Webcast with Vikramji and Venezuela on October 1, 2011
Note: No video available as yet due to technical difficulties. (Note: these questions were read out of order which is why their numbering is out of order.) V = Vikramji Q1. If our thoughts belong to a collective mass of thoughts, is there a way to control the thoughts that come to our minds, or is it appropriate to think that we are influenced by spiritual entities? V: All of us are empty channels through which the mind is expressing itself. All that is there in unconscious is flowing through us. So it is not possible to control our minds, or control our thoughts, through an active approach. The unconscious mind is expressing through us; we are empty channels. It is very difficult to control our thoughts, or the mind, through an active approach in the internal world. Through an active approach, we cannot control our thoughts or the mind. The mind which is flowing through us has an ancient history. It has been flowing from the time man has been there. It is like pushing back a whole ocean behind. Is it possible? So what is the best way of controlling our thoughts or our minds? Is to become aware of what is happening in the internal world. Every time we say this is a negative thought or this a bad thought, and we are trying to push away the thoughts, the mind becomes stronger; the thoughts disturb us more. It is never possible to fight and win over the mind. We have to only become aware of what are the thoughts and how the mind is acting. As you stay with what is happening in the internal world, through the thoughts and the mind, slowly the thoughts slow down, the mind slows down, calms down; then we have enough time to focus on our thoughts. And the very resistance to those thoughts is the mind. The thoughts are flowing from the past, through the present, into the future. They have a connection to our past. So through the thoughts, mind is conveying something about our past where we have to work on. Through our thoughts, and with our emotions if we can stay with them, we can go deep within ourselves and dissolve the charge by completing the experience, the past experience Could you repeat the last part please? V: Yes. So that you complete the last experience, you complete that experience. Then you can become free of those thoughts. These thoughts are coming because there is some charge in the past. Let us say you have anger, and you are having angry thoughts, about killing a person, about hurting a person, causing pain to a person. This anger is not born today; it has a connection to your past. What happened yesterday, what happened ten days ago, what happened when you were ten years back, when you were a small child - step by step go through, stay with yourself and go through your past. As you stay with your past, as you complete your past experience, you dissolve the charge. Since we've not completed our past experiences, there is a residue forming a charge which is like a poison which is destroying our lives. It is important that we address our past, accept our past, and embrace our past as though it is part of ourselves. It is important to complete that experience and become free of the charge. And after that those thoughts no more disturb us - though the thoughts still flow because we are use to them for a long time, the thoughts still flow, but it doesn't affect us like how it use to affect us before. And slowly the thoughts also start slowing down, and they no more affect you. This is the best way to heal our thoughts or become free of those experiences, is from by addressing them and by accepting them as part of ourselves. I: The last part I didn't get - acceptance of thoughts? V: We accept our thoughts completely; then those thoughts no more flow. They no more disturb us or affect us. This is the best way to handle our thoughts and the mind. And we have to realize that we cannot actually change the mind. I'm also going into the second question. Q2. How can I handle my mind so it doesn't disturb me? I know it's not mine, and I know I'm existence, consciousness and bliss. But I get confused when trying to liberate myself from my mind. It has been there since man has been there; it was there in your grandfather; it was there in your father; it is there in you; it will be there in your child also. The mind will be the same, but we can become free of the disturbance of the mind. We have to change our perception of the mind and make the mind our friend, knowing that it is the same mind; it has always been like that. It was always filled with fear; it was always filled with insecurity. When man was living in the jungle, fear was there that what will happen if a tiger attacks me? Now we have fear that what will happen if the share market collapses. But the nature of the fear has always been fear. So the qualities of the mind have never changed. And the nature of the mind is to exist, is to survive by putting you into conflict. So the best thing is to know that this is how the mind functions, not fight with the mind but become aware of the mind, not feeding the mind, not fighting with the mind and giving it energy. And as you heal your past you - slowly that disturbing mind slowly starts coming down. The mind is like a snake. Our goal is not to kill the snake but to remove the poison of the snake. So don't fight with your mind or your thoughts. The very fighting is also coming from the mind, so you can never win over the mind. In putting you in the quest to become free of the mind, the mind is only surviving. You will never become free of the mind. You are still in prison. How can you come out of