Thus Spake Babaji - online Q and A, No.17

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Thus Spake Babaji - online Q and A, No.17
A live online Q and A session, recorded on 16 January 2021.

In this session Shri Babaji gives guidance on the following:

0:00 Babaji's introduction
8:22 How to stop brooding over negative past events
10:42 What does it mean to 'apply the mind'
12:35 Advice on spiritual progress
14:06 Position of eyeballs in meditation
15:30 Intuition and faith
18:39 Drowsiness in meditation
20:24 Can Samadhi only be achieved through Tapas?
22:47 Attachment to family and friends on its impact on meditation
24:09 Does one experience duality in Tapas?
25:45 How a Self-Realized master does not experience doership
27:41 Closing words from Babaji

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Transcript

Discourse: Thus Spake Babaji - online Q and A No. 17
You tube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjEJPKzwEsE
Recorded: 16 January, 2021

Start of short discourse

   Babaji Commences:

   Good evening, another opportunity. We are back in Dehradun Ashram, the scene changes. Usually what you would see a Swamiji's marble idol. It's a beautiful photo paint of Swamiji at the age of twenty-six, when He had come out of tapas in 1961. This is our Dehradun abode. This is where Baba is based since forty-six years. We are back here and it's very cold here so I have become Santa Claus temporarily for a while.

   Remembering our beloved Master, with prostrations at His lotus feet with my love and reverence, I greet you all with my love and blessings. This meditation - when you meditate, that means you look upon yourself, you look towards yourself, you pay attention to yourself, quietly, silently and you would not define yourself because anything you would define is an imagination. Such is the wonder of the real Self and this world, everything is. So silently watch, that is important. When you close the eyes, you have to be gentle, sweet to yourself, but don't pamper yourself. Be polite but firm and then follow the instructions. Well, that is the dedication - setting priority. When you think, “I need this, I must sit with Babaji,” and then you have time. Time is there always. You set that priority. Now, next step - remain disciplined and have patience. Don't lose patience, don't give up. 

   Gently, all of you, sitting in any comfortable posture close your eyes. Keeping the eyes closed, concentrate your mind and sight in-between eyebrows and just keep watching there by focusing the attention of your mind using the eyeballs. Be gentle, be firm and then do not repeat any mantra or name. Just watch. Keep quiet mentally. Just like you are able to keep quiet in the mouth, keep quiet in your mind also. Don't bother for anything. Let the world be there. The world will be taken care, and do not imagine about any experiences that comes. An experience really is the silence of the mind; the rest are all imagined experiences. Just watch. Do not open your eyes till I recite a prayer and will ask you to open the eyes. May you all be blessed by the Divine Guru Master Shivabalayogi. We love you all.

Short post meditation discourse

   Remembering the great Master Shivabalayogi, it was very nice to see you all firmly sitting for half an hour, and I hope within you, in your mind also you tried successfully to be silent. It's a wonderful thing. 

   Sometimes a couple of emails have come from participants in different classes, online classes – “Baba when You answer it appears as if You had directed that answer to me, as if you knew what I was, as if You wanted to alert me, tell me.”  Well, if you had taken that positively, it's wonderful, nice. However, from my side, I would always like to clarify that whatever we say as an answer or as a teaching, as an upadesa, it is never directed against any one individual or group of individuals. Just for sake of education, generally, we talk, we teach, whatever we learnt from our Master, whatever we experienced in our tapas and deeper meditations. It is for all. From time to time the great Masters who have come on this earth - always they have taught generally to all humanity. Whoever can learn, whoever wants to learn as an upadesa, means for sake of education so that you can learn, you can adopt in your life and you practice. As Shri Krishna says “O Arjuna, before death shall claim thee, go to the knowers of truth. Sitting at their lotus feet, seeking their permission, ask such intelligent questions and then from the Master’s upadesa, adopting such methods without failure with all your discipline and efforts achieve that truth to yourself.”   So remember these sayings of Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita, which had such a great impact on us. So thus we could never forget whatever our Master Shivabalayogi taught, whatever He said, whether it was directed to me, directed to anybody or just as a mark of education, just for sake of that He said, it was always wonderful. It is useful even now. So it put us on the right track; it inspired us to practice, to put efforts without failure in a gentle way but firmly and achieve the truth by His Grace to ourselves. So thus, all of you also practice every day. It's wonderful you have taken out time, and I’m sure you all look forward for this day every Saturday to sit with Baba and practice for half an hour of meditation. Then either you want to put the questions or you would like to listen to the answers for the questions that others would have put which is always beneficial to all participants, to anybody. Thus you must feel inspired, put an effort every day. Every day Baba is with you. A Master is with you all. He will sit with you when you sit. If you close the eyes, He will also close the eyes. He will sit in your heart. When you close the eyes, you will see Him with you.

