Personal Effort, Grace and Satsanga | In Quest of Truth - Babaji Q&A, No. 245

Register your free place for the live online meditation and Q&A with Babaji: https://www.shivarudrabalayogi.org/online-satsang 

Personal Effort, Grace and Satsanga | In Quest of Truth - Babaji Q&A, No. 245
Recorded on 23 August 2025 with worldwide participants

0:00 Intro
0:15 Babaji's comment on the quote from Yoga Vasistha: "In the whole of creation, there is no force more powerful than personal effort in the present."
8:36 If that peace is the mind's natural state, why does it take effort to attain it?
14:43 If one puts in efforts, is there a danger you will develop a false spiritual pride?
17:44 Is grace something which is a Divine blessing, a gift which is not earned, not because of efforts?
23:16 Are there certain qualities you can associate with a person who is receptive?
27:00 What does Babaji mean when He uses the word satsanga?
28:34 Is satsanga a form of sadhana?
30:37 Some people say that when in Babaji's presence, their mind settles and their questions go away.  Can we have that same experience when not in Babaji's physical presence?
33:16 Shri Ramana, using his grace and power, confirmed his mother had attained Self Realisation despite not completing Tapas, the same with Lakshmi, the cow at the Ashram.
37:15 How do we know when we have put in enough effort and when to surrender and let god carry on; Divine will versus one's own egotistic will.
38:40 What is the meaning of 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram'?
39:44 If you speak truth all the time, can one experience god?
41:06 To attain grace do you need a personal deity or mantra?  How does grace unfold simply by watching in meditation?
42:28 Can one do Tapas and attain silence while chanting a mantra?
45:24 A devotee asks who to take as a Guru, Shivabalayogi or Babaji.
46:22 While sitting for mediation, is there any particular hand mudra to adopt?
47:30 Is patience during sadhana a self-effort which will grant grace?
 
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Transcript

Discourse: In Quest of Truth – online Q&A no.245
 Personal Effort, Grace, and Satsanga
You tube Link: https://youtu.be/IoYhhxHHD6U
Recorded: 14 October 2025

Start of Questions and Answers

Question:   Baba, this week, there's a broad topic, ‘Personal effort, Grace, and Satsanga.’  So, if I could start by asking Babaji, early in Yoga Vasistha, there's a short statement, “In the whole of creation, there is no force more powerful than personal effort in the present.”  Could Babaji please speak about that? 

Babaji Maharaj:   Yeah. You see, mind, what we call mind is actually you, means every individual.  That is one of the most powerful in this world.  I have told mind is the powerhouse for everyone to live in this world.  Provided if it can be kept concentrated, not diluted, and that will be non-corrupted.  So, such a mind can help you to go back to your real Self.  That is the priority.  That's what must be set; going back to the Self.  Now in the name of mind, we are wandering with imagination, scattered and spinning.  All the twenty-four hours mind is imagining, imagining about this world and its own imaginations, building up stories.  But it cannot imagine about itself or the Self.  To go back to the Self, the mental strength is important.  That mind, if it becomes strong, means if it can become concentrated, not scattered, the more you can concentrate it, which happens by practicing the silence of the mind. 

 That is the essence of meditation's first step.  Trying to practice to remain quiet.  When we always ask you, just watch in between eyebrows and do not engage in any other activities; no recognition, no analyzation, no judgments, nothing.  Whatever it is, whether good or bad, you don't bother.  It is your mind which tells a thing as a good, a certain thing as a bad.  So, for you, it is bad or somebody else, it might be good.  So, the world is like that.  If you don't get involved, just remain as a witness during meditation, your mind gives up its habits of chatterbox, always getting engaged with its own imaginations. And it talks to itself, it builds a story to itself.  So thus, it becomes diluted, scattered and spins.  However, if this can be kept concentrated; that can happen only when the mind becomes silent; when it is silent, it becomes concentrated.  So, then it can take you back.  

