Questions by readers- Answers by The Mother! These answers are in no way definitive; nor do they make any claims to authenticity. These are supposed to answer the seeking. The insights contained in these answers issue from patrons of The Mother, among who are saints, holy men, scholars and advanced seekers. To submit a question, send email to editor.themother@gmail.com. Do not feel disappointed if The Mother does not publish the answer to your questions. The Editorial Board will choose questions to be published in The Mother depending upon its significance and service to the spiritual seekers at large. However, we will strive to answer most queries and personally communicate the answers to those who put forth genuine queries. Editor.
Q.
How does one not let unhappy and unpleasant thoughts wander in the mind...and at the same time not feel bad about those unimportant things...in spite of knowing they are not worth thinking of?
Vani Jalagam, Hyderabad
Answer
One has to drill it into one’s head, “I am not going to live in the past or future, it’s meaningless. Because to live in the past or future means I am disrespecting the present.” Live in the present and ninety percent of your thoughts will disappear. Make it a rule not to dwell on past or future.
Our body is said to be temple of God, so we eat pure food, clean it and maintain it well. In the same way, our mind is also temple of God. Just close your eyes and think about this. Think that your mind has become a temple. There’s silence. There’s calm. There’s a feeling of God, assuring, full of light. How can any unpleasant and unhappy thought be allowed to step into such sacred place? If we think like, this no unpleasant and unhappy thoughts will come.
There are unhappy thoughts because we are not grateful. Or we are not grateful enough. We should look at all the good things God has given us and be happy about it. To think of what we don’t have or what’s wrong with our lives is to focus on the wrong thing. The moment we focus on the drop of insufficiency of our life, on what’s not there, or not there the way we want it, we become blind to the ocean of God’s mercies. The moment there’s a sense of disappointment, loss, frustration, unhappiness, in that very moment we should think of all the things which are there that we have taken for granted. Life is always good; we have to believe in this fact.
We become unhappy with something, what does it mean? It means that one thing has become most important to us. But the fact is no one thing is really important to life. It’s just that we give too much importance to it. The trick is to stop giving importance to “particular” things in life. And start giving importance to the whole flow of life, to life itself. Life is more important than anything that is in life. When we are unhappy, we lose balance of whole life and overrate one thing. We’ve to chuck that thing (no matter what it is) and be at peace.
Unhappiness and negativity are enemies of the soul. Being unhappy is being unspiritual. Being negative is being unspiritual. With unhappiness and negativity we indirectly curse God. And that’s unfair—grossly unfair. We should know that the moment we become unhappy or negative, we are moving away from God. In fact, we are not only moving away from God but going against God. Because if we had faith, we would trust him to fix whatever is wrong and not worry. Also we would think it’s ok, whatever there is, it’s ok. I accept God’s will, it’s ok. That’s the way you would think if you really accepted God. So we should stay positive and happy, that way we would be praying to God and not cursing him. Your happiness is God’s praise. Your unhappiness is curse levelled on God.
Q.
I read the following words written by an advanced seeker… “I settle dilemmas through guidance from the Guru (from within). I do what He tells me and what turns out, both pleases and delights me. If we can follow what He tells us (because that is what we'd tell ourselves if we knew as much as He did), we can often eat the pudding and have it at the same time…”My question is how one recognizes the Guru. Especially if he's the Guru Within. How do you know that it's not just your voice? How do you get to be so certain? Is it because the results turn out to be right. Which means that the certainty is only in retrospect? Or is it because it feels right as you are doing it, so the results just fall into place?
V.R., New Delhi
Answer
Unless you are in it, you cannot know it. You cannot also know the dynamics of a thing until you practice it. Guru within is mentioned here. But it’s stating a part of the truth. It works in three stages:
- There’s a ‘Guru-within’ in the beginning, but not a workable one, not enough though he’s there. That Guru leads us to a Guru outside.
- Then we take to a ‘Guru-without’. Not an idea or personage from hearsay, or just a teaching, but a ‘living Guru’. We follow this ‘Guru-without’/ external Guru, faithfully. This leads us to becoming inner directed and intuitive, cosmic and divinely contemplative. The Guru’s teaching prepares our being from within to perceive the higher light.
- Now, after long adherence to the Guru outside, we realise the Guru outside has blended with the Guru inside. ‘Guru-within’ has merged with the ‘Guru-without’. That’s once again Guru inside, but this time on, a real one, one you can work with successfully. The second ‘Guru-within’ contains the wisdom of the whole lineage of the external Guru that can only be traced to the source viz. God.
Therefore, as long as you have not had a ‘living Guru’ whom you revere and follow, it’s just your voice. One can be sure of being limited at this stage. The certainty that comes afterwards is not in a supposition or a belief; it’s in the wisdom that is linked to the practice. Just like the certainty of any secular wisdom that we gather from both knowledge and practice, this too is usable. The answer to how do you know is as simple as how do you know the phone will start dialling as soon as you press the buttons, and how do you know water will become cold in the refrigerator. One knows it from experience. It’s available prospectively and retrospectively.
Q.
I have been doing my Japa every day, I also read Guru Gita and chant Naam as instructed by my Guru, but I am not sure if I am making progress. I prayed sincerely through last navaratris, but what was it about? There’s no feeling from inside on many days. So I wonder if I am just wasting my time.
M.S., Mumbai
Answer
Through Navaratris and singing Jaago Ma Jaago, actually we invoke the Mother who sleeps in the Muladhara to rise.
We pray that Mother Kundalini blesses you.
There’s no doubt you are making spiritual progress. The lacuna and discrepancy you feel is in the psychological realm.
You are perhaps feeling stagnated. You may be thinking you are doing your spiritual practice mechanically and thus you have met with a point of dullness—a dead end!
Actually, our spiritual progress doesn’t have much to do with our feelings. If you keep adding a drop after drop, with interest or without interest, the vessel is anyway filled.
You are doing your spiritual practice daily and that is progress. Anyone who walks daily is making progress and reaching closer to the destination. What does it matter how he or she feels?
There are a lot of people who feel a high but have no constancy in practice....they make no progress except in their own minds. As for you, just improve the psychological attitude. Add cheer and positivity to your life and you’ll know you never stopped progressing.
Q.
Masters, can you comment on the desirability of unbroken remembrance of God and why good quality smaran is compared to taila dhara (stream of oil)? Sometimes, I lose count of my Japa and just flow with the stream of God ecstasy for hours…
Shiv Narayana Brahmachari
Answer
Oil is heavy steady and calm. That’s why it’s compared to unbroken remembrance of God. Taila Dhara! The saints know what exactly they are talking of, yet the truth of their teachings descend on to us only after we are close to that experience. Otherwise they are just words!
Remember the Gopis from Bhagwat Purana? They were so enthralled by constantly remembering Krishna that they came to a point when they were incapable of doing their daily chores! They just wanted to be alone with their minds fixed on their Lord Gopal. Or they wanted to be with their beloved Krishna!
The sages aspire for an unbroken remembrance of God. That remembrance has been likened to a 'Taila Dhara' or a steady stream of oil, smooth and uninterrupted.
It’s happening to you unasked.
We don't know how long this state will last but the best thing is you’ve got a taste of it. The chaska or the addictive taste of the divine!
After one does a certain quantum of Japa, then one is able to tap into the cache of Japa that one has done over many lifetimes. Once you are linked there, there’s just a steady flow, smooth and uninterrupted.
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