October 2005 Tour – Sunshine Coast Day 7

The final evening program of Baba’s October 2005 Tour of the Sunshine Coast, Australia was held in a local hall.  Devotees stood as the strains of Swamiji’s beautiful aarati filled the atmosphere, Baba Maharaj entered, performed aarati to Swamiji, took Namaskaram and assumed His place on the dais.

Brahmanandam Paramasukadam Kevalam Jnanamurtim Dvandvaateetam Gaganasadrisham Tattvamasyadi Lakshiyam Ekam Nityam Vimalam Achalam Sarvadhi Sakshi Bhutam Bhava Teetam Triguna Rahitam Sadgurum Tvam Namami  

Once again offering my unconditional surrender and prostrations with deep love and reverence at the Lotus Feet of my Divine Guru, Shivabalayogi, and honoring all those Great Realized Souls who come to this Earth from time to time to inspire humanity to live well and honor each other – I welcome you all.  My Guru honored all religions. The basic aim in all exercises in religion – such as prayers, chanting and so on – is mind control. The mind is the seat of all troubles and also the means of going back to that Peace which it came out from. Everyone – in all things that they do in this world – is looking only for this Peace. Someone asked me today, “Baba, how did You come to this spiritual life and what have You achieved?” To answer this question, I’ll just recite 2 lines from the song ‘Bhaja Govindam’ which I heard as a child, and which mesmerized me. ‘Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam Mudhamate Samprapte Sannihite Kale Nahi Nahi Rakshati Dhuk Hrin Karane’. Basically the meaning of the song is: “Sing the Glory of God, remember the glory of God, Oh Fool! Because time is so precious. Every moment past is lost. Every moment to come is very precious, so sing the Glory of God – because when death occurs to your physical body, none of your physical power, wealth, health or knowledge will come to your rescue. Only your mind will go with you at that time. So remember God’s name!” This is a very famous song in India written by the great Yogi-philosopher Adi Shankaracharya. He was born in south India and he taught the advaita philosophy – that only the ‘Parabrahman’ exists. ‘Parabrahman’ means the Existence beyond all imaginations. That Immortality is you. You must know this – that you already have everything.

Adi Shankaracharya was once in Kashi (Benares), and he had gone to the river Ganges to have a bath in the morning, and was coming back. As he was walking back, he saw a scholar sitting and trying to memorize a phrase, ‘Dhuk Hrin Karane’. Seeing this he was inspired to compose the song ‘Bhaja Govindam’ – that all these efforts are worthless; that only reciting God’s name can give true permanent Peace. The first time I heard this song – as a young boy of about 6 years of age – it had a mesmerizing effect on me and my mind became obsessed with thoughts about this ‘death’. I needed to find the answers to the questions that were coming in my mind. So Shri Krishna has said, in telling us how to achieve these answers: “To obtain that Supreme Truth, approach the Great Souls. Sitting in front of Them, ask intelligent questions with reverence, and They will teach this.” So thus I wanted to know if the end of this physical body was the end of the individual. The Vedas – the ancient Indian scriptures – taught, “You are that Immortal Soul.” So then I thought, “If I am That, why am I not aware of it?” For instance if I am ‘David’ and I live somewhere and have a family, and so on – I need to remember all this. Thus the mind gets into the habits of brooding about the past or worrying about the future. So all religions taught techniques to concentrate the mind. In that way, Swamiji taught this technique of meditation for 32 years.

Swamiji taught so many people – they simply went on with their daily lives and meditated at least one hour a day. If you sincerely meditate for that one hour, it will look after the other 23 hours of the day; you will gain increased memory power, increased concentration power – you will become like a genius in this world. The company of good and noble people is also important. Adi Shankara has said, “If you are in the company of good people, noble souls, then you will avoid all bad things.” If you are in the company of bad people they will influence you to do wrong things. If you are detached from the bad things, then you will not get attracted to those bad things and your mind will not be confused – confused about what you have to do in this world, confused about what is best for society, and so on. If you keep in the company of good people, then they will encourage you, “Let us try to honor and love each other, and thus make a better world for coming generations.” It can be difficult to work out right from wrong in this world sometimes.

For instance in the story from the Mahabharata in which Draupadi is disrobed – the story goes that there had been gambling in the court, and through this Yudhishthira lost his kingdom. This was from being in bad company – even he, Yudhishthira who was called ‘Dharmaraja’ – ‘King of righteous behavior’. First he lost his kingdom, then he kept gambling and he lost his brothers, and then finally he forgot all principles and put his wife in the bet, Draupadi. He then lost her also and Duryodhana, as he had won her now, ordered that she be disrobed. Now there were elders present in the court also – great, pious, noble people such as Dronacharya and Bhishma. Bhishma had taken a vow to give up the kingdom to make his father happy – so his father could marry. He also took a second vow that he would have no children. He was such a great soul. Even these great people were asked  by Draupadi for protection. But they all refused, saying, “We can’t go against the king.” This was all from the bad company around them. In the same way, Lord Krishna showed that at some places taking up a sword to fight might be wrong; but in other situations it may be right – it may be ‘duty’, dharma (righteous behavior). So in this court where they were threatening to disrobe Draupadi, Krishna stood up and said, “There is no contract here that she can be disrobed. The contract only says she must be your servant.” So the greatest wonder we have always seen is that no matter what people learn from books, in situations of trial they forget it. But if your mind is controlled, then you will not get confused in such situations, and you will know what to do. Shri Krishna says, “If you are not attached to the result of your actions, then you are the Liberated One.”

