0:00 Intro
0:12 What is a yogi?
2:23 A yogi might seem like an ordinary person, but is the experience of a Yogi different?
4:05 Is a yogi different from what we would consider a saint or a spiritual person in the West?
4:50 Might a yogi appear not to be behaving well but would still be in yoga?
6:29 Why a yogi might talk repeatedly about an event that had occurred, as Swamiji sometimes did
13:21 Are there any outward signs that one could recognise the body of a yogi?
20:19 Does a yogi have an imagination?
24:43 Is the brain of a yogi different to that of an ordinary person?
26:57 What do the stories of yogis performing miracles and supernatural feats mean?
32:50 What is tapas shakti?
36:31 When Babaji was asked the question ‘What have you achieved?’
38:13 When a yogi offers darshan or blessings, what is it that is being offered?
41:34 What state, relative to happiness or sadness are we trying to reach through yoga?
42:40 When Babaji says ‘shaping our future’, is this in our life or in future lives?
43:15 When a yogi is in a perfect thoughtlessness state, what brings them out of this state?
44:51 What is meant by ‘do not annoy the guru as you are annoying your own karmas’?

Discourse: Thus Spake Babaji – online Q and A No. 111
What is a Yogi?
Recorded: 08 October 2022 with worldwide participants

Start of Questions and Answers

Question:   Thank You Babaji for giving us Your time in Your busy schedule, for Your Darshan and also for taking Babaji’s teachings.  For this session we wanted to discuss, if possible, ‘what is a yogi?’. There is no equivalent English word for yogi, so could Babaji please first of all explain what is a yogi?

Babaji Maharaj:   Yogi is the one in consciousness who would be abiding in the Self.  Here I’m not using himself, because the meaning might occur as if it was the body.  Here it is not the body, the inner consciousness, the consciousness which turns into mind and keeps spinning, traveling, wandering, like that, all activities have been stopped of the mind and it has become pure consciousness of existence, and it is settled into the Self.  And it is not into any type of imagination, no storytelling, no analyzing no judgments, nothing.  Like even bodily, if a yogi is talking, like I’m talking, the inner consciousness is totally in silence.  So that is what a yogi is.  He is in union with the Self.  That is the yoga. Viyoga is the opposite word used, whereas the consciousness has come out of the Self and has gone out, is not in union.  So that needs to be merged back again, union, that is the yogi.  So the yogi is in himself or in itself.  Just like the space existing in itself.

Question:   Thank You Babaji.  So Babaji has talked about how a yogi might be gossiping or when we are watching Babaji’s body, His body might be talking or might even be gossiping, or looks like a very ordinary person.  But that’s not the experience that a yogi has – it’s quite a different thing.  Is that correct?

Babaji Maharaj:   Yeah, whatever he gets to see through the physical eyes, he is only a witness.  Witness means mentally he does not analyze or try to imagine any criteria, definitions, etc. and would not be making any judgments also, like whether a person is good or bad.  Everybody undergoes depending on their own imaginations.  A yogi shall not imagine about anybody in any way.  He is totally in silence, only the body…  So, everybody gets to see the body mechanically working, it might be eating, it might be talking, it might be doing some odd things also or talking odd things also.  Because there is no particular imagination about either good or bad, whether it is spiritual or worldly, that type of imagination is also not there, the yogi remains unaffected by any such activity of the body.  He is totally the silent and quiet one.  That is the yoga.

Question:   Thank You Babaji.  So that would be different to what we consider in a saint or a spiritual leader in the West?

Babaji Maharaj:   Yeah definitely, it would be.  Like in India, a saint means – a saintly person who is noble in thinking and in behavior is like a noble personality, upholding human values.  So those type of things; he wouldn’t react, he won’t go into any conflict physically, these type of things – a saintly person we can define that one.

Question:   So Babaji would that mean that a yogi might appear from the outside that they’re not behaving well, or they’re not good, saintly and calm, and yet they would still be in yoga?

Babaji Maharaj:   Yeah, sometimes he might be showing an annoyance or he might appear as if he’s going into a conflict, but such things, at least in my opinion, it would always be for a larger cause.  Immediately if one may not be able to understand, but in the later stage, it will benefit. Suppose a yogi might be pulling up somebody, talking something wrong about somebody, or nonsense even, that will always benefit that person.  Because yogi‘s consciousness is totally pure; it is not holding any grudge or any imagination or judgment about any person.  So that person will not be harmed.  Yogi cannot harm anybody even knowingly or unknowingly; even through the mouth or he shows annoyance or pulls up or talks something a bit strange or nonsense, that will benefit that person not to acquire any such karmas; that gets cleared – then and there itself it can get cleared.

