Purushartha - Self-Efforts | In Quest of Truth - Babaji Q&A, No. 261

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

Purushartha - Self-Efforts | In Quest of Truth - Babaji Q&A, No. 261
Recorded on 28 February 2026 with worldwide participants

0:00 Intro from Babaji
0:56 What does the word purushartha mean?
3:34 How do we put in efforts to know Oneself?  What is the process?
14:37 If there is a single thought within the mind does that mean we still need to put in efforts until eventually the mind is purified of all imaginations?
19:09 Some people might think that spirituality is something mystical where a power descends on us and we can immediately achieve Self Realization.  Does it happen like this?
32:06 If the guru is not physically there to scold you, how do we catch that grace?  Is it through faith?
36:10 Does daily meditation help us to not get too involved into the world?
41:11 Can we use the mind to create our reality through imagination, or does everything just naturally unfold and we should simply let go and remain a witness to what is happening?
42:24 If destiny is acting against us, how to exercise purushartha?
45:04 If we want something to happen a certain way, we pray to the Divine or the Guru - is that ok, or should we accept whatever happens?
46:03 While meditating do we need to stick our mind to god's name or chant god's name?
47:50 Shravana, manana and nididhyasana
48:27 Outside of meditation, we can analyse?
48:48 Is worshipping with form easier than worshipping without form?
49:42 Ultimately do you have to give up the form?
51:47 Can purushartha lead to a better destiny?
52:14 Does the word Niyati, as used in the Yoga Vasistha, mean destiny?
53:05 We have to put in purushartha to achieve Self Realization, but at a certain point we need to have acceptance that it has not happened yet?
53:49 When doing purushartha, I notice things come up in life with more intensity, stress and pressure becomes worse.  How to stay motivated and inspired to continue?
56:50 When I am quiet internally, how to have discernment on how to respond to things externally?
57:58 Why does good and bad exist when the Divinity does not have discrimination and is all-pervading?
59:34 How has the identity of the mind happened?
1:00:49 Does the mind have a unique identity after the body dies or does it merge with the consciousness?
1:01:57 Does the mind with vasanas have an identity?
1:02:47 When my family go to wedding parties, my meditation routine gets disturbed - how to deal with this?

___
Website: http://www.srby.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shivarudrabalayogi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SRBYmission
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shivarudrabalayogi/

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

Website: http://www.srby.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shivarudrabalayogi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SRBYmission
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shivarudrabalayogi/

Transcript

Purushartha - Self-Efforts | In Quest of Truth - Babaji Q&A, No. 261

 YouTube link: https://youtu.be/5UYeWxd55rE

Recorded on 28 February 2026 with worldwide participants.

Shri Babaji:  Wonderful, another opportunity for you to experience that wonder that you are, as the soul. When you silence the mind, it automatically gets revealed by the Grace of the Divinity, the Divine Guru. But first, your effort should be to just watch in between eyebrows. Just keep watching. Let any thought, any visions come, don't get attracted. Even for any colours or even Divine forms, anything. We have to go beyond what the actual Divinity is, the Parabrahman, that's what it is, right? All of you. 

Question:  So, Baba, the first question, what does the word ‘Purushartha’ mean? 

Shri Babaji:  ‘Purushartha’ is self-efforts vigorously done. Not simply the ‘man’, here. Purusharth Preranatma means with total determination, discipline, self-efforts. Thus, you become a friend to yourself. Like in Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna talks, “Atma is the best friend of the Atma, but the Atma can become the worst enemy also, shatru.” So, if you are able to apply proper wisdom, understand the need to know yourself. Like, important, one more time I would like to tell, recently in a question and answer session I said, “Death itself is not a tragedy. The thing that you live without knowing who you are, is the real tragedy.” You should know who you are, right? To put in effort to know this is the Purushartha, self-efforts. Without bothering about any “What will happen”, destiny, or “When the grace descends only it will happen”; don't sit in a corner and keep thinking. That's what Swamiji said, “Sadhana is important.” You put in effort, you do your job. The Grace is from the Divine Guru and the Divinity – that will come automatically when you put in efforts with total faith and devotion in the cause. That's what we try to teach – dedication, discipline, and patience. These three combined can shape your Purushartha. Help you to put in self-efforts. 

Same Questioner:  Thank you, Babaji. So, these efforts to know oneself, how do we put in those efforts, Babaji? What is the process? 

Shri Babaji:  Always a Guru-disciple relationship is recommended. As Arjuna is told by Krishna, “Before death shall claim thee, [Arjuna], go to the knowers of the truth, sitting at their Lotus Feet, seeking their permission, ask intelligent questions, and then adopting such methods advocated by them, achieve the Truth to yourself.” A Self-Realized Master will not go on talking story after story, topic after topic. He will simply give the clue, basic clue for what needs to happen. And for that, what you have to do. Understanding that, you can apply your Purushartha. 

Like when you sit for meditation, and the Guru teaches, you just watch in between eyebrows, focusing the attention of mind and sight. Sight is eyeballs. Fix them. Using the eyeballs, keep your mind also there and just steadily watch, simple way. Do not rush or force you. In a gentle way, just watch. So, like that, the method is told by the Guru. He won't go on circle, circle, circling, circling, circling, or He won't claim anything about Himself. He will just give the clue, “This is the clue. This is what you have to achieve; silence of the mind.” 