prison? What you know is only the prison. Somebody from the outside, from outside the prison, AmmaBhagavan, a great being must pull you out of that prison called the mind. So the first step is to realize you are caught in the mind, not to panic. And ask for Divine help to bring you out. I am existence, consciousness, bliss; these are the words of an awakened being. This is not your present state. You are still unawakened. So this statement is not true for you, yet. So don't try to liberate yourself from the mind. Who is trying to liberate themselves is also done by the mind only. Mind is only trying to become free of itself. How can it become free of itself? This is never possible. It has never been possible. So don't fight with the mind; become aware of the mind, and work on your charges. As you heal your charges the mind also calms down; it no more disturbs you. The more you see negative thoughts; thoughts flow and they disturb you that means something you have to work on your past. Once you heal your past, those thoughts never affect you. Inner purification happens through Divine grace. Now shall we go to the third question? Q3. A few months after the process in India, I started to live the phenomenon of seeing what's inside me. Every day it becomes much easier to see, and I have been able to even watch the mind and see how it emerges to tell me anything. The mind speaks and says, "I do not suffer; it doesn't affect me." However, I've also doubted my capacity to see the mind. At this very moment, when I'm writing the question, I'm aware that the mind is looking for certainty, and I don't know whether the question also comes from the mind. Is it possible that the mind is intervening in the experience of seeing inside myself? Is it possible that the mind plays a double role of showing you what is in there and at the same time it is showing itself? V: First you're having thoughts, and again you're having thoughts that are speaking over the first thoughts. First you have a thought, and the second thought is commenting on the first thought. There is no watching happening. Thoughts are only commenting about themselves. All this is happening within the mind. You are thinking you are seeing, but it is only a very low quality of seeing within the mind. AmmaBhagavan speak about a witness state where you are away from the mind, watching the mind. The witness we call the big bird and the mind we call it the small bird. Shall I repeat? Yes. Bhagavan says the big bird - let us say there are two birds sitting on a tree, the big bird and the small bird. The big bird is the witness, or Divine consciousness, watching the small bird - it is the mind. The small bird is creating a lot of noise, trying to do this, trying to do that. The big bird is not involving; it is just watching what the small bird is doing, unaffected. We have not yet seen things from a higher perception. Everything you are seeing is happening within the mind. The mind is only tricking you again. The mind is only tricking you. The first thoughts also, the thoughts coming after that, is commenting on the first thoughts whenever there is also thoughts arising from the mind. Seeing everything, whatever is happening, the mind is only seeing itself that is seeing itself...???. In the mind. So as much as possible without indulging, go on becoming aware of how the mind is playing, taking up different roles trying to trick you. As you go on observing the games of the mind, as you become aware of how all the mind is playing a game, then you invoke the Divine grace to help you. Then the Divine will make the Kundalini awaken, and then you move to higher awareness watching the mind - that we call the witness state; the big bird watching the small bird. Now what is happening to you is your heart is still in the small bird. Ask AmmaBhagavan to help you. Realizing how the mind is tricking you, and you have no escape from the mind. Yes. Shall we move to the next question? Q19. What is the difference between inner integrity and inner honesty? V: Honesty is the beginning stage; inner integrity is a deeper stage. It is like saying, "Yesterday, he hurt me that is why today I hurt him." It is a simple truth. Inner Integrity is where you go deeper and see what is your nature, what is happening to you getting in touch with your ugliness, experiencing your sinful nature. A sinful nature: how much bad you are, what are you doing - not just this one situation, connecting with so many things. Automatically thousands of things are revealed about you which you are not ready to see. Then you completely experience all that pain and you become free of that suffering, knowing about your inner nature. Not running away from it but addressing what is happening inside; getting in touch with your dark side. This is what we call inner integrity, going deep into yourself, rather than the beginning stages of inner honesty. We will go onto the next question. Q20. When I sing the Moola Mantra, I feel that I raise above the floor. Sometimes it scares me, but sometimes I enjoy it. Is this normal? V: This is normal in some people. Many people have this experience. Rarely, actually, the physical body is floating and the other person sees you. But more times your body is still in touch with the ground, but you are not able to be conscious of that. You've gone to a higher level of consciousness, where you are not able to see the body in touch with the ground. Your awareness has shifted somewhere else. You're not in touch with your physical body; you don't experience your physical body. Your awareness has shifted somewhere: you are thinking about God; you