Start of Questions and Answers

Question: Babaji, my question is regarding what I am experiencing. This tendency is there for my mind to always rule over the negative past events which affects my present state.

Babaji Maharaj: Important is that you need to understand both positive and negative are happening within you, your own mind. So, mind’s one part is becoming negative, another part fails to put that necessary firm effort into overcoming that negativity. You see in sports, when you would have seen any sports anywhere when there is a competition, one gains upper hand when that one has the firm concentration and firm hold. So the moment the other realizes, “I am going to lose,” then he puts all his efforts, puts his willpower, firm focus, and many times such people have overcome the opponent's hits, and they have won the game. So this is what the thing known as firmness, never giving up, strong willpower, application of strong willpower and think for yourself, “how come it's not coming? I must overcome this negativity; enough of this negativity.”  You try, you try, you try, and you will definitely win. Negativity will go away; and you have the same powerful positivity also within you. You try that one. Always remember the Master, remember any Divinity, remember any name of God, remember the purity of mind, remember that you are the atman. Like that, all positive things, plenty are there. Go on remembering one after another, one after another, so that your mind becomes preoccupied with positivity and gives up the negativity. It is possible. 

Same questioner: Thank You Babaji.

Question: Pranams Babaji. In Your explanations You often use the words ‘to apply the mind.’  Could You please explain more about what it means to apply the mind?

Babaji Maharaj: Applying the mind. Yeah, applying the mind is paying attention, focusing and when you apply the mind and use the brains, that also I mean. Means, because it is the mind, you as the mind has to apply the brain to generate wisdom, to be wise, to gain that power of discrimination, what is right what is wrong, what is positive, what is negative. So, that is what I mean of applying the mind also. In meditation it means apply the mind to keep quiet. To apply the wisdom you focus on the brain and apply the brain, think in the right direction so that you can think about positivity and all the good things and real things which is unreal, what is real, like that. Application in both ways. Here in meditation you have to apply silently so that you become silent, so that your mind also becomes silent. Applying that technology that the Master has given - just watch; in your mind you just watch; apply the mind there just to watch and not to think. If you are thinking you are applying the mind to think. Here, you apply the mind to remain quiet and just watch. So that's what I meant of ‘applying the mind.’

 Same questioner: Thank You Babaji.

Question: My question is – Can you give me advice about my actual situation towards my spiritual progress towards where I need to be and to go? That's all.

Babaji Maharaj: Always remain firm. Understand the technique. Whenever the Master talks to you or gives the technique, talks about it, any answer that He gives, any suggestion, any advice, any words that come out of His mouth and even when He is silent - at all these times you apply your concentration of the mind so that these words may penetrate your inner layers of the mind and then you will not give up, you will be firm. Politely just adopt; just go on doing. Watch means just watch - don't allow any doubts to arise because if you allow the doubts to arise it will waste your energies and it will waste your time also. Every moment is important. You would have progressed but you have curtailed yourself; you have stopped yourself by being, either doubting yourself or doubting the Master or being negative or any such thing. So at all times be firm. Do not doubt. Have faith in yourself. You can do it, and just go on doing.

Question: Hello Babaji. Thank You. I was meditating the other day and I had heard the instruction ‘rest in awareness with your attention between your eyebrows.’  So I was doing that and I had good firm attention between my eyebrows, but suddenly it dawned, it came to me that my eyes were not involved in that. My eyes were kind of parked somewhere else behind, you know, behind but my attention though was between my eyebrows. Do I have to be conscious of my eyeballs?