Question:   Thank You, thank You Babaji.  Babaji described how sometimes if there was a disturbance in the Ashram when Swamiji was still in His body, Swamiji would go on and on and on talking about the event repeatedly for days on end, where a normal person would not do that.  And Babaji said that that was because He was a yogi that He would have this thing of repeated incessantly about an event that occurred.  Is Babaji able to describe the technology of that, why a yogi would do such a thing?

Babaji Maharaj:   One important thing, a yogi‘s mind which is now a consciousness, pure consciousness, anything imagined is like writing on a white paper.  And that written thing instantly gets erased, dissolves on its own.  In the same way, nothing stays in the mind of a yogi, in the consciousness of a yogi.  So, it would be very difficult for a yogi to react or do.  Others may take it granted, if they get to see Him that to the world He might be totally non-reacting to this world in any way.  But sometimes, if it is for a larger cause.  Like Sri Krishna also dealt with Arjuna exhorting him to take up weapons and fight the war.  He had to be talking in that sense, because that was needed to establish peace and harmony.  That is the dharma, good for the larger cause.  He was dealing with the wicked people.  So Krishna exhorted; being a yogi He said, “Apart from you becoming a yogi”, also He told Arjuna, but also He told, “Because this war has been imposed on you, you have to fight this war.  You have to win.  Though you don’t know what the result is, you do your duty; this becomes your duty, because what you are doing is not for your selfishness, for your personal thing.  It is for a larger cause.”  So that’s how Sri Krishna advocates.

   Like Swamiji we have seen, if He needed to react to a particular thing, He would try to keep it revived in His consciousness, repeatedly talking, repeatedly talking.  Sometimes for others it would appear very strange, difficult to explain, “why is it Swamiji?”  Others might think that Swamiji is unable to forget.  It was not that He was unable to forget.  It was that He didn’t want to forget it quickly, didn’t want the things get erased in the consciousness.  So that was the reason He would be dealing with that one, talking about that one.  So, many times I myself had to do such things when Ashram was in trouble.  So, Ashram is an institution – a property was donated by a devotee of Swamiji, a royal Lady of the Patna royal family so that this can be utilized for public.  All public can come and do meditation, learn spiritual truths, Swamiji could conduct such spiritual exercises and activities.  If it is an individual’s home, people might hesitate without proper invitation or any such thing – whether is it okay for us to go.  Whereas in the Ashram, there is no need for any invitation also.  At the prescribed time, when we are conducting the activities, all are welcome.  Anybody can come and sit and meditate and learn about meditation.  All these things would happen. 

So that is for the larger cause.  This is not for myself that they have to protect this property.  For me, I can go anywhere, any devotee in the world will be happy to host me, the whole year simply passes by if I keep going, one week at each devotee’s place; they will be very happy, but my life would simply pass by as long as the body has to live.  But this Ashram, needed to protect; we had a duty.  So that’s why we had to fight, we had to protest, we had to talk about that, we had to appeal to people.  All these things had to be done.  Sometimes, our own devotees have expressed strangeness, “Being a yogi, why do You have to  do all those things?  You should be doing only spiritual things.” Definitely, given a choice we would like to do only the exercises like meditation and the bhakti marga, singing of bhajans, meeting people, attending to emails, counselling people on spirituality, traveling for spiritual awareness to create spiritual awareness.  These are the things which we had to be doing, but when the things were imposed on us, we got affected.  For ten years, whatever that we could have done, normally a spiritual thing, we could not do such activities, we had to be defending the Ashram all the time.  So, though from outside, it was like a waste of time, for us it was a duty.  We tried to be faithful to our Guru. 

   So like this, the things happen which outsiders, everybody may not be able to understand; they can misunderstand or misjudge, any such thing, if they have a small definition.  Like, yogis should not eat ice cream, if they have a definition.  And if they get to see me eating an ice cream, then they might suddenly decide “Oh this is not a Self-realized person, He is eating ice cream.”  So how to satisfy such a person?  So, funny things happen in this world.  So people try to define or judge based on their own understanding, their capacity.  So, whatever eyes viewpoint we have, things are visible only that much, a larger cause may not be visible for everybody.  So that’s what happens in this matter about the question that you asked.