are experiencing something else, higher. Shall we go back to the fourth question now? Yes. I'll read the whole question, and then you could translate the whole question, and then we'll go for the answer. Q4. It's my understanding that when awakening, or in its process, and when becoming watchers, we can handle reactions and attachments to patterns. The ego decreases and I Am existence, consciousness and bliss. If nothing really bothered me or disturbed me, professionally speaking, is it possible that I would be able to do anything - from being a street sweeper to a professor - things that right now could strike the ego because I have this title or that particular skill and so on? The thing is that, the inner feeling that tells you that you are born for something, or maybe you discover that you have a gift or a innate ability for something, is that particular something that one must follow? He who is born to be a musician and hates engineering is forced to study that, it should cause him unrest and frustration. When awakened we won't feel unrest or frustration. Will we be able to earn a living in any activity, or we really must follow that instinct which tells us we are born for this or that? V: Shall I answer now? It is a fact in life that expectation and reality never match. It is a fact of life that whatever you expect never happens to you. It is a rare possibility that something that you've expected happens to you. It is a rare occasion when your expectation and reality meet, but in most of the cases, expectations and reality never meet. Let us say you want to become a musician but life pushes you somewhere else. Your parents are trying to give you something else; the situation forces you to decide something else - this is the reality of life. Even if you pursue what you want, there is a lot of obstacles, lot of hindrances from your parents, from friends, from so many people around you that it is not easy to pursue what you want to do in life. That is why Bhagavan says that, "Your life is a mediocre life. There is nothing special about it." What happens when you become awakened, the life is still the same; it is not what you wanted. But what you wanted has a charge, has an assumption that goes away, the past disturbance goes away, and you enjoy whatever you are doing. There is no more commentary or disturbance about what you are doing. What you do, what kind of work you do, no more bothers you when you become awakened. But still your liking for music will continue. And if the Divine wants it, you may become a musician, or you may not become a musician. It doesn't affect you anymore. You will move beyond all these things. That which was said in the beginning, that which was adding to frustration that, "I'm not getting whatever I wanted in my life. My life is useless," this and that. All this commentary of the mind stops. There is complete acceptance of what you are and what you've got in life, and you enjoy whatever you are doing. After you become awakened, you may become a musician or you may not become a musician, but it does not bother you anymore. You've moved beyond all that. Okay? Hello, you are able to hear me? Yes. Yes. I'll go to the next question. Q5: What does Karma have to do with the awakening process? Does destiny exist? V: The awakening process will also work on your karma. Awakening processes are working on your karma, working on your mind, working on your life, working on so many levels. Awakening your chakras, setting right the body - everything is part of the awakening process. Karma does play a role in your awakening process. The best way to become free of karma is to surrender to the Divine and seek the blessings of your parents. And as that karma gives you pain, you start working on that karma, helping others. You have to work on your karma. Let us say you have an eye problem. You have an eye problem, eye infection. All the doctor says is you are going to lose your site in a few months. When you work on karma and when you help out other people who have eye problems, your eyes automatically start improving. Let us say you have financial problems, as you help others to get jobs, by through your contacts, by helping others financially stabilize, you'll work on your karma which is disturbing your financial problem. In the awakening process, how we work on karma is: when we become trainers, when we become Deeksha givers, as we help others grow spiritually, we start growing spiritually; our spiritual karma starts improving. In India there is a destiny. India there is a destiny; destiny does exist. But since the Divine is there, since AmmaBhagavan are there, we can still change our destiny, because we are working on the whole of human collective consciousness. And you can easily learn from your problems, set right the karma, balance your karmic balance, and then you can focus on your awakening. What is it? Should I repeat? You have to work on your karma; you have to balance your spiritual karma. So with Divine grace we can definitely change our destiny. AmmaBhagavan are here to change all our future, to make it very beautiful. AmmaBhagavan are here to liberate us from our karma. Because given our karma, we can never become awakened. Only through Divine grace we can become free of karma. And karma is like a teacher, it is there only to help you in your life. When you don't cooperate with karma, life becomes much more complicated. AmmaBhagavan help you to learn from your karma, from your problems, and to become free of the karma. And once you learn, you are free of karma. When you learn from suffering, you become free of the suffering. Or