Once you achieve the silence of the mind, for that, your own Purushartha will be helpful. Nothing else. Nobody else can quieten you. You have to quieten yourself. You have to silence yourself, your mind. You have become chatterbox. You’re unable to stop yourself. But now, you have to use the technique – if you stop analyzing and make judgments. Because the mind has become habitual into a chatterbox by recognizing, and analyzing, and making judgments about a thought, or about its own imaginations. Thus absorbing imprints of perceptions, and attitudes build up, that which we tell as acquired habits of the mind. That forms the attitude. It goes on and on, never-ending, hen out of the egg, egg out of the hen. To stop this, the Master teaches. Purushartha is ‘just watch’. When you are watching, remember, you will not be able to think. Means you have to achieve that watching to that extent, that no thinking will happen within you. Then you will see all thoughts and visions also disappear. So, that Purushartha.

It would appear an up-hill task in the beginning. It may not appear easy. Eyeballs also doesn't come easily. Then mind is the most powerful thing which has gone into its own illusion of habits. It will not listen easily. But, if you exercise these three mantras, if you dedicate yourself, take out time in priority. All of you are here. Means you took out this time and set a priority; giving up any other engagements of your life, you are here in this session. That is the dedication. Without that dedication, you cannot achieve anything. Then, when the Master talks, teaches, listen carefully. Pay apt attention. Every participant should be able to listen to me peacefully, because this question answer session is not just for one person. It is for all the participants. That is how we select a theme and start doing the Q&A, right? 

So, if everybody pay attention, then adopt the method and practice accordingly. That is the Purushartha. Then they can achieve. While doing so, enormous patience is equally important. Patience helps you to keep quiet, recede, not to get agitated, not to go in a rush, “Today itself I want to become a Guru. I want to become a Self-Realized.” No need. You just need Self-Realization. Don't have any imagination of becoming a Guru. One day when you achieve that, the Divine will send people for your counselling, for your advice, for your teachings. That can happen. But now, your effort should be just to keep quiet. For that, have patience. If you are patient, then the ego will recede. Because ego and patience cannot go together. When ego is there, it will not allow you to have the patience. You lose patience. But if you strongly exercise patience, the ego will disappear. No imagination will come, means no ego is there. Like that, you practice. You listen to the Master, and then practice. So, these three things, dedication, discipline, and patience combined can give you the Purushartha, necessary Purushartha. Your self-efforts. 

God's grace will come. Guru's grace will come. You don't have to bother about it. You don't have to go into an argument, debates, any such thing, “What about grace? How will the grace descend? It is said that without the grace nothing will happen.” Some Master would say, just to make you not to have any ego, that it was not you who did, “It is the Guru's grace. Without the grace of the Guru, nothing will happen”. But you should not hold it literally with the terminologies or the language, “Oh, without the Guru's grace, I cannot do anything. Let me keep quiet.” That is not. The grace is already there. You put an effort. It is flowing. Because nobody knows the form of the grace. The grace is infinite. It is not in any form that we can say, “You see, this is the grace. Hold this, hold this.” It won't happen like that. You just close the eyes, pray to the Guru, then start watching in between eyebrows, then you will see the grace descending. When it is revealed; the Consciousness of Existence. That is the simpler terminology I try to use for the Atman. You as the Atman, you as that all-pervading is revealed. It gets revealed automatically. 

When you open the door automatically, the inside things are revealed. When you don't open, you will be wondering always. When your attention is on to the thoughts and visions, you are getting attracted and becoming chatterbox, so your Purushartha fails. That's why dedication; you offer yourself. Without you coming and sitting in this; if you send a representative, sit on his behalf, he will do the meditation, he will do the Purushartha. Your Purushartha will be nothing. This is not that to a friend’s wedding, you send your own representative, “Yeah, you go and attend the marriage. I am unable to come”. But this one doesn't happen like that. You have to put Purushartha. 

Every individual have to put in efforts. You have to come and sit with us for meditation. You have to listen to the Master's teachings. The techniques that the Master is giving. You will see the Master will not talk stories, chutkulas putkulas, nothing. Just this is the method, you sit down, be composed, be at ease. Watch, just watch. When you are watching, slowly your thinking stops. You will not lose the ability to think at all. Mind is there. You are that mind. You will have that creative ability. But simply, you will be able to control yourself, restrain yourself. When you don't need to think, you can keep quiet. Then the secret is revealed. Whatever is there, you become attentive to that, because you as the mind, or, the same mind comes to be known as Pure Consciousness when there are no thoughts and visions. If thoughts and visions are there, the same thing comes to be known as mind. And the same thing is you. If there are thoughts, you can call that, “Mind is a bundle of thoughts”. It is mind, because there is bundle of thoughts. Like that, the understanding. Some Master has said, “Mind is a bundle of thoughts”. That is not the final definition, the Master said. Master said, “As long as there is thought, there are thoughts, it is the mind”. So that is how the mind is a bundle of thoughts. 