Babaji Maharaj: Yeah, steadily watch through the eyeballs. That helps the mind also to remain quiet and firmly holding there. So sometimes you feel as if you are looking into the back but actually the eyeballs will always be in the front, it cannot go back but an experience makes you feel like that when it keeps moving parallelly. Steadily watch without bothering what is in front of you. Then slowly in due course of time, both the eyeballs will come in between eyebrows and it will firmly hold and purify the mind better.

Same questioner: Okay, Thank You.

Question: I feel that intuition when I react really spontaneously, that's my intuition and I must have more faith in that. I don't know. Can You say something about that please?

Babaji Maharaj: Ah, faith is self-confidence that you can do it. You will think that “I can do it and I am going to do it,” and firmly you keep moving without giving up. You will not entertain any doubts ever. So that is faith. Faith in yourself, faith in the name of Guru and the Lord that such things can work wonders. This is important. Generally, criteria what I have heard about intuition is people start feeling something is going to happen, it's going to happen, like this it's going to happen and then they say such a thing happened. There is really no spiritual meaning. Spiritually this has no meaning at all, intuition in this way. The whole world is enthusiastic or inquisitive about what's going to happen next. There is no such thing called future - things go on shaping, every moment. So spirituality teaches that you remain focused in the present. That is important. Your effort in the present can shape a better future, a wonderful future for you. So that is more important instead of allowing the mind to feel the intuition that “oh such a thing might happen; what happens if it happens like that”. So people, humanity has a general weakness. Sometimes once a certain thing happens and hundreds of people want to claim “I already knew about these things, like this is going to happen like this, I had a hint about these things.”  Simply, a yogi would not say that he knew anything. 

Same questioner: What I was really talking about was if somebody says something and I act really quickly and I act with power. That's what I’ve been thinking of intuition, and I say “no that's not correct!”, and then afterwards I surprised myself, I think, “where did that come from?” What is that? Is that my inner Self? That's not intuition I don't think. 

Babaji Maharaj: Sometimes, by habitual also, one is likely to say “no that's not correct.”  When you did not know whether it was correct or not. So by habit when you say so then you start wondering, “from where did it come?”  So you look for the source from where did it come by closing your eyes and observing the I, the consciousness of existence - then you will know the source of this coming also. 

Same questioner: Yes, Thank You very much.

Question: Babaji, I’m meditating from since last couple of years but the problem is that the first ten to fifteen minutes, there are a lot of thoughts in my mind, and just after 45 minutes all the thoughts get cleared but I feel drowsiness, a lot of drowsiness and sleepiness, and this keeps on happening for all my sessions. This is actually a problem for me, means I am unable to make it more than one hour. So is there any solution for that or is there any technique so that I can overcome this drowsiness?

Babaji Maharaj: At least when you are able to sit for one hour is a very good thing. After one hour if you feel the drowsiness, you see, when you sit for meditation you should have taken sufficient rest and not stressful when you get up also, and take smaller meals in-between whenever you feel hungry, at one time. So these things will be helpful that there is not much load on the brain. Slowly you will be able to increase the time also. If necessary after one hour, you take a two minutes break, wash your face, feel refreshed, and come back and sit again. So like this if you practice, you can increase the duration of time also, and meals is important. You should take such meals which is easily digestive, does not create acidity or wind and body heaviness. That is important. Adapt such methods and you will be able to overcome this drowsiness.

Same questioner: Okay Babaji. Just another question - is tapas is our only medium to reach to the samadhi or by meditating one hour or two hour we can also reach to the samadhi?

Babaji Maharaj: You see, tapas means like when you are able to keep the mind totally quiet and silent focused in-between eyebrows for one hour, that is the real meditation. Till then you are trying to meditate. That's what my Master Shivabalayogi used to say. Like that when you are able to keep your mind quiet for eight to ten hours that means you have started doing tapas; you are able to do tapas continuously. So, that's when the mind goes into samadhi. That means, criteria here, mind has acquired habits to imagine, to keep thinking, keep worrying all the time like a chatterbox since time immemorial. All these habits have to go, means in other words you have to burn these habits of the mind, make it totally silent once for all. Then its attention goes to itself. That is when samadhi occurs. So this has to happen. Whether it happens in one hour, whether it happens in ten hours, and continuously for long time you have to practice, then the samadhi comes. So that's why that much of thing is recommended. Like if you want to go for a higher specialization examination you have to prepare yourself. If you tell that, “If I just take primary school teachings and then pass the class, is it good enough for me to pass a competitive exam in the university?”   “It is not enough,” that's what the teacher says. We always, human beings have a habit to find an easy way, whether it's possible to do, this much is enough, whether we have to do. Sometimes tapas word is misunderstood. “If we have to do tapas, is it so much that we have to do, is a little bit enough?”  So that is the criteria. If it is fulfilled, then the samadhi occurs.