Question:   Thank You so much Babaji.  Babaji, is it possible then…Babaji was saying how He might be eating an ice cream and looking like a normal person enjoying the ice cream – Are there any outward signs that a person could recognize the body of the yogi or is it so well hidden it can’t be told?

Babaji Maharaj:   At that time it may not be visible, because yogi might be simply laughing “Ha, how tasty, how nice, this flavor is very nice”,  like that he might be eating but inside him you’d be wondering that nothing is happening.  Nothing real.  Once that is over, he would become normal.  He won’t be remembering the same ice cream all the time, would have forgotten quickly once that is over.  Even for some reason that ice cream is snatched by somebody and not allowed me to eat, so then after a couple of seconds we’d forget it.  Like a child is playing with a toy and after some time it might simply put that toy somewhere else and forget about that toy, may go for some other toy, like that one.  So something like that, like a childlike; that is all, not that all the twenty-four hours we will be missing an ice cream and there is a need of an ice cream for me to have an enjoyment and that I am brooding.  There is no such thing.  Without an ice cream also I’m enjoying, I’m happy, at peace, quietness.  That is there.  Even for long time also if we don’t get an ice cream also, it’s no problem.  Many people might misunderstand; “Babaji’s favorite is ice cream, Babaji’s favorite is this savory”, and they keep bringing, keep bringing, keep bringing, it happens so much – simply I have to distribute to others.  I don’t go on eating all the time, I don’t have the craving at all.  Occasionally, for some reason I might just little bit eat, or if a devotee brings, to honor the sentiments of the devotee, so we might receive that one and eat a little bit so that they will be happy.  So, can be so many other reasons, which everybody may not understand, may not be able to see.  Only one who has seen me as a yogi closely, might be able to understand, “This is the reason Baba is doing”.

Like we closely watched Swamiji.  He used to eat, but not that He used to have any craving. He always remained at peace and satisfied, contented.  He never had any such craving.  Sometimes He used to eat if it was brought to him, an eatable item, He used to enjoy.  “Ah”, He used to even tell jokingly to us, “Hey, you keep eating and you don’t feel like stopping in the mind, man.”  Like that He used to tell me.  It used to be very funny.  But then I used to understand that Swamiji doesn’t really have that He has to be eating, He is simply joking that He wants to tell.  And then He would forget about that; He won’t remember that one.  For sometimes for days together He won’t even ask about it, He won’t even remember that item, any such thing.  So, like that we saw Swamiji – at all times at peace and not remembering anything, quietness, that’s what we saw.  Nothing remained in His mind.  Somehow this thing was visible from eyes of devotion for me, we saw that one. Like, even if He had pulled me up, scolded me for forty-five minutes…  Like I would be standing in His room; He would be scolding.  In those forty-five minutes the language used, you cannot imagine.  He would have used any such – “Throw me out.  You just get out and you don’t show me your face at all.”  So, then I would come out of His room, go round once, have a glass of water or something, then come back again.  By then He would have forgotten what He was scolding.  It wouldn’t be in His mind.  He would call me, He would discuss something else or give me sweets to eat, such thing.  Such wondrous thing I saw in Swamiji.  Because I was closely observing all that time, I knew “Swamiji has that truth which I need.  He is a yogi definitely.  For twelve years He has practiced that one.”  And all that time I could see that He doesn’t have any craving.  He doesn’t have any craving and He doesn’t really have any happiness or unhappiness.  He doesn’t depend for His peace on any outside things.  Like that, this much we could observe very closely.  If you observe very closely a yogi and his behavior, this is possible, but one needs to have that understanding capability also – what I keep telling observation capacity, understanding capacity – may vary from person to person.  

