Questions and Answers at the Span

Swamiji: What is hidden? You must dig that and bring it out onto the surface level. This will be is a kind of title for today, and the medium will be questions... Everybody will make one question for himself, and no one will know anyone else's question - you don't have to consult each other. When you come over here, it doesn't matter if you have the same question as someone else had. Dikpal starts. Initiate a question.

Dikpal: ... When we were sitting and meditating, you said we were deep in that Space, and that that pure Space is what we aspire to know all the time. You said that the method that you use to get there is based on I, but that the individual I, or ego, can never get to the pure Space. It rang so true to me that yes, the one who is trying to get there is the individual, and yet that individual can never get to the knowledge of the pure Being because it's individual. You yourself posed this conundrum. I'd love to hear what you would say is the solution to this problem.

Swamiji: You should not use that I which does not understand the answer, you should try to use that one who is able to understand it. If you ask, expecting the I to understand, then you can ask hundreds of questions but it will not understand. It is not the I that is going to understand.

Dikpal: What should be dug so that understanding may arise?

Swamiji: Understanding is arising all the time, but the vehicle of understanding is your Intelligence. Intelligence is reflected through the intellect. The intellect is not I.

Dikpal: When I am feeling like . . .

Swamiji: How many questions are you going to ask? [laughter]

Dikpal: Sorry. I will ponder deeply on this. I mean, I won't, but the Intelligence will.

Swamiji: This depends on your initiative, just take the initiative - a second person, come.

Swadarshana: Swamiji, I would like to know how in the waking state I can expand my concept of I so that as I move through the world I am no longer this individual body-I but am actually expanded to be the Whole?

Swamiji: By transforming your individual waking state, you will come to know that which you are wanting to ask.

(It is not necessary that the answer will satisfy you.) [laughter] (You can ask the question, as the question never satisfies me.) [laughter]

Shaanti Priya: Swamiji, can you tell me what the question should be for me to get the answer by which I would be able to know myself as Free and Pure?

Swamiji: Silence.

Poornima: Swamiji, How can I know for sure that everything that is happening every moment is perfect?

Swamiji: Since there has never been any imperfection, you should drop the idea from your mind that you are living in the state of imperfection. Then, whatever will remain will all be perfect.

Pushpa Raj: Swamiji, it seems that the two key things for knowing the Self are listening to and accepting Guruji's words. How can I fully accept what you say when you say that I am the Self?

Swamiji: You must know what it is with which you are accepting. That understanding belongs to the intellect, and no matter what the intellect asks, it will never be satisfied - because it has multiple questions, not just one, therefore it will continue asking. When your asking will be dropped, you will get it.

Ganesh Narayan: Swamiji, we know that the kundalini is dormant in the mooladhar and that the ida and pingala are connected with the nostrils. Where do they originate and where do they end up?

Swamiji: In the forehead. [laughter] Your question is too unwieldy, so you first have to know what the mooladhar is and what these nostrils are connected to, and then you will be able to ask a definite question regarding it.

Ganesh Narayan: The ida and pingala are connected to each nostril.

Swamiji: No. Then, why would you think that the ida and pingala would be connected to the nostrils of those persons who have their noses cut off? [laughter]

Ganesh Narayan: I didn't perceive that eventuality, Swamiji. I mean because our breathing. . . .

Swamiji: Breathing is done with the nose. The nose is not the ida and pingala.

Ganesh Narayan: But the left nostril is connected with the ida?

Swamiji: No, both go over here [he points between his eyes at the bridge of his nose] and then get connected somewhere. They [he points to his nostrils] are only up to here [the bridge of his nose]. The left goes up to here [the bridge of his nose] and the right goes up to here [the bridge of his nose]. It is not that it goes throughout, left and right. [He marks with his fingers two distinct lines going up his head.]

Ganesh Narayan: This is what I was wondering.

Shakti Priya: When you say that one should know Self-effulgence in all the forms, what do you mean?

Swamiji: One should get transformed into Self-effulgence. This body is not Self-effulgent, it is born. Before birth, that has been Self-effulgence. Therefore with this body we should be able to enhance our intelligence, which grasps the Self-effulgence.

(It's not necessary that you should be convinced by the answer.) [laughter]

Gangadhar: Swamiji, I opened the dictionary and looked up the definition of ego. They call it the power that makes one separate. Then, I listened carefully to the interaction where you said that the ego does not exist. Yet to me the cause of that power that makes me feel separate is evident. I sometimes do feel myself as though I'm separate.

Swamiji: Until then, it remains separate, and the ego is the power that makes the separation. When I say that the ego doesn't exist, at that time it is the Self alone that exists.

Samtaa Shakti: ...You said, that which is Forever is not changing forever nor is it unchanging forever - it is a state of non-difference. I've read this over and over, and I find being in satsang, or just reading this, I come to a space where I feel I understand, but I feel I can't grasp it with my intellect. Should I even try to grasp it with my intellect?

Swamiji: When you grasp it, that's the purpose of the intellect. The intellect is meant for grasping things for which the intellect is meant. But that which you have read is not in the sphere of the intellect - therefore the intellect did not grasp, You grasped. When You have grasped, that's the purpose.

Aatma Shakti: I've been wondering why the word "Self-effulgence" is used. I wonder why they didn't just use "Light."

Swamiji: Because Self-effulgence cannot be understood by a human being who is not Self-effulgent and who is in effulgence through mom and dad - who is in prakaash, or in the light of existence, through mom and dad. Self-effulgence is beyond mom and dad.

Aatma Shakti: If Self-effulgence is not light. . . .