Meditation will purify the mind and then you will not do wrong things. You will always do what is right and will uphold moral values, and the things of this world will not affect the mind. So returning to the question I was asked, the second half of the question was, ‘What did You achieve?’ The answer is – Supreme Peace. God has given surplus. You ask only for a chocolate and God wants to give you the whole supermarket. Usually the mind broods; if you have a bicycle then you want a motorbike. If you get a motorbike then you want a car. When you get a car, then you want the biggest car. When you get that, then you want a helicopter. There is no end to this craving of the mind. The mind never settles. Now after Tapas, my mind is always at Peace.  People sometimes ask me, “What is the need for Spirituality?” What beautiful teachings our forefathers gave – to make us happy, to honor each other. Thus religions came about. Religion has three main aspects – looking after physical health, mental health and moral health. For the physical health you need good food and exercise. You will be familiar, for instance, with ‘yoga’ exercises. ‘Yoga’ actually means ‘to go back to the Self’. But commonly we speak of yoga exercises, and these physical exercises are good for the physical body. The physical body has its own limitations, but we should try to keep it as healthy as possible. The second aspect is mental health – to keep the mind under control and as healthy as possible. This will help you to go back to your real Self. This is what my Guru taught, and this inspiration is continuing. This all needs to be practiced – otherwise it just remains talk, and no benefit comes. In the beginning any new practice can be awful; but as you practice more, it becomes easier and easier. And as you practice then you will find the mind becomes more noble. Eventually, when the mind settles completely into the Self, then you cannot think badly of anyone. We often say there is no real sin; only there are two things – mature people and immature people. Mature people are at peace; they know the truth. Immature people are greedy and so on. So we will go now for this meditation. This meditation can give a person total maturity in life.

Questions & Answers

Question:

What is the connection between consciousness,soul and spirit?

Babaji:

They are not separate; they are simply a refinement of the same energy, the Supreme Consciousness. From this Supreme Consciousness a spark called ‘mind’ has come out. They are not separate – like a droplet of the ocean that eventually has to go back to the ocean, the mind also has to go back to this Self, the Supreme Consciousness.

Question:

Can You please speak about the marriage of Shiva and Shakti?

Babaji:

They are inseparable – like the mind and its energy. ‘Shiva’ means ‘the Existence in Total Standstillness’. The legend tells how when the Consciousness arose for creation, an immense eruption of energy – called ‘Rudra’ – came forth. This energy was so enormous that all the creation was engulfed by this energy and the creation could not continue. Then the first four Yogis, who came out of Brahma the creator, prayed to the Divine to protect the creation. The Divine then manifested in the form of Mother – Adi Parashakti. ‘Adi’ means ‘first, ‘Para’ means ‘Invisible’ and ‘Shakti’ means ‘the energy of the Divine’. The Mother will always forgive, she cannot hate anyone. This is important because knowingly or unknowingly it may be that the individuals in the creation may commit mistakes from time to time. So it is important that they are forgiven for this, so creation can continue. This marriage between ‘Shiva’ and ‘Shakti’ is called ‘Ardhanarishwara’; they are inseparable – Shiva is there and Shakti too. Shiva – without the energy, would be inert. Shakti – could not exist without Shiva. In Adivarapupeta where my Guru was born, performed His Tapas and attained  Mahasamadhi there is a marriage of these two – Shiva and Parvati – performed every Shivaratri. When Swamiji Himself completed His Tapas of 12 years, Shiva and Parvati appeared before Him, and entered His body.

Question:

Can You please discuss the role of the head and the heart in how we live, and the interplay between these two?

Babaji:

By ‘head’ we mean ‘mind’ – the intellect by which we think and analyze; while the ‘heart’ is the emotions of the mind. We get conflict between these two if either the ‘analyzation’ is incomplete (the function of the mind – the head) or if the faith, devotion and surrender are not complete (the function of the emotions – the heart). If these are fully developed, there is no dispute between them.

Question:

What is our duty to our children?

Babaji:

You should look after their physical needs, and also give them an education – and look after their moral education. Some people sometimes ask if we should give up our householder duties to meditate. We advise to look after your children as manifestations of God. Swamiji used to say, “Beware your children watch very carefully what you do – more than what you say. In the same way, if you take me as your Guru, you will observe what I do, as well as what I say.

Question: Thank You for traveling all this way. My question is about time. As we get older, the days seem to go faster. Is time speeding up?

Babaji:

Time is not getting faster; it is the human mind becoming more restless. In the olden days we did more work manually so the pace of life was slower. Now the world is becoming fast, so now we find we have very little time. Forty or fifty years ago there was more time for socializing – now with TV and videos there is no time for socializing. It just increases, increases, and increases. People say they have no time for meditation. We say, “Time is not available at a shop. You have to take time out in priority for this.” Just as you appreciate me coming, I always appreciate your efforts to come and learn. Tonight you came here out of respect – you set the priority to come here, rather than be somewhere else. Just as you set aside time for food for your physical body, you also need to set aside this time for meditation, which is food for the mind. It is just this one hour – still 23 hours of the day remain for everything else. If you do this you will find that you become calmer and use time well.

Question:

In the breathing exercise You have showed us with alternate nostril breathing, the ratio was 8 : 4 : 8. Does it increase later?

Babaji:

Yes, as you become used to it you can increase. It is also important to be careful how you do it – it should be smooth, with no rush.

Question:

Could You please discuss the relationship between unconditional love and detachment?

Babaji:

With unconditional love, you will not expect anything in reward – like a mother looking after her children. Like in my case, with Swamiji I simply loved for the sake of love only. Then with this unconditional love, surrender happens automatically; it happens on its own. In the same way, the Guru would like the student to become fully independent. If you learn properly and the mind settles – this is the greatest donation you can give to me.

© 2005 SRBY, All rights reserved.