As I have told, if the mind becomes concentrated, it starts going to its origin, the Ultimate Truth, the Divine.  If it is into imagination, it is away from the Self in illusion and always involved into imaginations.  So, this is what has happened just now.  Because of this, mind is experiencing both dualities, good and bad, right and wrong, happiness and unhappiness, all these things are happening simply because of imaginations.  A certain thing if it imagines as good, then it becomes happy, a certain thing if it imagines as bad, then it becomes unhappy.  It gets fearful, stressful, all these things happen.  That's what, the mind can be the most powerful in this world.  For this purpose only, ‘Purushaartha’ word was used by the ancient sages – Purushaartha means self-efforts.  For the same thing in Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna tells, “Atman…” ‘Atman’ means addressing to the mind only.  They are same.  At different times, different functionalities, we address in different ways.  The same thing is ‘atman’, but when it imagines, we call it as ‘mind’. So, here, “Atman is atman's best friend,” Sri Krishna tells, “And atman is atman's worst enemy.”  That means in simple words, you can be your best friend if you utilize your energies to achieve that top, highest, permanent.  So, you are your best friend, you can achieve.  This power is there in you.  

That is what is purushaartha, means you have to put efforts, understanding the technique by the teachings of the Master, and sitting at the lotus feet of Master, you have to learn and practice.  While practicing, you require dedication, discipline and patience.  That's when the purushaartha comes into effect.  ‘Your efforts to achieve’, means you put in all your strength to achieve.  Just like, you have ten thousand dollars.  You might use one dollar, fifty cents, something for a bread.  But if you need a big thing, a permanent thing, you might put all your ten thousand dollars into stake.  Like here also, your mental energies.  To live in this world, a little, little concentration, you achieve so many things.  You are able to acquire knowledge and wisdom of this world.  You become a doctor, you become an engineer, you become this and that, so many things.  You are able to earn a livelihood, you can buy a car, a home and you earn your livelihood.  All these things happen.  But is this all that we are looking for?  Because in spite of earning all these things, if you look into human beings, they are still stressed about.  

The stress is there, fear is there.  So, that is because they do not know the right path to achieve the topmost thing, permanent.  Like very peculiarly, this used to come to me, “If the happiness is there, it must be there at all times, twelve months, twenty-four hours.  Why is that it is not there?  Is there something wrong in me or something wrong in the world?”  When we understand this, then if we go for that – purushaartha, that is the purushaartha, means dedicate, we put all powers of ours into the stake.  Like in a war zone in a battlefield, a soldier, when he sees that the enemy is ready to kill you, cut your head, then he comes into an anger and then he goes full power, full throttle, whatever strength he has with all the strength he goes to win that battle.  So, here also it is like that, the battle is between you and your mind.  Your mind is troubling you.  It is not allowing you to have that peace, supreme peace at all times.  So, if you put an effort, that is what is purushaartha, that is spoken here.  

Question:   Thank You, Babaji.  Babaji, if that silence, if that peace is the mind's natural state, why does it take an effort to attain it? 

Babaji Maharaj:   Because it has picked up wrong habits.  Since time immemorial it has become habitual and has come out of its natural habitat of remaining quiet and at peace, so it is imagining.  So, when it is imagining, it should have been able to stop once that imagination is over.  Imagination we can call in other words as creativity to live in this world to achieve something, to become a champion, or to become well knowledgeable, all these things. We want to earn a livelihood.  For that we need an education.  We need something to learn.  The more that we learn, we can earn better and we can live more comfortably perhaps.  But while doing so, we have forgotten to come back or become quiet once the job is over.  Like from day one, I have given this example only.  You have taken out your car, you are driving and you have forgotten to bring it to a halt and you are bewildered.  You don't know what to do now.  So, like that it has happened.  Continuously you are simply driving and driving and driving.  So, now it is threatening, “What will happen, what will happen,” type of thing.  