even if the suffering is there, it no more affects you. There is solution or dissolution of the problem. Yes. Shall we move to the next question? Q8. I have heard that we must follow our heart, but I can't tell the difference between the heart and the mind's desires. I have realized that if I followed my heart, sometimes I could hurt other people whom I love, and even sometimes my heart tells me that I must react intensely to situations, but I get confused because I don't want to hurt people. What is the real meaning of heart, or to follow the heart, or how can I know that I'm following my heart? V: So, it is always not good to follow the heart. It is always not good to follow the heart; [native English speaker would probably say it is not always good to follow the heart-- re-ordering the words for clearer meaning.] sometimes you have to give importance to your relationships. Most of the time when a desire comes from the heart, it is spontaneous. It is not created. It is spontaneous. Unconnectedly a desire comes to the surface from your heart. Unconnected to anything else around you suddenly a desire is born in your heart. That is when we call it is a desire from your heart. Okay. Okay. That is, let us say you are traveling by car. Suddenly you have a desire that, "I must go to the moon. I must see the moon. I must land on the moon." You never thought about it. You never wanted it, but suddenly this thought came, and there is a lot of energy in that desire. I should think about it that there is a lot of warmth in your heart. So when it is spontaneous, just out of the blue, we call it, "It is a desire from the heart." But the desire from the mind comes because of comparison. Something that you watched on TV, or something that your friends spoke about, or something that happened in your office - from somewhere you got that thought. It is not from your heart. It is not spontaneous. And even if you got those thoughts, that desire, there is a lot of conflict; there's a lot of confusion inside. All the disturbance will be there because it is coming from the mind, this desire. That is a difference between the heart and the mind. Let us go back to the previous thing that in your heart you wanted to become a musician. But your parents are not happy with that. Your wife is not happy with that. To pursue that desire you might have to leave the family and move to some other place. You have to make so many sacrifices. People around you have to make so many sacrifices. At that time AmmaBhagavan say that, "Give importance to your relationships rather than following your heart." When you don't follow your heart, you are having pain inside. When you are not following what you want to do, there is pain in your heart. But if you follow your heart it is causing pain to so many people around you, all your close and near and dear ones. It is best at that time to sacrifice the desire and giving importance to your relationships. And since you have made a sacrifice and you have given importance to your relationships, you'll get more grace than following your heart. You must also be aware that this desire from your heart how much pain it is causing around. You are the Divine, your parents are Divine, your wife, your children, everybody around you are Divine, so rather than giving importance to one person it is giving importance to ten people - that's always a better solution. Yes. I will. I will. Rather than giving importance to yourself, giving importance to so many relationships that is always a better option, and you receive more grace in your life because of your sacrifice. If the desire is still intense, somehow your heart will see that the desire is fulfilled. Okay. I have completely answered the question? Yes. Q12. Lately, I don't feel like going to work and spend the whole day sitting in front of a computer or solving problems. My wish is to wake up easily and enjoy the dawn, meditate, see the birds, see the sun come out, go to the mountain or play tennis, go swimming (in other words - enjoy), then go to give and receive Deekshas, spend time with my fellow Deeksha givers and talk about awakening, about the laws of nature, share experiences. But I must make money to provide my family with food, education, clothing, etc., cover the financial needs; however, in the last few years, since I became aquatinted with the spiritual world, my financial situation has worsened, but I have no fear, I have this feeling of safety inside of me that everything is alright and that money will come, and so it is. Could it be that I am on the right path towards awakening, but why am I not capable of making the decision to quit work and dedicate myself to what I like? V: So this desire is natural, and this is there in everybody. Everybody wants to be free of work, free of responsibility, get in touch with nature, enjoy life. But we are not in such a situation. We have responsibilities. We have families to take care of, and we have to fulfill our responsibility towards society. So now it is the time to work, to fulfill all these things, to work on your family, help your family financially - do all the basic things. And given the limited time, how you spend it with nature, how you spend it giving Deekshas - all that is important. When you become awakened, you start enjoying work. You experience whatever you are doing. You are already in heaven. And your physical reality also slowly starts changing. Automatically you get more opportunities and a lot of time to spend with nature. Do what you want to do. All these things will start happening. Since your inner reality has started changing, you're