So, if you just watch, that bundle of thoughts will disappear, and the mind becomes Pure Consciousness, and that itself is the Consciousness of your Existence. You are That. But that will be infinite. You cannot see in the naked eyes. It will appear like a space. You tend to think as a void place because you have been taught and fed into the mind. You have assumed, taken imprints that any space is simply a void place. More than that, you don't know about the space. Nobody knows what it is. In any field, nobody knows. But that is the Supreme Consciousness of Existence. Through your mind only you go introvert and merge. Because when you clear the thoughts, the consciousness of existence will be clearly revealed. 

Same Questioner:  Thank you, Babaji. If there is a single thought or imagination within the mind still, that means we require efforts to purify everything. It has to go eventually, Babaji?

Shri Babaji:  Yes, here we need to understand, every single imagination we try to hold in the mind without exercising any ability to stop it; if we are unable to stop it, that is to be considered as an ego. So that is why every single thought needs to disappear. Then in that silence only, the Truth will be revealed. Until it doesn't become totally silent, Truth will not be revealed. Your attention will go to the thought only. As long as there is a thought, it will go there. 

So, I used to think sometimes, “Oh God, if I had appeared in the space where no universe, nothing exists, then perhaps I would have been easily thinking about myself, who am I.” But before making you to appear, a universe was made to appear, then you are made to come into this world so that you get into that illusion that you are born because of the parents, and the body is you – and you have lost the knowledge, or wisdom, or awareness of yourself. That is the tragedy that has happened. So, we are miserable. Every human being is miserable. Good and bad, happiness, unhappiness, equally keep coming and going, coming and going. When happiness comes, we forget that unhappiness also can come anytime, you don't know. So that is what happens. Conflicts happen, wars happen, people die. When two people are fighting, any third innocent also can get trapped and die. You don't know about it. So, like these things keep happening. 

But first, if you achieve this with your effort. That's why Swamiji told one sentence one day sitting in the balcony, He just told, “Hey, if any guru tells, ‘I will do it for you’, then fifty thousand people will come. Don't believe such a guru. That guru cannot do anything for you.” If the guru tells, “You have to sit and do it, I will tell the method. And then you will see the Truth. You achieve the Truth to yourself.” Even Shri Krishna told Arjuna. Why did He tell? Shri Krishna, instead of talking all the Bhagavad Gita, He could have simply touched Arjuna, “Your mind is gone and you reveal now. Do you understand?” That would have happened, but He didn't. He told the methods throughout Bhagavad Gita's eighteen chapters. Means everywhere; “Through like this, through like this, through like this you can quieten your mind, silencing the mind, making it quiet. But you have to do it. Then you achieve the Truth to yourself.” I did it for myself. Buddha also said, “If I could have given, I could have given to my dearest disciple Ananda, who has been following like a shadow throughout my life.” It doesn't happen like that. I can give you the clue. I can tell you the language what you have to do. 

So that's what we try to insist without telling any other stories further. No lokas, no travellings, nothing about us, no previous janmas (births), finished; all ideas need to be dropped. Enough of playing with these stories. Storytelling has happened. A thousand nights the Betal has been telling the stories to King Vikrama and making him to get fooled again and again, and the ghost runs away. So, like that, we are listening to stories of our own ghost that is in the mind, telling stories to us. We believe that story and we forget about the truth of what it is. We go on according to the story told by our mind. So, that needs to be stopped. 

Same Questioner:  So, spirituality, some people may believe it's something mystical where some power descends on us and immediately we can achieve enlightenment or Self-Realization, but it doesn't happen like that, Babaji?

Shri Babaji:  Nothing. It doesn't have to come from somewhere. It is there. You have to pay attention. That is all. That is what the ‘Dhyana’ means, ‘pay attention to, your attention to’, ‘Dhyan’. Pay attention to. You are there. You are sitting. You are existing. Simply your attention is somewhere else. You have to pay attention. To pay that attention, first you remove your attention from its imagination, from your own imaginations. It will not go anywhere. You will be creative. You can live in this world. That is one question people start doubting suddenly. They don't understand. Repeatedly we tell, nothing will happen to you in this world. As long as the body is available, you can maintain this personality. You can be creative. But when you are creating, when you are imagining to work in the world, you will not forget about yourself. That is important, right? 

This point, everybody needs to understand. To live in this world, you need to be creative, right? While trying to be creative, you don't have to forget about your Real Self. Keep that awareness also, and then exercise your creative power. So that when the job is done, when you don't need it, you can stop that creativity. Don't become so much habitual that you are unable to stop yourself. We make fun, “Look at this man. He is so talkative, talkative, talkative, chatterbox. All the time ‘kachar kachar pachar pachar’, keeps talking, talking. He's unable to stop himself, this person”. That is habitual. The same habitual everywhere, every creature, every human being has become with the mind. Twenty-four hours keeps thinking. To stop that; Purushartha. The ancient sages used this terminology of Purushartha. They understood self-efforts is necessary. 