So, that is what is happening for the mind also.  After the job is done, we should have kept it into the habit of becoming quiet once the thinking is over.  It is meant for imagination, to be creative, but when that job is over, we should become quiet.  But mind doesn't become quiet.  It goes into further imaginations all the time, which gets converted into cravings.  So, that is what has happened.  So thus, it has become habitual to these wrong things.  To rectify that is the uphill task.  All Masters who have come to this world who could achieve, understand, they struggle to teach the students; every now and then, again and again they repeat, “Just watching between eyebrows, sit down peacefully, keep your back and neck straight, gently close your eyes.  Watching between eyebrows by focusing the attention of mind and sight; do not imagine anything.”  So, like this the Master keeps instructing every day.  Anybody who can catch this technique; “Ah, God, this is what the Master wanted me to do.  All that I am supposed to do is just watching.”  

Because the mind keeps analyzing.  It wants to show its own intelligence, “What happens if I am just watching?  Will it be successful or will it give me something else?”  It doubts the Master’s teachings.  So, you need to have faith.  Because that is the psychology.  If you get involved into the arguments…  Once in a while you can ask a question.  When you ask a question, you must know asking that question is a privilege.  And once in a chance that you get.  That should not go waste.  It should not be simply for sake of “Let people, 150 people watch me asking a question.”  Not for that purpose.  It should be meaningful.  When you ask a question and the Master answers, you catch hold of it.  And that's it.  That doubt should go and you are into the job.  So, if it is not done, it doesn't happen.  You are again bewildered, again come back with the things, “I am unable to concentrate my mind and sight.  O Master, what should I do?  How do I think?”  Then Master has to find some other psychological sentence to tell him, “You do like this one.  You do like this.”  Then some Master said, “You chant this mantra.  Let us see whether your mind can remain concentrated onto the mantra.”  

So, like that.  So, then that becomes an ego.  They start arguing, “My Master said that I have to chant the mantra.  He said that you cannot obtain Self-Realization by just watching in between eyebrows.”  Some people argue like that.  I said, “Your master was never Realized at all.  That's why he said this one.  If he had been Realized, you would have understood. The two important things; the first basic thing is, make your mind concentrated.  Means instead of having a million thoughts, try to stick to one thought.  Then slowly you can practice to become silent so that the mind goes introvert to itself.  This is what needs to be done.  If the master has not understood this point, then the master is not Self-Realized.  He is simply egoistic that he wants you to chant only that mantra that is given by the master.  But actual yogi will not tell. “Ok, any name you want to do, you do it.  That's no problem.  Whatever appeals to you.”  I don't have any mantra owning.  I do not own any property or any mantra that you chant only this thing; I am giving you this mantra.  That's all.  Like Swamiji used to initiate as a friend.  He never claimed ownership for this technique.  The patenting, all these things were unknown in those days.  He simply went on initiating whoever came.  There was no owning system, it was not there.  Like that.  You go like that one.  Then that is the real Master.  

Question:   Thank You, Babaji.  Babaji in that answer touched on something.  If one puts in efforts, is there a danger you will develop a false spiritual pride? 

Babaji Maharaj:   What I was trying to tell, if you are narrow minded and if you are unable to learn from your master also, if the master also is narrow minded, then he might tell “O, you have to chant only this thing.  Nothing else.”  It is just the masters used to teach so that you don't become distracted here and there; today a little bit here, little bit there.  Just stick to one mantra.  That was the idea, basically.  Maybe Self-Realized Masters also would have told in earlier days.  But the student can misunderstand, “No, this is the only mantra my master said.”  And then when he teaches, he will teach only that mantra.  We don't do that one.  I teach this definitely, the meditation technique.  But if anybody tells me… Many times many people come with many ideas, “Can I meditate like this?”  “Oh, no problem, you meditate.  Along with that you meditate this also.  Then see which one suits you and you go ahead like that.”  There is nothing; you are not going to give me the world just by practicing the technique that I am passing on to you.  You have to achieve; it is for yourself.  It is yours.  So, like that.  