A person may not understand, may misunderstand, misjudge, may think of something else.  But one who can understand, even if he goes closely to the Master…  Because Swamiji used to tell, the great sage Veda Vyasa has told, “You must not go very close to a realized soul; you are likely to misunderstand, because a yogi will be behaving like very ordinarily, eating or talking sometime.”  This, Vashista calls it as prarabhda.   Like somebody, a yogi like Swamiji was used to gossiping a lot; He would be gossiping.  Ten people would be standing around Him, they would be talking all sorts of politics, this, that.  Whereas from outside, I’m not very much used to gossiping.  If a question is asked, I answer.  Elaborately, it might come, the flow might come, sometimes the imagination might come.  So, that is the prarabhda, what Vashista calls.   Prarabhda in the sense what He probably meant – the basic nature that has come from previous lives; also, the brain that depicts a particular nature, any of these could be there.  That’s what Vashista deals as.  According to the prarabhda a yogi behaves outside, to the outside world.  That’s what happens.  Like I might be humorous; that humorous is nature.  Not that I have to be funny, or I have to make fun of others, but simply it is nature.  I might make fun of myself also.  I’m used to that one, but that doesn’t affect my yoga; my consciousness is silent and quiet at all times.  So, something like that.

Question:   Thank You Babaji.  So then does a yogi have a personality Baba?  Could it be said?

Babaji Maharaj:   Not in his imagination; yogi does not have any personality in his own consciousness, because that ego is completely wiped out.  He doesn’t have any such imagination that “I am this and I am that, I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, I’m an American, I’m an Australian, I am an Indian.”  No such thing is there – “I am a personality, I’m a fair complexion, I have the white beard”,  no such personality –  that personality is lost.  For this Ramana Maharishi has said beautifully, “Electric fan, ceiling fan is running with electricity.  You switch out the electricity, then that fan takes some time to come to a complete halt.”  So, that is what.  Like what I can tell is yogi has stopped the fuel to the brain, because the mind is totally withdrawn.  A little bit of consciousness is there, so that the brain is alive, but much fuel is not injected.  So, the yogi has stopped his future, no karma about a future will happen, anything, because yogi does not have any desire, any craving, any need to achieve anything is not there at all.  So that has been stopped, but mechanically the body is going on for some more time.  So that is that time some people recognize as the ordainment from the Divine,  Ramakrishna used to say this. If you have the ordainment from the Divine, that becomes the mission.  You are there, the body is there. Through the body, you are able to give teachings about the ultimate truth using the nearest imagination possible; you can give a clue to the students how one has to proceed to achieve the same truth which we achieved.  So, this is what repeatedly every time I come on to you all I repeat; you have to silence your mind.  For this you just have to watch. Do not analyze any of your thoughts or visions that might appear within your mind.  That is the first step you have to achieve.  Then one day, when you see this world also which is the manifested appearance -manifested appearance means a solid physical thing, matter, what we call it in the scientific world – that also, happenings; many happenings would be around. Good happens, bad happens, war happens, conflicts happen, who is to be justified, who is in justice, who is injustice, we don’t know.  When two people are fighting, it’s so difficult to establish who is right and who is wrong; who was the one who started?  Nobody would like to accept their fault.  These things keep happening, all over the world it’s happening, happening, happening.  But you can remain as a witness in your consciousness, you can remain unaffected mentally.  Physically you can always help anybody in the world, you can work your normal life, you can live a normal life.  If you have a family, you can look after the family, if you have a business, you can look after the business, but inside you can remain unaffected.  This is what you can achieve, because you have settled into your real Self.  This becomes possible when you practice this one.  So, inside you are silent, all the outside things only a witness, you are only a witness, you are not affected.  You are not becoming… a good will not affect as the good has to affect, a bad will not affect you as the bad has to affect.  Somebody might have criticized you, somebody might have praised you, somebody might be offering flowers, somebody might be some making fun of you, anything could be there.  So, they are all the same thing.  Simply the director has said, that’s why they are behaving like that.  It doesn’t make any difference.  It all vanishes, disappears.

Question:   Thank You Babaji.  So Babaji, is the brain of a yogi, is it different to the ordinary person, or is it the same as any other brain?