To make it easy psychologically, sometimes people try to teach. Like in Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna also had to teach Arjuna. Such a mighty soul, but He had become so bewildered, and depressed, and unable to stop Himself. Thinking like this, that “I cannot kill my uncle, I cannot kill my grandson, I cannot fight this war,” suddenly He started thinking. People forget about the real duty. Always, many times in the society also, we try to tell; one side, injustice is happening. So, when we have to handle that injustice, we start thinking, “Oh, we should not tell anything to this person, he will feel bad.” He’s not feeling bad to make another tortured. See, somebody is trying to encroach our Guru's ashram's land. If we stop him, that person feels bad. So, because that is why “Oh, we should not tell anything,” means then he will take away all the ashram for his personal use. He will not allow any public to come here. What Dharma means; I am trying to tell an example. Then we have to tell, “This is wrong. You cannot take like this. Whoever you are; that's no problem.” Even if God is trying to take, we can oppose at least. We may have power or we may not have power. It's like the soldier will be ready to die for his country. If he is unable to defend, at least he will die for that. 

That's what is the Dharma, that's what is the Purushartha. We have to put in efforts. We have to tell them, “This is wrong. This is wrong.” So that is how things go always. For that only we have to tell every student, “You’re thinking habits, when you are habitual…” Simply not habits. “Habitual, you have become habitual, that you are unable to stop yourself. And whatever you are thinking, you are considering this universe, this world, people around you as that what you are thinking. It need not be. What you are thinking may be wrong, and things might be something else, about this universe, about this world, about the society, about people. About a friend; you might be thinking it is a foe. But it might be a friend. His advice might be a little bit bitter.”

When the Master tells, “You have become egoistic, stop thinking,” that student must think, if he is unable to stop the thinking, “The Master says “Be quiet. Let me remain quiet. Don't talk about it.” That's how we exercised. When Swamiji used to scold, we never thought whether Swamiji was right or wrong. “He is scolding for a specific purpose to make me silent mentally.” That was one principle. That's how you try to become quiet. Don't try to think why Swamiji is scolding. Whatever purpose He is scolding, let him scold. What is your problem? He is scolding you. Let him scold. He might be doing a beneficial work for you. He might be helping you to become quiet. He might be giving a challenging training, commando training. If this is possible for anybody to think. 

If we tell a person to be a little disciplined, they are upset. They write a big mail and all these things; “I am not wrong. I did not do anything. This… this…” What is the necessity to explain all these things? The Guru knows everything. You don't have to tell the Guru, right? Like this, Purushartha I am talking. Finally, we come back to Purushartha. How the Purushartha can happen. When such a situation comes, you just allow it to happen and become quiet. That is Purushartha. Then the secret of yourself will be revealed. Then you understand, “My God, what the Master was scolding, what a great benefit He was doing to me! I did not give Him any donation. I did not give Him any blood or sweat, anything. Free of charge He was training me to become quiet like that! How wonderful. How fortunate. The grace was descending.” At that time, we notice or we did not notice; we have to remain quiet. That is our Purushartha. That was the grace.

That is how people talk of grace. They debate. They ask question after question, but don't understand that everything is a grace. If the Master talking, smilingly making jokes, telling stories, and smiling at you, that is not the only grace. You should not think, “Oh Master is very gracious on me. He loves me very much. I am very special to the Master.” When He is scolding, that also you are special for Him, that’s why He is scolding. He won’t scold each and every one. When He is scolding, it is special. He is helping you to do your Purushartha. He is showering grace upon you, and you do your Purushartha! Become quiet! Then that is revealed within you, “Oh this is that purity, pure consciousness. How peaceful, how beautiful.” 

That scolding never made us to become disappointed or getting annoyed or troubled, anything at all. It gave enormous peace, as if the mother is scolding, type. Because we had that type of relationship in our mind. The Master means, He’s all in all. He is our God. He is our mother. He is our father. Once that is done, whatever Master does, that is the grace. The grace is automatically coming. Now you do your Purushartha. You become quiet mentally. Don't try to think, or explain, or define, “Why the Master is doing, I am not wrong. Unnecessary Master is telling I’m wrong. Somebody belonging to Master is telling wrong.” Stop all those thinkings. If you want Self-Realization, that is the Purushartha. If you are unable to exercise that silence, you keep thinking, you keep worrying, you keep wondering, you are annoyed, you want to go away from the Master.

I’ve seen during Swamiji's time, big champion devotees who used to be close. When that moment of test or grace came on them when Swamiji's scolded, they misunderstood Swamiji, “Swamiji doesn't know what the truth about me is. He is scolding unnecessarily.” They went away. Because for them, self-respect was getting affected. Their ego was getting affected. Simply if they had come back one time in front of Swamiji, He would have forgotten and would have blessed them. But He used to scold. When He scolded, He used to scold. So, we were used to that one. A thousand times, a hundred thousand times it happened to us. But we never felt like going away. Even if we went away for one minute, even if we went away for a few days out of the ashram, it brought us back because we loved Him. When we loved Him, we used to think, “Let him belittle me. Let Him humiliate me. I want You, my Master. I want You.” That thing came back to me. Then we came back. 

So that is how Purushartha and grace; if people have doubts, that's why I'm talking this topic. Grace always descends. In any form it can be. It need not come in the form that you expect. Simply the Master smiles and tries to praise you is not the grace. If He’s scolding also, is grace. If He’s accusing, through somebody also if he is accusing, that is the grace. You fail to notice that grace and you start writing long, long things, and start complaining, “I did not do this. I am not wrong.” Who the hell are you to think that you are not wrong? Is it not that the Master knows better than you about yourself? 