So, this is what happens many times.  But this is what, a person can become egoistic with one technique.  So, it should not be like that.  You just understand the basic concept.  Basic concept is either you are able to make the mind quiet on its own…  Like, just if you are watching in between eyebrows, you can make that on its own.  There is no chant of mantra, no target to watch, nobody to remember, nothing.  You are just trying to become quiet.  That is the one bewildering thing for many people.  Many, many people come with, “What will come?  What can I achieve just by watching?  Like that simply watching, will God come?  How can I call God?  Do I have to call by name or by form?”  Like this type of hundreds of doubts keep coming.  Nothing.  Actual God you do not know.  You have imagination in one particular form or one particular name and you expect only that thing.  Do not expect.  God can come in any form.  It is up to Him.  But He is beyond all such things.  So, if you just become quiet, you will get to see that Divinity that is all pervaded; will be possible.  So, these are some of the points we keep trying to teach.  

Question:   Thank You, Baba.  Babaji, if we talk about ‘grace’ in a Western concept, we are speaking of something that is a Divine blessing.  It is a gift which is not earned.  It is not because of efforts.  Is that what Babaji means when He uses that term ‘grace’? 

Babaji Maharaj:   No, ‘grace’ is earned by putting an effort.  Whether you pray or you meditate, then the grace descends.  Your efforts and the grace goes together.  They are interconnected to each other.  So, when you put an effort, then grace also descends.  For this, in bhakti marga also, many people, many teachers teach like this, “You take two steps.  God will come to you ten steps.”  Some effort has to happen.  But people, very often I have seen, when they ask a question, they expect that they don't have to do anything, simply grace has to descend.  They come, “O Master, please touch my head and give me something.”  I said, “Idiot I can give you ten rupees.  What will you do with that ten rupees?  You have to earn, man.  You have to earn.”  Just like your father gives you some money.  Then you increase it by investing in the business.  Like that, your Guru gives you this technique.  He blesses you.  The grace comes.  That doesn't mean that you don't have to do anything.  And you can keep eating masala dosas, and just the grace comes and makes you Self-Realized; things don't happen like that.  

You have to put an effort because this one fundamental thing all of you need to understand, it is your mind which has gone out of control. It is your mind which is into chatterbox.  Isn't it?  All the 150 people sitting here ask this question to yourself.  It is your mind which has become a chatterbox.  And you need to stop that mind.  Then the Realization comes; the Self is revealed when the mind becomes quiet.  For that, you have to put effort.  When you put effort, the grace of the Guru comes, that descends.  Very first thing that a Guru has come in front of you and is talking to you and giving the technique, that is the grace.  Now, the rest you do.  The grace has already descended.  So, what else do you need? Self-Realization is not a chocolate that the Guru gives you, “This is the Self-Realization.  You keep it with you all the time.”  Then you tell, “O God, my Master gave me Self-Realization.  It is in my pocket all the time.”  That is not Self-Realization.  It is the awareness of your real Self, consciousness of existence; your attention to yourself.  For this you have to practice.  

The Master is giving you technique.  He is taking an initiative, all the way coming, sitting with you all at five o'clock India time and making you all to sit for one-hour meditation.  The instructions are given,  “This is what you do in the meditation.”  After that, to enhance that and inspire you, we discuss one hour more, in the form of question and answers about these topics – What you have to achieve.  What it means, a grace.  Like this, if the grace has to come, then why did God create this world?  He could finish the world and give Self-Realization to everybody.  Go and ask God, “Why don't you do this one?”  If anybody knows God, they can go and ask.  God is not available like that.  He doesn't come in front of anyone like that.  He tells, “First, you put in effort.  Get rid of your imaginations, bloody fool.  Practice concentration, silence your mind.  Then I will see what I can do for you.”  So that effort can bring in grace, that is miraculous.  

   There is no particular definition for grace actually, in fact, finally.  We can go on discussing; it is a wide, wide subject.  So many things.  Many people consider this, that, luck favoring, grace of the Divine, anything.  But if you consider everything as a grace – that's what they need to consider.  They say “Why the grace is not descending?”  I tell them, “Idiot, a grace has already come, a Master has come in front of you and He is talking to you.  He is putting all his energies to make you understand what you are supposed to do.  That is the grace.  Is it not the grace?  The grace is already there.”  The first grace comes, and then you start something.  You also learn.  

Question:   Thank You Baba. Babaji sometimes describes people as being receptive.  Are there certain qualities you can associate with a person who is receptive? 