Babaji Maharaj:   It will be same as any other brain, actually.  Brain itself is amazing.  A little bit scientifically we all know that we may not be using the brain to its maximum capacity also; that’s what the scientists say.  So, brain has such beautiful, amazing capacity.  Now, if you apply your brain to the best concentrated effort of your consciousness or your mind, then you can be applying the brain like a genius. Whether to observe something, whether to understand something, whether to put an effort to remain focused on something will always be like a genius for you.  Like that you can apply the brain.  So the brain is same for the yogi also. It’s a different thing – yogi has transcended the need of the brain also.  So he won’t be much interested in this world.  Because the entire universe is only a playground.  Just for sake of Divine play, a creation has happened.  Within this, hundreds, millions and billions and billions of wondrous things could be there, when you discover as a scientist, when you invent a machinery, and when you go as an astronomer, and when you discover a new planet, when you take a new photograph of the moon in a different way, more powerful way.  So, everybody, everyday keeps claiming, this is such a wondrous thing, celestial body, a new planet has appeared, a new star has appeared.  Like this, so many things, we get to read about it.  For a while, for a scientist, for an astronomer, for a common man it could be very interesting that it exists in the nature, but not for a yogi.  For a yogi, much more interesting Self is there from which everything has come out.

Question:   Thank You Babaji.  Babaji, in the legendary stories, we often hear of yogis performing miracles and supernatural feats.  Sometimes they even talk of yogis living for thousands of years.  What do those stories mean?

Babaji Maharaj:   Often, I feel it could be simply myths.  Always there is a truth.  Around that truth a lot of myths build up.  People or devotees or admirers exaggerating every time they write a book and re-edit the book.  And they might add what you call some more masala to make it more interesting.  The truth itself may not be that interesting.  Like, “Shiva Rudra Balayogi sat for tapas and he achieved Self-realization” may not be that interesting.  If you write, “Oh a certain person was dead and he brought him to life.”  And you write it as a big chapter; it’s your imagination what all you can write.  So, that can create an excitement and a big interest.  Almost in every saint’s life, these things come – bringing alive a dead person or bringing this thing happening, traveling in the air or going to another body.  All these are myths.  Self-realization is much more, greatest wonder of wondrous things; these are all small things.  If at all one can do it, what is the use of it?  Suppose if I can enter some another body, what am I going to achieve?  Can I give peace to the humanity, can all conflicts be brought down?  That has not happened.  We can teach meditation, we can give clues about Self-realization; you achieve.  If everybody can meditate, then peace can be achieved for humanity.  But everybody has to meditate, understand.  Ten people are in the Ashram, fifty people are in the Ashram, they all have to meditate, they all have to be at peace and harmonious, then the organization can be peaceful and harmonious.  In the same way a country, a world.  This world can be harmonious if everybody understands each other, allows each other to live happily and peacefully.  That’s what is the elusive thing in this world.  So that miracle if anybody can do it, if anybody can wave their hand and give peace to humanity, make everybody’s mind peaceful, noble, best understanding each other – that day we can call it a real miracle performer.  Till then, nothing.  It’s a miracle.  No real yogi really claims or boasts of any such thing.  Sometimes things builds up around them by other people.

   So some certain things; sometimes what I have observed, some saints are maybe Self-realized or not Self-realized, we don’t know.  They behave in such a way as if they are in different intoxicating things.  If you ask them something they talk in a double way, they talk this also, they talk that also, finally they want to tell that you have to do karma, you have to act upon – this may happen, so you be ready to face.  So then people may not understand easily.  When they discuss among themselves, “Oh this man has reached very great heights, he’s talking in a very strange way, don’t try to understand, you cannot understand what he is talking.”  The mahatma himself doesn’t understand what he is talking.  If the person is really Self-realized, has experienced that truth, that can be presented in a proper way; that can be told clearly, it is possible.  Simply, you need to have a grip over the language, any language, even in your mother tongue also if you talk. That must be the possibility, then it is possible to tell.  Otherwise, the mahatma sometimes talks like that, as if they also don’t know anything and you cannot also understand anything, then you are simply wonderstruck, awestruck, what you call it awesome thing, “Something wondrous thing he is telling, we don’t understand, leave it.”  So that becomes a prophecy sometimes.  After a thing happens, “Oh, this thing was prophesized three hundred years ago, thousand years ago by such and such a saint.”  Sri Krishna tells Arjuna, “Nobody knows about the future.  Nobody knows the result of this war, but you have to perform your duty.”  Every day you have to get up, you have to have a cleaning shower of your body, do your way of life activities in the morning, have breakfast, then go to your office, your business, your karma; you have to do that one, and you have to earn your livelihood.  You know this one, so you don’t need somebody to tell your future what’s going to happen.  You have to create your future, you have to shape your future.  If you are positively focused, you can be shaping a better positive destiny for you.  This is my opinion of the spiritual truth as a yogi that I would like to exhort everyone in this path, thus you can bring in a great miracle for yourself and for others who might feel inspired by your karma.