These are all teachings that we got from our Master.  I'm talking only for educational purpose. I'm not directing against any individual. No individual must think that “Baba might be talking about me only”. That is stupidness. A Master teaches simply for educational purpose. Means, I try to use the example what I could learn from my Master, how my Master trained me. That's the best example in my life we underwent. So that is how Purushartha, the grace. The grace was coming always. Even before we could pray, even before we put the Purushartha, the grace was already there. Simply we needed to use the situation, opportunity, and silence ourselves. That is Purushartha. So, that is how you have to do Purushartha under any circumstances. 

See, if the Purushartha is not there, whatever grace that comes, that will simply go on the head. It will flow away. Swamiji used to tell, “The grace is coming. If you don't exercise the faith and build a dam called faith, that will simply overflow your head. You will not be able to catch it. If you catch it, your mind becomes purified and the truth is revealed.” So, we are talking about Purushartha; that is necessary. 

Same Questioner:  Babaji, outside of the ashram also, say where if the Guru is not physically there to scold you, how do we catch that grace? That's through the faith also, is it, Babaji? 

Shri Babaji:  Yes, if your aim is Self-Realization, every good or bad that’s happening in life, take the signal, “The Guru is teaching something. I need to be more careful. I should understand. I must do the sadhana.” It is a big challenge. I understand, not easy. While living in this world, you have to live in this world, you may be having a job or a business. You may be having so many challenging things surrounding you. You might be a householder, anybody. You deal with it, whatever is necessary. I don't tell that you just sit in a corner and take everybody's slap. No need. If necessary, give back. Give another slap, doing the hissing noise. You don't have to bite somebody, but keep people away at a distance. That is another thing. But not in a bad taste. Within your mind, do not hit anyone. Keep your mind quiet. Consider that maybe this person... That is how we considered. If we saw any wicked person, wrong person, trying to trouble us, we always considered even now also, any time also, “Oh, this is the Guru who is testing my abilities, my patience, my thing to keep quiet.” When that person crosses all boundaries, when there is a need to take a stick, that also is the Guru's grace. Everything is Guru's grace. Like I told, when somebody is trying to take our Guru's ashram land, if we need to take a stick, or we need to protest strongly, that is also Guru's grace. Guru is giving a hint. “You have to protect your Guru's ashram because it's the public utility place. Public will have to come and do meditation. Not for one single person.” Means, an example only. I'm not accusing anyone. Just an example. So that is the Purushartha. 

Your Purushartha, you will understand better if you regularly meditate – now this is the final formula. If you regularly meditate, if your mind is becoming purified, at that time when anything happens, your mind is able to use the brains in a better way. You will be able to set a priority, seeing a larger cause, what is necessary. Say, sometimes if somebody scolds you, you can keep quiet. It is for you. You have a choice; either to keep quiet or fight back. But if it’s for a larger cause, somebody is attacking your country and you are a soldier, you have to act upon. You cannot leave. “Take my country”; you cannot leave because you are defending the country. You are a soldier. You have to defend your country. It is necessary. In the same way, you have to defend the institution because your Master had told, “Take care of the ashram.” Fifty-two years ago He told, “Take care of the ashram, go there.” That is all. A simple word is enough. There is no need for a big command. Just like that. So, you look after. So, your mind will become purified. Then you will be able to exercise proper action course. So, that is also necessary, mind’s purification, larger cause. These are all never ending topics. Not easily can be understood. But first, meditation; quietening your mind is the Purushartha that is necessary. That is what I would like to tell you all.

Same Questioner:  So, putting in a daily meditation, that will help us not get too involved in the world, because there is always a temptation, or there is always a distraction there within the world to lose our focus, Babaji. 

Shri Babaji:  Yeah. Now, this Purushartha, one needs to understand. If you are active in the world, no problem. A daily meditation, one-hour can help you; applying the brains and understanding, means exercising wisdom in a better way. You will not be confused. You will be able to set a priority, “This is what I am supposed to do now. This is what I will do for a larger cause, not for my personal glory.” When Arjuna was refusing to fight the war, then Shri Krishna got annoyed, finally. “If you are not going to fight, I will fight then. For sake of dharma, justice, I will kill Bhishma. Bhishma might be a great noble person, no problem, that is acceptable. He was a great noble, great devotee of Krishna. But one wrong thing, without thinking twice, he has sided with a wrong party, a wicked person in the name of dharma. So, he is fit to be killed.” That's what Shri Krishna said, not me. Then Shri Krishna takes the wheel of the chariot and starts moving, “I will kill him.” Then Arjuna reminds Krishna, “You have promised you will not take any weapons in this war. You will just be my charioteer.” Krishna says, “No problem people blame me if I go and kill Bhishma, because they will also know that you refused to fight this war, you are not doing your dharma. For the sake of Bharata Varsha, larger cause, I went to do this as my dharma. Personally, if they blame me, it's no problem. What I took as an oath was my personal duty, dharma, that I will not take up a weapon. But for sake of larger cause, I don't mind taking a weapon if necessary. If the situation warrants, if I have to set a priority, then I will not see even a blame comes on me.” He was ready to take a blame. His personal glory was not important for Krishna. For Him, a larger cause. If the entire subcontinent is ruled by a righteous person, dharmatma, then people will have peace and happiness. 

