved?” Then he surrenders and becomes a disciple of Buddha, stopping.

Same questioner: Thank you so much, Babaji. I’ve reached the end of my questions for the session. There’s a couple more that have been sent in on email. Is it okay if I ask Babaji these two questions? And then we can open up afterwards.

Babaji: Okay. Okay.

Same questioner: Thank you, Baba. So Babaji, the first question was, Babaji said not to react or interact with any visions during meditation. However, Babaji interacted with His Guru when He would appear during tapas. And Babaji also interacted with the divine form of half-Shiva and half-Parvati at the end of tapas. Why did Babaji interact with these manifestations? And how did Babaji know not to ignore them when they appeared?

Babaji: I did not react actually when such manifestations happened. Whatever was instructed, simply followed that. I did not react in any way that would have been disturbing my mental stability. So all the instructions were given so that this mind is kept not to react in any way. But any manifestation also, the Guru whenever He manifested, all the language He used was “Not to react for any manifestation at all.” So thus my consciousness remained quiet, it did not react. So thus, those manifestations did not affect me, because I did not have any other expectations also; the detachment was there. Everything, illusion that master had taught us about the vairagya, detachment, so “Let them do anything, let anything happen to the body, I am not going to react, I need to just keep quiet.” So, just followed, that’s all.

Same questioner: Thank you Babaji. And another question, if the mind has lots of fear, does meditating regularly help to eradicate the fearful thoughts and protect the self?

Babaji:  Yeah, definitely a fear occurs due to imagination. And that imagination can get magnified tremendously. So if you regularly meditate, the mind cools down and gives up such thoughts, and it realizes about itself, then it can overcome that fear; you gain more confidence in yourself. As you go on realising you are that infinite consciousness; it is reassuring always.

New questioner: Namaskar, Babaji. How can we develop wisdom so that we can differentiate between true and false and know for certain what is moral versus immoral?

Babaji:  If a certain thing is not working out when we try to work out, then we need to try to think what is wrong. Is there something wrong in me, something wrong in that one? So just like a car mechanic, if something is not working, he will peacefully try to ponder over where the wrong is, then he will try to rectify. Like that, pondering is what is the application of wisdom. And then in that pondering we must try to see, is there something wrong within me also? Am I doing something wrong? That must not be given. That is the right wisdom to find our own faults.

Same questioner:  Awesome. Thanks Babaji.

New questioner: Babaji, I am just curious, when you started your meditation journey, did you face any challenges which you can share with us and how did you overcome that?

Babaji: You see, challenges means in the mind. We remained dedicated and to keep the challenge and try to face it without giving up. We tried to understand the technique, always we tried to see, “What is wrong in me, where is that I am doing something wrong? I need to correct myself. I need to understand exactly what it is.” So that was how in a simple way we could face the challenge and overcome that effect when we understood, “It is me who needs to remain concentrated. It is me who needs to become quiet and just watch in between eyebrows. I should not be getting involved in these visions or thoughts coming,” like that we realized that one. So that was how we overcame.

Same questioner: So I have one problem. When I sit for meditation, sometimes I have to keep reminding myself ‘just watch,’ you know, your instructions. So is it fine, as a beginner?

Babaji: See, for a beginner with one thought you can remind yourself, “I just need to watch” and then go on watching. Don’t give rise to hundreds of thoughts of the same repeating “I need to watch, I need to watch,” but you end up not watching. It should not happen. You think “I need to simply watch” and then watch. So like that you practice. It will come one day. Have confidence in you, have faith. You will get it.

New questioner: Namaste Babaji. I have a question. Does the karma of our last birth affect this birth if we try to be Self-realized?

Babaji:  You just bother to become Self-realized. And that can be your karma, who knows? A master has come in your life and he is advocating that you meditate. Simply meditate and then you can overcome karma. So, this is what it is. But if you keep worrying about the previous life, the mind can go into a frustration or depression-type. So do not bother. Forget about the previous janmas at all. Just try to meditate and silence your mind. Then you can overcome all effects of these karmas in your mind. You will achieve peace and you can achieve Self-realization also.

Same questioner: Thank you Babaji.

New questioner: After Self has been experienced, do we have to again use effort every day or only have to sit still and calm the mind and Self will be experienced again?

Babaji:  When the Self is experienced means you are that Self. You are not separate anymore that you need to experience that or practice that. You have become one with it and you are there, that is all. So don’t have to do that one; naturally, effortlessly it is always there. So for a yogi, if I need to be in the world, I have to bring the consciousness up to the brain’s level. It is a little bit of a struggle for me. Like you all struggle to bring the mind back to the Self, I have to bring it up, a little bit of a struggle. So the minimum required I do, work in this world. So like that it will be possible. So I don’t have to work out again and again to make it quiet. It is settled peacefully.

Same questioner: Thank you Baba.

New questioner: Pranam Babaji. Like the ‘appearance value’ as Babaji says; so like the space it looks vast, unending, boundless, that space, that boundlessness is also an appearance value maybe?

Babaji: Yeah, through your eyes it is only an appearance for you because your eyes are small. It can see only a certain limited distance of the space. It cannot see the whole space. So that is when it appears that the vastness is there. So when you become space, that loses its effect.

Same questioner: Pranam Babaji, thank you Babaji.

New questioner: Can Babaji please explain the difference between the mind and the brain and how they differently play upon the consciousness?

Babaji: Brain is the biological organ in the body. Mind is your conscious energy. You need to use the brains. If the brain reflects and you simply believe it without thinking or discrimination, using the discrimination power, that is when you become the victim of the brain’s reflections. Whatever the brain reflects, you simply accept it as the truth. Then it may be wrong. You don’t know what it is. So that is the difference. So for this you need to purify the mind and make it remain more concentrated. Then that concentrated mind, when it applies the brain, it applies in the right direction. It will be able to use the proper wisdom, discrimination, proper judgments, everything will come. So for now, if you understand this much is good enough. The rest you will understand when your mind becomes really quiet. More things get revealed.

New questioner: Pranam Babaji, Babaji, can you explain, in the time when you sleep and you are actually having a dream, the power of creation – is the power of creation, the energy bit of consciousness?

Babaji: It is of the consciousness in collusion with the brain. The brain has helped it to become decodified. It will show you as a picture as a thought. But the product is from the mind itself. That is how simply an illusion has happened. A picture has appeared within the mind, within you only.

Same questioner: Okay, and Babaji, the awareness that we are all going towards, is it the same for every human being, all reaching one source?

Babaji: Yeah, the source is one. One single Self. Everybody’s mind belongs to that only. Simply because of becoming a victim of the brain’s reflections an individuality has appeared as if it is separate, but it is the same source.

Same questioner: Okay, thank you Babaji. Pranams.

End of Session