Babaji Maharaj:   Remaining focused when the Master teaches.  Remember Ashtavakra Samhita?  That's what Ashtavakra demands from King Janaka.  And even to Nachiketa also, Yama Dharmaraja said this, “When I narrate, only once I narrate about this atman, and you should absorb the truth.  Don't ask me question.”  To Nachiketa, He didn't even allow him to ask a question again.  “Just absorb when I tell you once.”  Means that much of attention has to be there.  That is what the Master demands.  If you don't pay attention, it's not my problem.  One time I will go on narrating the truth.  That final truth, that Ultimate Truth, that atman, which is the rarest of rare thing.  Not every Master can give that one, not every Master can talk, not everybody can talk.  They can talk what the books have written, and from the book, whatever they understand, they talk.  But the Master gives only clues how to settle into that Self.  So, like that, you have to go.  The Master gives instructions.  So, you have to pay attention when the Master says.  

Many times people are so restless and excited.  They ask a question and they don't have patience to listen to my answer.  They start talking again and again.  So, they don't listen to what I say.  Then I have to pull them up, “Wait a moment.  Don't be in a rush.  Once you have asked this question, now let me answer to this.  When I am answering, remain focused.  Pay attention.”  This is the first and foremost important thing when the Master teaches.  If you are attentive, then your mind becomes receptive, means it absorbs the teachings quickly.  “Ah, this is what the Master is telling.  I have to become quiet.”  The student understands, “Now it is me who has to become quiet.  When I close the eyes,  just I have to be quiet.  That's all.”  Then he learns, the student learns.  

But if ego prevents, that can delay.  Many, many such advanced students have delayed because of their ego and foolishness.  Not surrendering to the Master.  That's why apart from being attentive, surrender to the Master also is necessary.  If you are surrendered, you will have the reverence that is required.  If you have the reverence, you won't allow your attention to go here and there.  Whatever the Master tells, you will be glued to his teachings, then you become receptive.  So, all these are connected to each other.  You pay attention, you surrender, you become a good student.  When the Master talks, you don't talk.  And you don't keep talking all the time.  Let the Master talk.  Then you listen, and then become quiet like that!  Many people don't learn at all.  Same questions keep coming, but they don't learn.  Because they don't have patience to pay attention when I answer the question.  

Question:   Thank You, Baba.  We wanted also to touch on ‘satsangam’, Baba.  Could Baba please explain what He means when He uses the term ‘satsangam’? 

Babaji Maharaj:   ‘Sat’ is for the Ultimate Truth, the Truth.  Anybody who can discuss about that ‘sat’, about the Truth, can give you ‘satsanga’.  ‘Sanga’ is the ‘company’.  So, if you can remain in the company of such a person who knows what the sat is, that is the sat.  So that can be called equivalent to tapas, Adi Shankara says.  Real satsanga is when you pay attention and learn from the Master, when the Master teaches.  The company of the Self-Realized Master is the satsanga.  Otherwise also many teachers explain so many things.  Anybody who is noble, good, talks about God, all noble qualities, human values, it is satsanga, can be considered.  But the highest satsanga is the One who can talk to you about the Ultimate Truth.  And when you are really interested about the Ultimate Truth, when you can remain focused, then you are doing the right satsanga.  

Question:   Thank You, Baba.  And is satsanga a form of sadhana? 

Babaji Maharaj:   It can be, definitely, because when you apply your mind and remain focused to the teachings or talks of the Master, you are doing the satsanga.  So, by that attention, paying attention, your mind is becoming more and more single-pointed.  It gives up its attention to a hundred thousand things.  ‘Here, there, that, this’; nothing comes.  So that is what the famous thing we all have discussed, the Mahabharata, all archers failed when they explained, “I can see the parrot, I can see the tree, I can see the sky.”  Like this, when they went on telling, the master was not happy.  Then finally Arjuna said, “I can see just the throat of the parrot.”  And he tells “Your aim is perfect, shoot the arrow now.”  He shoots. 