See, today when we see two countries fight a war, so many innocents can get trapped and get killed. When the missiles are dropped on the cities, in the civilian places, anywhere. Now the war is like that, modern wars. In olden days, two armies used to come onto a field, big field, outskirts of the cities, and they used to fight. Only the soldiers used to kill the soldiers. That was different. Today, it is different. A missile is dropped anywhere on the city. In that, many innocent civilians also can get killed. You never know. They didn't want war. They did not go for the war. Yet they get killed. So, such is the time that is happening, you know? So that's what one needs to understand, what is the larger cause. Peace for the humanity. So that's what Shri Krishna said. 

That's what is the Purushartha, applying wisdom, understanding the grace. So, there is no one definition that “You cannot do this, you do this.” You don't know when you have to do this, or when you don't have to do this. You never know. You should be able to think. Exercise wisdom. Use your brains. Like Swamiji used to tell, “Buddhi upyo karna.” Buddhi means intelligence. Apply your brains properly, think it. If your mind is pure, it will be able to think properly. Otherwise, it will not be able to think. It will think only of selfishness. 

Purushartha. 

Same Questioner:  Thank you, Babaji. So those are the end of the prepared questions, Babaji. There are some that have come in email and also chat. 

Shri Babaji:  I can take those questions first and then we try to give chance to others a little bit. 

Same Questioner:  Yes, Babaji. So first, can we use the mind to create our reality through imagination? Or does everything just naturally unfold and we should simply let go and remain the witness to what is happening? 

Shri Babaji:  A reality cannot be created by the mind's imagination. When it imagines, it is illusion and unreal always, because it will not be stable. It will disappear. As it appears, it will disappear also, right? So, through the mind's imagination, you can never know the Truth. That is why the Master teaches, “First, you need to overcome the effects of the mind's thinking. That should stop.” That is why we insist that the silence of the mind has to happen. Only then the truth will be revealed. The truth is there. But you will be able to notice that when your mind is totally silent. 

Same Questioner:  Another question, if destiny is acting against us, how to exercise Purushartha? 

Shri Babaji:  How do you know whether it is exercising against you or for you? You will never know. It is depending on your desires. Your imaginations that you consider that the destiny is against you. You don't want any trouble in this world. You want everything to happen according to your wishes in this world. Then you will consider destiny is happening according to your wishes. You see, now, in your mind, how the destiny has come into effect on you. It is your own creation. Your mind always doesn't think in one direction like a noble, happy [way], positively; always it doesn't think. It thinks negatively also. It is always into dualities. If one is there, another will definitely come, the thought. If there is a noble thought, another thought,  opposite thought will also come. If a good thought comes, bad thought will also come. Like this, whichever one you have been exercising since time immemorial, means since previous lives, whatever majority strength of the potency that you would have exercised, that has become destiny now. 

Now, if you have developed a thinking of happiness, you have a certain imagination about that happiness, and previously you had not thought, so the destiny is not happening according to your wishes. Then you start considering this destiny is against you. Otherwise, there is no such thing called which is for you or which is against you. Your own creation. So, you have to quieten your mind to know your Real Self. And in this world, you have to put an effort, whatever you want. When a result comes which is not in your hands, you have to accept it. Otherwise, you will not have peace mentally at all. Physically also, you may have trouble. Mentally also, you lose that peace. The mind can remain at peace only when you accept. That’s what Shri Krishna also taught in Bhagavad Gita. All masters have taught this. This is not new that I am trying to tell. So, that is how destiny, whether it is against or not against, it depends on your imagination, not the destiny itself. 

Same Questioner:  Babaji, just a follow-up question. If we want something to happen in the world, or we don't want something to happen, we pray to the Divine, we pray to the Guru. Is that okay, Babaji, or should we just be willing to accept whatever happens? 

Shri Babaji:  You have a right to pray, you can pray. When you pray, your faith and the focus strength is very important. Depending on that only, the grace will descend according to your expectations. Otherwise, it will work its own destiny, its own way. So, you should practice that devotion, that faith, unwavering faith has to be there. So, then you can pray, no harm in it. And then, when the result comes, accept it. 

Same Questioner:  Thank you, Babaji. Baba, there is another question, “Respected Guruji, while meditating, do we need to stick our mind to God's name or chant God's name?” 

Shri Babaji:  Both are actually not needed. If you just watch, and when the mind becomes quiet, that is the real worship of God, because mind has no third way. Either it is into its own imaginations, which will keep it in the world and its imaginations. If it is becoming quiet, it goes to its Divine automatically. So, that is the real worship. Even without taking a name also, it will take you to that Divine only. 

Same Questioner:  Thank you, Baba. There's one last question Babaji. “When Babaji saw his Guru during tapas, how did Babaji know it was genuinely Shivabalayogi and not a false manifestation?”

Shri Babaji:  I did not think about that. I had fallen in love. I simply accepted because I had faith in the Divine. “Because if my wanting or wishes are genuine, definitely the grace of the Divine will be genuine always. The Guru that He will provide me will also be genuine.” This faith was there and it happened accordingly. 

Same Questioner:  Thank you, Babaji. Those are the questions. 

Question:  Namaste, Babaji. So, I love this Jangama meditation. But my question is, the Advaitika philosophy teaches Shravanam Mananam Nididhyasanam. So, Nididhyasanam is what I think is what we are practicing. 