Question:   Thank You Babaji.  Babaji, Sri Swamiji sometimes mentioned the word ‘Tapas Shakti’, He had attained tapas shakti.  Could Baba discuss that term please?

Babaji Maharaj:   When a person does tapas, you know all his mind gathers, it all becomes one single pointedly as it’s becoming pure consciousness.  So as a common human being you all can understand, if the mind is best concentrated it can be so powerful.  In this world also, people in all fields – science, technology, everywhere, they have achieved so many discoveries, inventions, so wondrous things depending on the power of their mind.  The power of mind is in its concentration.  So when it becomes concentrated, then if you resolve, a certain thing might materialize, happen.  This is one thing – likely what I’m telling, not a conclusive answer.  And in that tapaswin, if others develop devotion and faith, their faith can work wonders sometimes.  This is not done by an individual; an individual does not have anything to claim. A yogi will not resolve, like “Let my power be shown to this person and not to this person.”  No such thing.  This is the truth actually; no such thing happens.  Swamiji also told us, “Eh, I don’t have anything to claim.  If he has faith, then it works.”  Like that Swamiji told when we asked a question.  He spoke shortly; He did not speak elaborately.  Like we try to explain more elaborately.  Whatever we understood, whatever we got from His teaching and from our own tapas that I have always told.  So, like that only things happen.  That’s what the tapas shakti, happens. 

Previously, as I was talking, no one person can change the world like that.  Since time immemorial, great sages have come, great Self-realized Masters have come in different parts of the world perhaps.  But they have always advocated, exhorted humanity to live in peace and harmony, in consideration to each other, undertake spiritual exercises.  This is the truth, actually.  All real Gurus have exhorted, “You have to meditate.  You have to be on the devotional path, remain focused”.  So, all these things are necessary, “Do sadhana”.  These are the things which can give you such powers.  But those powers are like a rocket thrust power to get out of the earth’s atmosphere – like they tell that in a certain angle, it has to go out of the earth’s atmosphere.  Like that, to transcend this illusion of the creation, you use that concentrated mind so that you transcend this and go back to the Self and settle into the Self, abide in the Self.

Question:   Thank You Babaji.  Baba, at one program that was held in public programs, one of the people who attended asked Babaji the question, “What have you achieved?”   And Babaji replied, “I have disappeared.”  Could Babaji please talk about that answer.

Babaji Maharaj:   Yeah, I would have meant – “I have disappeared” means the ‘I,’ the imagined individual self, which never existed, but only in my imagination, as an ego which stayed there, we realized that ‘I’ never existed, and that ‘I’ dissolved and disappeared.  That’s what I would have meant.  That ‘I’ as a personality of this body, ‘I’ as a Sreenivasa Dikshitar, or as a Shiva Rudra Balayogi, as an Indian, as a Hindu, as a person, as an old man, as a young man, anything that would have been there has disappeared – that ‘I.’  So, that was the one achievement or I could tell that that’s one favor that happened to me by doing tapas, that I have disappeared, I have disappeared.  The Self is there.  Quietly the consciousness which was imagining about all these ‘I-ness’ dissolved and it settled into the Self thus the ‘I’ is abiding in itself.

Question:   Thank You Baba.  And finally Babaji is it possible to explain when a yogi offers Darshan or when they offer their blessings? What is it that’s being offered?

