Recorded on 18 January 2026 with US participants

This session discusses Chapter 17 verses 1 through 5 of the Ashtavakra Gita, focusing on the nature of a True Yogi and Self-realization. Baba explains that realizing the Self brings complete contentment and “Supreme Peace,” as the Self exists independently without need or desire. When the mind becomes quiet and free of thoughts and imaginations, it merges into Pure Consciousness, ending cravings, loneliness, and suffering.

Purification of the senses is achieved by purifying the mind, since all sensory activity originates there. A realized being sees the entire universe as the Self—like space—unchanging and non-dual, and is no longer affected by worldly experiences, which are understood as projections of imagination.

Baba emphasizes that Self-realization is not gained intellectually or given by another; it requires sustained meditation, surrender of ego, and gradual stilling of the mind. With practice, desires—including even liberation—fall away, leaving natural peace and effortless awareness of the Self.

0:00 Intro
0:33 Verse 1. Someone who’s attained Self-realization is fully contented, attaining the fruit of all knowledge.
2:52 For a Self-realized soul, solitude is not loneliness or missing something.
6:43 The most that knowledge can do is bring peace, which is the fruit of all Knowledge and the goal of Yoga.
7:58 What does it mean to purified the senses?
9:59 Verse 2. What does it mean, that the entire universe filled with nothing but the Self?
14:28 A Self-realized soul is fully aware that this all-pervasive space is nothing but the Self.
16:11 Is the mind is just the thoughts arising in consciousness?
18:14 How consciousness got trapped into it’s own illusion.
21:46 Verse 3. None of the senses please One who rests delighting in the Self.
26:00 What’s the different between a Self-Realized person and a Self-Realized soul?
27:38 How does a Yogi perceive people?
28:34 Verse 4. A Yogi is no longer a victim of the past memories.
30:35 Are you destroying your mind, the imprints and memories?
31:47 Are the imprints and memories erased from the mind but not erased from the brain?
33:25 What is the fastest way to realise that what you are seeing is not the truth?
34:21 Verse 5. What motivates a Yogi to get up in the morning if they are completely contented?
39:15 Attaining Yoga, union with the Self, is that beyond desire, and even the idea of liberation?
40:50 Do you get carried across the threshold spontaneously?
41:45 Are you training the mind to surrender until the point of going beyond the ‘I am’?
43:46 At that time when you’re completely engrossed in the experience, do you still have an awareness of yourself?
44:58 The story of Angulimala and Buddha in today’s context.
47:07 Is it recommended to practice sitting on the ground in meditation?
48:01 How do we carry on with our daily lives and at the same time remove the ego and thoughts?
49:39 Why is it we have to keep our back straight in meditation?
51:04 A personal decision about whether to stay and help family members or to move away, helping more people elsewhere.
53:19 Can a Guru give an experience of Samadhi to the disciple?
55:38 How to practice consciousness in daily activity?
58:35 People who do some magic work and cheat people of this world claiming they are gods. What knowledge of the Self can these gods impart?