happy with whatever you're doing. There's a lot of joy, happiness inside, even the same work pressure everything is giving you a lot of joy. The external world also starts becoming beautiful; that you want to get in touch with nature; you want to play tennis; you want to do whatever you want to do - all those things also start happening. All these are dream of every human being, to enjoy that kind of a life. But it is not enough that one of us start thinking like that; everybody must work towards that. The whole human collective consciousness must shift. Yes. It is not enough that one of us has this desire; everybody, every human being must work towards it. As of now, Bhagavan says that 10,300 people are awakened. Our goal is to complete that 70,000 awakened beings before the end of 2012. We have about a year's time, more than a year's time. So as millions become awakened this will become a reality. Your work, your schooling - everything will happen in your personal computer. It is not necessary for you to move out of your house. Situations would change so much that you will start doing everything from your home. That is how technology is changing and the world is evolving. And life becomes so beautiful you start enjoying whatever is there. As you enjoy whatever you already have, and as you feel grateful, more good things will flow into your life. If a few of us only become awakened, there is only an imaginary reality. But when millions of us become awakened, as the world progresses towards awakening, all this is definitely possible. Let us pray that all this happens to all of us so that we can enjoy our lives. So given your situation now it is important that you don't escape life, escape hard work, in the name of spirituality. It is best that you work, you fulfill all your needs of the family, and then a time will come when you can focus on enjoying life. In the past there have been seekers who have left their families, who have not taken care of their families, and they have become awakened, and they have been enjoying life. There have been some people who have become monks, who have left the world, left their families, been away from the families, and they all focusing on the spiritual work. We are not trying to do such a thing. We want to make families awakened so that you can stay together as families, and you evolve from there. We are not trying to create an awakened individual and a suffering family. We are creating awakened families. So given your capacity, do what you can to financially support your family and allow the Divine to take you towards freeing yourself from all these things. Okay? What we'll do is, we'll stop with the questions; we'll go into a prayer now. If you have these questions, the questions I've answered, you can remove those questions and have these questions for the next meeting. Now we'll move into a prayer, asking AmmaBhagavan to help us become awakened and that we must enjoy our lives. AmmaBhagavan always say that, "Take care of yourself; I will take care of your awakening." So you go on fulfilling your responsibilities and go on receiving and giving Deeksha. Everything boils down to three aspects; three things you have to work on. The first thing is inner integrity, getting in touch with yourself. The second is strengthening your relationship with your parents, receiving their blessings. Develop a good relationship with your parents. The third thing is working on your perception of life, working on your perception of the Divine, and strengthen your bond with your inner Divine, with your AmmaBhagavan; knowing that they are very powerful, and they can only give you awakening. Only they can liberate you from the mind. So join your palms near your heart. When you join your palms near your heart, both the hemispheres of the brain, the left and right hemispheres of the brain, work together, helping you in your prayer. The fingers touching each other like this, near your heart. Ask AmmaBhagavan to help you in your awakening process. Now I'll be chanting the Moola mantra three times. You could also join along with me. Invoke AmmaBhagavan's presence into the hall, into you, and ask them to bless you and be with you in your journey towards awakening. Om Sat Chit Ananda Parabramha Purushottama Paramatma Sri Bhagavathi Sametha Sri Bhagavate Namaha Om Sat Chit Ananda Parabramha Purushottama Paramatma Sri Bhagavathi Sametha Sri Bhagavate Namaha Om Sat Chit Ananda Parabramha Purushottama Paramatma Sri Bhagavathi Sametha Sri Bhagavate Namaha Sri Bhagavathi Sametha Sri Bhagavate Namaha Sri Bhagavathi Sametha Sri Bhagavate Namaha Sri Bhagavate Namaha Sri Bhagavate Namaha Aum. Now do the prayer. Ask AmmaBhagavan to bless you and guide you in your awakening process, to always be with you. Shanti. Shanti. Shanti. Slowly open your eyes. From your heart convey gratitude to your AmmaBhagavan, to your inner Divine, who is fully focused on your awakening process, who is fully focused on liberating you. After conveying gratitude you can open your eyes. So I'll see you all again next month. This is more like a family meeting. I'd like all of you to share your experiences, your miracles; you can talk. Not just questions-answers, but you must share your experience and miracles with me. Every group could share an experience or a miracle next time. As we listen to miracles, as we listen to experiences, the mind feels that this can also happen to me, and when the mind becomes open, it is easier for Divine grace to penetrate and to give what we want, to fulfill our desires, to solve our problems. So see you all again next month. Namaste to all of you. |