Babaji Maharaj:   Through this body, when the mind is pure consciousness, vibrations are flowing in all directions.  This in Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s language He has told, “It is always flowing from a Guru.  You have to raise the sail of faith and catch, become receptive to receive those blessings and grace.”  That’s what.  And Swamiji also used to tell that “Like a Ganga, the tapas shakti…” this He used to talk instead of vibrations for the same thing – that is flowing.  “You have to build a dam of faith.  When you build the dam of faith, so that you can catch and you receive the grace and that flows to you.  Otherwise, it can simply flow on your head if you are unaware of that one.”  Like that Swamiji has told.  So then He used to tell “By giving darshan through this body; only through this body, the people of the world can see me, recognize me.  If only they develop a faith that they are seeing a yogi, a one who has become one with the Divinity, then they will receive the grace and the blessings automatically.  My job is, my service to humanity is to give darshan to anybody, anyone, any creature coming, even if an animal comes in front, they will be able to, their consciousness will be able to absorb these peaceful vibrations.  That will be benefited for them to gain a better birth, a better next birth is possible.”  So, for anybody who comes in front of us, if they have faith and devotion, they can receive the maximum benefit of the vibrations.  Even otherwise also, a little bit somewhere, a little bit of benefit definitely happens.  Even if somebody has come and stayed with me for a short while and then has gone away, somewhere that blessings will work for that person may be in the next life, anywhere.  That’s how Swamiji also used to initiate anybody who wanted meditation, without questioning or inquiring any quality, any money, any rich or poor, simply would initiate.  “Somewhere this will work for him,” He used to say, “even if He doesn’t practice.”  If you practice now, you can gain it in this life itself.  Otherwise also it will work somewhere.  It’s a matter of time.  So, it’s for you to cut short the time or to linger on the time for several lives.  So that is the idea of giving darshan also.

Question:  Thank You Babaji.

Question:   Namaste Babaji.  Babaji, my question is, a state of sadness we say is imaginary or not real.  Similarly, happiness we say is imaginary or not real. Then which state are we trying to reach when we meditate or through yoga?

Babaji Maharaj:   When there is no imagination in your mind, that means it is a pure consciousness of existence.  And that is supremely peaceful, you will experience at that time.  That is the stage you are trying to reach when you meditate.  Silencing the mind means that what it is; you lose all imaginations, overcome.  In that silence of the consciousness, that is the peace.  If ever you would have experienced even for a fraction of a moment the serenity within your mind, quietness, that peace has no equivalent anywhere in this world.  That’s what you need to achieve, you are trying to achieve.

Same Questioner:   One more thing Babaji.  You mentioned, ‘shape our future.’  So by future You mean future in this life or future after this life?

Babaji Maharaj:   It’s very difficult to say conclusively.  It can even materialize depending on the focus of your mind, purity of your mind, and that ability to visualize more strongly, like a prayer, again and again.  So, that can even materialize in this life also, or in the next life also.

Question:   Pranaams Baba.  Nice to see You.  So my question was, I was wondering that when a yogi is in perfect thoughtlessness and nirvikalpa samadhi, and sometimes I know that they can be in this state for many hours or even days at a time.  What is it that causes the thought process to start up again, like what brings them out of that state, back?

Babaji Maharaj:   If there is an ordainment from the Divinity that if you have a mission, if you need to teach to others, create an awareness, that is brought out, then you are brought out.  And usually my Guru taught me to come out of samadhi once in twenty-four hours, to keep a glass of water and just think that you need to drink that one and then go to samadhi; that would usually bring me out.  And an amazing manifestation of the Divine Guru brought me out of that nirvikalpa samadhi.  Probably that was worked out by the real Self, so that for some time this body can remain in this world and create an awareness and give teachings to others.

Same questioner:  Thank You so much Baba.

Babaji Maharaj:   So Bruce, we can take that question that had come to you.

Question:   Thank You Babaji.  Babaji, the question submitted is what is meant by “Do not annoy the Guru because you are annoying your own karmas”?

Babaji Maharaj:   Yeah, a Guru is considered in Indian culture equivalent to God, because you get to learn about that truth that is the highest about your real Self, which had been elusive for you since time immemorial.  So many lives would have passed by because of your own ego, anybody means.  I’m not directing against any individual or group of individuals – for sake of understanding, answering this question please. So when that has happened, finally when you have come across a Guru, you have the privilege, once in a lifecycle chance of getting an answer, getting a guidance like a torchbearer, getting an inspiration and doing sadhana.  So in spite of that, if you do not do sadhana, and if you misunderstand, you are not harming the Guru in any way, you are harming your own karmas, means you will put your mind in jeopardy of doubting.  With that doubt, your mind goes deep into a confusion and your mind goes into an annoyance.  With that annoyance it can get converted into a vengeance, anything can happen.  These energies keep getting converted within the consciousness.  So that is why in ancient scriptures of Guru Gita also this has been warned and recommended.  So when you are trying to annoy a Guru means when you are trying to do harm to the Guru, you are annoying your own karmas.  Beware of that.  This has been warned by Lord Shiva while teaching the truth to Goddess Parvati.

End of Session