So that is the aim, perfect concentration is what it is.  That is very important.  So that is what is the practice that one has to do.  So means, when you are able to concentrate to the teachings of the Master, you won't be able to notice anything that is next to you or surrounding to you, who is coming and who is going into the hall.  It becomes difficult.  Then you have to stop talking, and then I have to see who has come, why have they come, what do they need.  Then again I have to come, I cannot concentrate on both the things.  So, like that, that is the concentration power.  When you have practiced that one, your mind doesn't get diluted.  It cannot give attention to anything else.  It remains in itself.  

Question:   Thank You, Baba.  Babaji, many people will talk about how when they are in Babaji's physical presence, their mind settles, and their questions go away.  Can we have that same experience when we are not in Babaji's physical presence? 

Babaji Maharaj:   Slowly, if you practice and cultivate such a devotion, start feeling the Master with you always, because the Master is all pervaded.  Then you have to practice that one, cultivate, try to see, see and see.  Then slowly you will feel the presence of the Master all the time.  Then your concentration can be same.  And all thoughts will vanish.  Same thing.  Slowly you have to cultivate.  You have to practice.  If naturally that love for the Master comes, then you won't be able to forget the Master.  Whether He is physically in front of you or online or not, you will feel that He is sitting with you all the time.  He is watching, He is talking to you, He is answering your question, all these things come.  So, then you are able to overcome such effects which are disturbing.  So, you will experience the same thing as if He is in presence, that your thoughts will all wash away; that will all go and you can practice meditation.  

Slowly you have to increase the devotion.  Not simply in this body – the Master is everywhere.  “He is with me sitting here.  He is in that, He is in this, everywhere He is there.  It is He who is giving me the teachings.  It is He is helping me to practice.”  Like that you have to cultivate.  That is the devotional path.  Enhance your experiences by thinking like that.  When you think like that, these thoughts can become more stronger than the thoughts which can be disturbing.  By telling that the Master is not here physically, then you get disturbed.  Such thoughts can be made to be washed away, disappear, when these thoughts become stronger, thinking that “The Master is sitting here. He is with me.”

Question:   Thank You Babaji.  It is said about how Ramana Maharishi's mother didn't complete tapas in her life.  But in her final dying moments, Sri Ramana used His grace and power and confirmed she had attained Self-Realization before she left the body.  And the same thing with Lakshmi the cow at the ashram.  And a special samadhi shrine was created for them both after they passed away.  Could Babaji, please discuss how they didn't complete tapas, but through Ramana's grace…  

Babaji Maharaj:   A long time with Ramana Maharishi, slowly His mother had developed a devotion understanding that “My son is not my son, actually.  He's a Self-Realized Jnani.  Everybody worships Him.”  So, she had developed that devotion.  So, when the final moments came, Ramana Maharishi, she was lucky that He could be there personally, she had become so receptive just by touching also, her mind became totally composed, at peace; she enjoyed that serenity.  The atman enjoyed the serenity and remained in itself.  It had no experience of the body, surrounding, not even Ramana Maharishi sitting in the body also it did not experience.  It experienced the Self as Ramana Maharishi.  Like that she could achieve.  So, this happens in a processed way, not suddenly one day that any Guru does a sankalpa and gives it like that even if the student is not ready; that doesn't happen.  She was also ready as a student.  The cloth was dry.  That's why the laundry man could iron it properly; like that.  So that is what is important.

   About Lakshmi also, same.  One of the rarest of rare cases that we have read historically, Ramana Maharishi’s Lakshmi cow.  It was totally quiet and so peaceful always, to get into that one by the presence of Ramana Maharishi, was always composed at peace.  So, He touched it, touched it.  It had also become receptive.  So, now with the Master touching and the student becoming receptive, both are equally important.  Not simply whatever is the student is that the Master gives, doesn't happen.  

   Now another question for some intellectuals might arise.  For Ramana Maharishi, who was the mother and who was not the mother?  All devotees there were His mother.  If He could have given, if He wanted to give, everybody dying He could have gone and touched and gone on giving Self-Realization, mukti.  Then nobody would have wanted to meditate at all.  So, things don’t happen.  The student also becomes receptive; by a long-time devotional practice that inclination comes.  Then only this clicks.  So, it has to be done.  A bread needs to be put into the oven properly.  Then it becomes crispy, then you apply the butter and eat it.  So, all things go together.  