Same questioner: Thank You Babaji.

Question: Babaji, the question I have is - we are attached to our families, very closely attached to families and to friends. How is attachment and its impact on meditation? I know in this world we need to have some attachment, but…

Babaji Maharaj: See, having attachment or you love somebody is no problem, but this attachment or love must not be troubling you when you are practicing meditation. At that time, instead of meditating if you start remembering your family and loving friends then you cannot meditate. So that's what the Master said – “you do either this or that.”  You love, you have families, no problem, you can have attachment but don't allow such attachments or love to trouble you during meditation. It's important, right? When you are doing your job, your boss will pull you up if you keep thinking about your family and friends and you are unable to do your job properly. Then boss will pull up. That is the…  

Same questioner: Okay Thank You Babaji, Thank You.

Question: Babaji, nice to see You. In our daily life the mind thinks outwards and experiences the duality like cold, hot, happiness, sadness, wet, and dry, and so on. When we achieve true meditation going inwards to the Self do we experience this duality? Can You please talk about this; how You experience the duality or singularity in your time of tapas, during tapas?

Babaji Maharaj: During tapas and when the mind goes deeper introvert then mentally you would not experience any of these things. Even now also see if you can see, this body I’m wearing all the woollen shawl, a woollen cap because it’s quite cold here but that doesn't mean that my mind will be brooding or is feeling cold or is troubled. Mind is at peace. Simply to take care of the body we have put all the warm clothes. The mind does not get affected. It will not be brooding, “why this cold is? Oh, it's very cold. Why is this person criticizing me?”  It won't get affected. It remains neutral and at peace. It will ignore all the worldly things and it remains in the Self all the time. So thus it remains quiet and at peace.

Same questioner: I understand. Thank You very much.

Question: Pranams Babaji. Yeah, so I was wondering, a Self-realized yogi living in the world, helping the world is performing actions and is living a life but the actions are always performed by realizing that they are not the doer and if I’m right in what I’m saying can You explain this a bit more?

Babaji Maharaj: Yeah, body mechanically does as a duty. So whether somebody learns from me or not, I have to teach, I just teach. 125 people are there then they become 128, then two, three people leave, then it becomes 125 again, so we remain unaffected. Mentally there is no brooding, there is no worrying, there is no disappointment. Simply we do all actions to keep the body. We might eat some food also but we are not affected mentally – “why this food was not available, why this food has been made available? So all these things will always be at peace. Even actions to defend the Ashram or anything we might be doing but mentally we will not be brooding all the time or worrying, or we won't lose temper due to that one, we won't have any grudge against anyone, we won't show such an anger on anybody else. Sometimes people when they have an anger on somebody they show it to another, so these types of things happen when the mind is not under control. So we remain quiet and at peace, remain unaffected. 

Same questioner: Thank You Babaji.

End of Questions and Answers

Babaji Maharaj now concludes the session.

   Wonderful, always you all have asked very nice, lovely questions. Probably as you have been listening to my answers your mind might have become quiet and stunned or totally at peace. Like this, that's very good. All my answers have been very helpful to you all. It has influenced your minds to remain quiet, at peace - not to get agitated. Enjoy the peace always. Peace is your existence right. You have to exist in peace because that is how you exist. Unnecessarily, when you imagine wildly all unwanted things you lose peace. You just remain quiet. That's what you practice every day. Every day you practice, even half an hour of meditation. Every day I am sitting with you, I am sitting in your heart, I am sitting in front of you, I am also meditating with you, and you meditate. Have this faith and then meditate!

End of Session