Shri Babaji:  Yeah, practicing is Nididhya. Shravana is listen to the teachings of the Master. Manana is absorb into the mind, don't forget what the Master has taught. Then get into the job of meditating is the Nididhyasa. 

Same Questioner:  So, we are not analyzing during Nididhyasanam, but outside of it we are analyzing? 

Shri Babaji:  Yeah, after getting up you will understand properly. But during that meditation you are just silently watching, you are not analyzing. 

Same Questioner:  Okay. So, in the Bhagavad Gita also, Lord says that through worship with form is easier than worshiping without form. 

Shri Babaji:  Maybe somebody would have edited. We don't know whether Krishna told, or further editions when came, they would have added. Nothing is actually easy, I'll tell you. Form also, it's not easy to remember in a form all the twenty-four hours. It has to have the practice. That habit has to be there. So, when that happens, you automatically rise to the level of tapas. So, either way, it is a choice of the person. He can try to remember the form if the mind is used to, but should be able to remember the form; how much they are able to remember, in which way, that is important. 

Same Questioner:  In the Bhagavatam and the Vishnu Puranam also, they talk about the Navavidha Bhakti, right? So, Shravanam, Kirtanam, Swaranam. There's a list of things to do, right? But that is to help develop a connection with the Divine. So, even there, ultimately you have to give up the form? 

Shri Babaji:  Yes. So that you go beyond the imagination. So, when you imagine a form, that is the imagination. That means, when you look the God in one form only, so you are limiting that space. That God is all-pervaded. But in your imagination, He will be in that form only. Slowly, if you are able to rise above that level and see that form everywhere. Understand that all-pervadedness. Understand in whichever form the Divine exists, it is the same form. Suppose you love Krishna. The Krishna need not exist in the same form like you see in the photos. He can be existing as the space. He can be existing as a tree. When you are able to see to that level, then the devotion rises, then single-pointedly finally you abandon, then the merger happens. Like I kept telling, for Mirabai, Mira never existed in her consciousness, only Krishna was there. That type of devotion has to happen. 

Same Questioner:  So, is it okay that for the one hour that we are doing our Jangama meditation, or whatever time, outside of that time, can we practice this Navavidha Bhakti? 

Shri Babaji:  Yes, yes, no problem. If you have the inclination, you can practice. 

Same Questioner:  Okay, thank you. 

Question:  Pranams, Babaji. Babaji, can Purusharth lead to a better destiny?

Shri Babaji:  Yes, if you are more positive by Purushartha, if you practice everywhere in everything to see positiveness and start thinking positively, a better destiny can happen. You can shape a better destiny for yourself also. 

Same Questioner:  And in continuation to that, Babaji, there was always a… niyati was a word used in Yoga Vasistha. Can we call niyati as destiny or it is like Divine? 

Shri Babaji:  Yeah, nature or Divine, and destiny, all are same. It will take its own shape like that. Things will take its turn. The things that are happening, that's what niyati is. Individually when you think, you will have the imagination that you are thinking. But you are only a micro speck part of that larger creation that is happening. So, that is called the niyati. When finally you are able to surrender, then you will become mentally quiet and accept the niyati that is happening. That is how it is spoken in that. 

Same Questioner:  This is what I wanted to connect; acceptance and Purushartha together. So, at some point, we are making Purushartha towards Self-Realization. But then we’re also learning acceptance that it has not happened yet? 

Shri Babaji:  If it has not happened, it is okay. That is how the acceptance has to come. Acceptance means. You go on trying what you want. Finally, one day, you will see that you will try so that nothing happens. All ideas are dropped. That is the final Truth, which will take you there. Kah purusharth kah will also come. 

Question:  Namaskaram Babaji. My question is, when doing Purushartha, when doing practice and devoting to the practice, sometimes I am noticing things come up with more intensity. All the negative, or the stress or pressure, or even health becomes worse, more intensely. And it is hard to stay focused. Or it is hard to make the self more motivated or inspired to understand how to continue. So, when that happens, how do I hold myself? 

Shri Babaji:  See, hold one motto. When things get tough, only the tough get going. Understand this point. Definitely obstacles come in the form of the mind's imagination. So much is there in the subconscious state. Suddenly it might all rush and make it appear. It is the garbage being thrown out so much. When you are watching, that time exercising patience is very important. That is what your tapas means. Just keeping quiet is what the patience means. Then it will all go away very soon. If you don't analyse what it is, why it is happening, then it will disappear. This is one thing in the mind. 

Otherwise, physically also we all understand. Physical health is also very important. If for some reason health fails or health, something happens, you have to set right that health with the medical help and whatever that is needed. So then only you can continue further. When the health is not too good, whatever is possible, try to keep your mind as quiet as possible, accepting the situation, or remembering God or Guru, whatever you have inclination, so that your mind can remain single pointed. Keep practicing, whatever is possible. Even if you are unable to sit down, while lying down also, keeping the eyes closed, you can try to remember your Divine Guru, your Divine God, like that. Means when the situation is not conducive, whatever is possible – if not ten, at least one or two, type. A little bit you keep trying, keep trying. Never give up your efforts. So, that should be the motto. Then you will feel yourself enthusiastic. Always keep yourself enthusiastic. Whatever, let it happen, “Till the last breath of life I am not going to give up.” Be positive with the Divine and talk to the Divine to draw inspiration. Talk to the Divine. 