Question:   Thank You, Baba.  How do we know when we have put in enough effort and when to surrender and let go and let God carry on?  How do we know what is Divine will versus my own egotistic will? 

Babaji Maharaj:   You see the highest is when your mind becomes quiet.  That means your sadhana is very fruitful.  You are achieving that peace within.  Then automatically the awareness turns to itself.  So, that's what Raman Maharishi also said, “When you observe from where the ‘I’ is coming, your mind gets absorbed there.  That is the tapas.”  Here also I keep talking about the consciousness of existence.  So, when you mentally become quiet, automatically your attention goes to that consciousness of existence.  You will feel that you exist all the time, but there are no thoughts on who it is, what it is.  So, that is how these things all get turned into.  

Question:   Pranaams Babaji.  My question first is like we have one slogan in India, ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’.  Can You talk about this, please?

Babaji Maharaj:   Listen, now I will answer, and listen to that.  Satyam is the truth of existence.  Shivam is that which is nishchesthit, total thoughtlessness, all-pervaded.  And that is the most beautiful thing.  

Same Questioner:   And Sundaram is, it is the whole beautiful thing, right? 

Babaji Maharaj:   Yeah, the most beautiful.  

Same Questioner:   Thank You, Babaji.  And my second question is, at one point in my life, I had started thinking that if I, somehow, I don't know why I got the idea, if I speak only truth, truth, truth all the time, I will gain God.  Somehow, I will realize God.  Maybe I read it or maybe somehow I gained it or I assumed the idea.  Is it true that if some person speaks truth all the time, he can realize God or experience the God, something like that? 

Babaji Maharaj:   You see, reading hundreds of books, today you come into this book and you start doing this.  Tomorrow you go to another book and try to do that.  Then finally you become jack of all and master of none.  Whatever you speak, it is important that your mind has to become quiet for Self-Realization.  That is the one criteria, important.  So, if you talk truth, you will feel satisfied that you spoke the truth.  Then your mind is likely to become receded.  Then that will help eventually for a Self-Realization.  But you have to do some sadhana also of keeping it quiet.  

Same Questioner:   Yes.  Thank You, Babaji.  Pranaam Babaji.  

Question:   Pranaam Babaji.  Thank You.  You spoke about grace and You also spoke about watching.  I always thought that to attain grace, you needed a personal deity or a mantra.  Now simply by watching and observing without any imagination or any mantra, how does the grace unfold in that way, please? 

Babaji Maharaj:   You see, the Divine is all pervaded.  These things you all have read in books also, omnipotent, omnipresent.  Because of the all-pervadedness, it is beyond form and formlessness.  So, whatever the space that you see is nothing but the Divine.  So, your mind also when it becomes quiet, you will see that that mind is space.  Empty space-type from one point of view, because you have defined like that.  But it's not actually empty space.  It is the consciousness of existence.  Then when it realizes that all-pervadedness also, it is able to experience and thus obtains the grace.  The grace of the Divine is all-pervaded.  Not in one form actually.  

Same Questioner:   Thank You, thank You.  

Question:   Koti Pranaams, Babaji.  Babaji, I have two questions.  The first one is I saw in a video where You spoke about the mind purging while we do the meditation and tapas.  The doubt is that there are many people who chant mantras for several hours.  Can that also be considered the tapas and the mind will purge, it will attain silence so that eventually everyone will go to silence?  That is the first question Babaji.  

Babaji Maharaj:   I will answer the first one.  Eventually everybody has to go to the silence of the mind.  A mantra chant is like a preliminary round practice to make the mind single-pointed instead of having millions of thoughts, it remains concentrated.  Finally, it abandons that also, becomes silent, then only it can go introvert and merge with the Self.  So, this is important.  So, that's why though we respect all sadhanas as equal, our Guru obtained this technique by the manifestation of Divine Shiva who came as a Jangama Sage and we pass it on to everyone.  If one can practice this, directly you become silent and go introverted, like directly getting recruited as an officer.  However, if you have any inclination to chant any mantra, anything, you can continue.  That will also be helpful to keep your mind at least single-pointed instead of running here and there.  So, that is the effect of this mantra and the silence.  

Same Questioner:   Babaji, I feel very blessed that You have come  into my life.  Where can I come and see You?  I am in Chennai actually, so to seek Your blessings where can I come and see You and sit with You? 

Babaji Maharaj:   You see, I have an ashram in South India, about 90 kilometers west of Bangalore on Tirupathi highway.  From Chennai by road, it is about three and a half to four hours journey.  And the trains also come to Bangarapet, and Mulbagal is the nearest town.  And if you go to website srby.org, it has some phone numbers of my brother who is looking after the Ashram.  If you contact him, he will guide you how to come there when I am there.  The dates also you can know.  At that time you can visit for a couple of days; like Saturday, Sunday you can come, visit and go, will be possible.  

Same Questioner:   Very blessed Babaji.  Once again, koti Pranaams to Your Lotus Feet.  Thank You so much. 

Question:   Pranaams Babaji.   Babaji, after a long time I am seeing You.  Babaji, I have been initiated by You.  Directly I came to You and was initiated.  To whom I should take as a Guru, Babaji or Shivabalayogi?  

Babaji Maharaj:   Actually, this is your choice.  Whomever you have inclination, both are same.  You can take Shivabalayogi as your Guru, no problem.  As a friend, I can always be there to help you.  

Same Questioner:   Because I saw in the YouTube, Shivabalayogi’s teachings.  And then only I came to J.P. Nagar Ashram and met Babaji.  So, whom I should take as a Guru or Master, that is my doubt.  

Babaji Maharaj:   You take Shivabalayogi you as your Guru.  That is good.  

Same Questioner:   Thank You, Babaji.  

Question:   Pranaam Babaji.  My question is while we sit for meditation, is there any specific hand mudra we have to hold? 

Babaji Maharaj:   Simply if you keep it like this [Gurudeva showing clasped hands] would be enough.  Good enough.  Simple mudra.  So many mudras are there.  If you read such books and understand, that helps in the nervous system.  So, you can practice different mudras also.  But for meditation there is no one type of mudra that is necessary to follow.  In our Guru Parampara we just teach you to keep like this here [Gurudeva demonstrating the clasped hands and placing on His lap]. On your laps you keep it like that.  And then practice.  

Same Questioner:   Okay so it is okay to experiment with the mudras? 

Babaji Maharaj:   Yes, yes, you can try that one.  That will be helpful because they are all connected to the nervous systems, that is how it evolved.  So you can learn more and experiment also.  And then try to meditate silently.  No harm in it.  

Same Questioner:   Okay.  Thank You Babaji.  

Question:   Babaji, on the topic of silencing the mind, because the mind is stuck in imaginations and habits since time immemorial, satsanga, self-effort, everything, whenever we make effort, it will slowly and gradually, sometimes very, very slowly change our habits.  And sometimes if we are very quick to grasp, the habits can be converted.  My question is, in the sadhana, patience in the mind; being gentle, consistently working, is that also a self-effort which will grant grace? 

Babaji Maharaj:   Yeah, definitely.  Patience will pay rich dividends.  It's like a virtue.  If you have the patience, the mind recedes and remains as quiet as possible.  It doesn't get scattered or excited or thrilled.  So, then you have patience.  It cools down.  So that will be very helpful.  

End of Questions and Answers

End of Session

SUMMARY

This IQT explores the interplay of personal effort, grace, and satsanga (spiritual company). Babaji emphasizes the power of concentrated mind and self-effort (purushaartha) in spiritual progress, clarifies that grace is earned through sincere practice, and highlights the importance of receptivity, patience, and devotion. Satsanga is described as the company of truth and a true Master, fostering focus and inner silence. The session encourages disciplined meditation, attentive learning, and surrender to the Master (and teachings) for Self-realization.