Same Questioner:  Babaji, can I ask one follow up? So, when I am quiet internally, how do I create discernment on how to respond externally if I have to deal with [something]? So, I think maybe I'm struggling with discernment. I'm trying to remain quiet internally, but I have to respond to life. I have to do certain things or talk to people. 

Shri Babaji:  You need to talk, you talk to people. Whenever you need to respond in whichever way, you will respond. But that will not affect your mind. When you are meditating regularly, mind will not absorb imprints. Like for example, if you need to imagine a little bit and deal with the situation, you can deal. But that will not affect the mind. It will not become habitual or not absorb any imprints. That's what you will see when you are regularly meditating. It will remain purified. And also, you will not lose control over yourself. You will exercise only that much that is necessary to deal with the situation. And then you will withdraw. 

Same Questioner:  Thank you, Babaji. 

Question:  Namaste, Babaji. I have two questions. One is, the sun doesn't differentiate anybody, in the same way that consciousness is all pervading. Then why good and bad, which are again relative existences? 

Shri Babaji:  Good and bad is the individual imagined self’s perception. The Divine has no such discrimination that, “Let this happen to this person. Let this happen to this person.” Divine has no imagination of either good or bad. It is simply the grace flowing. So, whatever the individual has learnt to think, is habitual to think in a good or a bad of this world; both good and bad belong to this world only, not to Divinity. Divinity is beyond that perception. So, when the individual perceives, if he wishes “This thing has to happen,” if the universe is going in its own way… Say for example, the weather is winter. If we don't want winter, we wanted summer, then we feel it very bad. Why is this happening? Means, it has no sense. It has to happen. We have to adjust and go along with the creation, if we are in the world. So that is how the perception needs to be. Slowly, if you meditate, your perception of both good and bad disappear. You will try to see Divinity in everything. It will not be discriminative for you. God is not at all discriminative. 

Same Questioner: My second question is, individual body is identified with a name. And it is said that Self, or atma, or mind exists irrespective of body. Then what is the identity of mind like aadhara, or something like that? 

Shri Babaji:  See, the mind has come into existence, in touch with the brain's reflections. So, it is absorbing everything from the brain and registers in itself. Based on that only, the individual imagined self has come into existence, which really does not exist. So that imagination, first ‘me’, then the ‘mine’ happens. So that is the trouble started all the time for everybody. So, to overcome this only, you do sadhana, you meditate, then finally you will realize that individual imagined self never existed at all. You created about yourself, and then you created problems for yourself. That is how things has happened. If you had not created this individual imagined self, the problems also wouldn't have been there. You would have simply existed in the Real Self. 

Same Questioner:  When body drops, still the same mind exists. If the mind exists, will it have any unique identity, or it is like it merges with the consciousness?

Shri Babaji:  No, it won't merge with the consciousness if it is holding imaginations. When the brain dies, the mind gets detached from the brain, but the mind is holding its habits of imagination. Based on that, it spins and intensity of thoughts forms in the last moments, and instantly it assumes next birth, next body, based on its own imaginations. So, it gains, that is how birth after birth keeps happening. Liberation means, to get liberated from these effects of birth and death, you cleanse the mind through the sadhana, practice of meditation and so on. Then if the mind is totally clear, there is no desire, when death happens to the brain, then such a consciousness which is supposed to be a Jivanmukta will become one with the consciousness, Videhamukti. 

Same Questioner:  So, the mind with vasanas, will that have an identity? 

Shri Babaji:  It will imagine, based on that it will assume the identity through the physical body, then it will imagine an identity. All is all based on imagination only. Actually, there is no identity. Mind, we have imagined it as mind. Can anybody locate where the mind is? Simply based on thoughts can be located, both thoughts are coming. You keep trying here, here, here, anywhere. We don't know where the mind is. That is ‘we’. We are that consciousness of existence. So, there is no identity for that, but yet when the body is there, it assumes an identity with imagination. 

Same Questioner:  Thank you, Babaji. 

Question:  Yes, Babaji, my question is like, I meditate one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening nowadays for the past more than three months. So, my issue I face is like, when you know in India how it happens, like when they are going to marry, weddings, so people go crazy. So, in my family also, they are going crazy, shopping and going early, coming late to wedding parties. So Baba, my whole routine gets disturbed and here I feel like frustrated and disturbed because of these events.

Shri Babaji:  Instead of getting frustrated, you stick to your discipline of practicing one hour meditation. Tell them, “I have to meditate. Only then I can come for shopping. Before meditation, I will not come for any shopping. I will not come for any wedding before I finish my one hour meditation.” 

Same Questioner:  Yes Babaji, I think discipline will be needed for that to administer.

Shri Babaji:  Or you don't feel frustrated, that is all. Either way, either this or that. You go to wedding, don't feel frustrated. Or if you feel frustrated, don't go to wedding, meditate. Choice is yours. 

Wonderful. Lovely questions came, please bear with us; sorry, we need to go for the arathi, people are waiting. And bear with us, they will take this surface there.

End of session