Swamiji: It is not mom, not dad. Therefore if you grasp it, Self-effulgence is that where all grasping is over. Whatever remains there is Self-effulgence. I must have grasped it, so I told you. [laughter]

Dattatray: Swamiji, in relative life a man has to make decisions. What's the best criterion for decision-making so that the man can live his life in health, happiness, and awareness?

Swamiji: Since man cannot make his decision, he should not make one. He cannot finalize [the outcome], he's so limited.

Dattatray: How does he live his life if he can't make decisions?

Swamiji: He should ask somebody who knows.

Dattatray: That's why I'm asking you. [laughter]

Swamiji: Then, ask about what decision you want to take.

Dattatray: If you have to decide what action to take...

Swamiji: Always have in your mind the action which should produce the result and that should serve you. That is the type of action you should do.

Dattatray: What type of result do you want to get?

Swamiji: That's what your question is. What type of answer do you want? What are you asking a question for?

Dattatray: Just to sit beside you. More so, Swamiji...if I boiled it all down, how does a yogi keep his life simple?

Swamiji: Simple is the Truth. The yogi should always abide by the Truth. Truth is that which is Unchanging. He should always remember That which never ever changes and remains just the same.

Rishi: Swamiji, you had just explained to me recently that surrender is very much misunderstood and that it's not a question of yielding to someone. I thought it best that I got the real answer about what surrender is.

Swamiji: Before you use the state of surrender, you are in the state of being your mind, intellect, and ego. When you do not use all these three states, that is surrender. You will get the answer - that which is - and then surrender will have taken place.

Geetika: Swamiji, you spoke this morning that man can't go beyond comprehension to realize the Self, and then you explained that man doesn't want to go beyond comprehension. So when somebody pursues realization, how could he then overcome the natural tendency to stick with comprehension?

Swamiji: He should not remain man. As long as he is man, he will never reach there.

(On the next trip, we will tell you that you can ask two questions.) [laughter]

Chaytna Shree: ...You said that until one is at that state of total Knowingness and total Self-effulgence, efforts do need to be made. I'm finding that transformation is happening all the time. Will I one day - or any of us - just wake up and we'll know that we are You?

Swamiji: No. [laughter] You have to get the answer that you have never become anything but You. You have made yourself somebody else other than You - so the difficulty has come.

Chaytna Shree: It just seems that one has to make efforts, then. Or will it one day just be effortless?

Swamiji: No. Efforts belong to the body. If the body is in existence, the aspirant must not drop making efforts. He continues.

Shiv Nath: ...I'd like to ask you how I can realize You, Guru Consciousness?

Swamiji: Each person is You. Suppose there is one cloud and millions and billions of drops fall down, then they all belong to that cloud. You are already You. So, why would you realize You, which is somewhere else other than You?

Bal Ram: Swamiji, how do you understand intuition? What is the purpose of it in a human being, and how does it operate?

Swamiji: We use the intellect to understand anything. When we are unable to understand, from there intuition begins. All that which we are understanding could be understood. Intuition is a kind of shooting star: unless it is shot, you can't understand.

Neelima: Swamiji, I think you're interested in - and certainly you talk about - the most important things that there are, yet it is always with a great light-heartedness. How can one be like that?

Swamiji: When one drops heavy-heartedness. [laughter]

Keerti: Swamiji, one day you said that a human being is never convinced of Divinity. I was wondering what would be needed for a human being to be convinced?

Swamiji: Whenever Guru says you are Divine, you should accept it. You have never been un-divine.

Hirdaya Priya: ...You had said that normally in a human being the Source and the intellect are functioning separately, that they are not fully integrated. I was wondering, is there not an integration that is required for the vision of Oneness to unfold in a human system? And if so, how can I gain that integration?

Swamiji: Even though the intellect gets intelligence from the Source, which is pure Intelligence, as soon as it comes in the pot of the intellect, it becomes its own - the intellect grabs it and drops the Purity. By unfolding the Purity in the middle of the intelligence, one can remain forever united with That.

Paardarshee: You said that as long as we have a body, we need to keep making efforts. What kind of efforts should one make to come to fully know that one is never born?

Swamiji: We delete that with which we are made to know that we are born. [laughter]

Jyotisna: My question is, Swami, what do you think is the question I should be asking?

Swamiji: How should I love the Guru whom I trust? [laughter]

Devindra: What's the answer to June's [Jyotisna's] question? [laughter]

Swamiji: You ask the question, as June had asked.

Devindra: How can I love the Guru. . . .

Swamiji: No. [laughter]

Devindra: My intuition just kicked in. I guess I'm not understanding anything.

Swamiji: Ask the question you had prepared.

Devindra: The one I prepared was, how is it that you're so amazing, Swamiji?

Swamiji: You are living in the world of non-amazing. [laughter]

Devindra: And you're getting me out of it.

Shyam Lochan: Swamiji, I would like to ask you how I can live the state that you are living?

Swamiji: Your name is Shyam Lochan. You should drop your lochan, your eyes, and get Shyam's eyes and see. He lives that state because he has those eyes.

Anupam: When awful things happen in the world, shall we withdraw from them or shall we show compassion? When these things always affect us, if we show compassion how is it that this compassion should not bring us down?

Swamiji: Compassion is infinite, therefore continue showing compassion. It will never be exhausted.

Anupam: And it will never bring you down?

Swamiji: It will never bring you down. It's ego-consciousness that gets mixed with compassion. Compassion is actually God: God will never be eliminated and will never come down. It is the independent existence of the Self that will always remain compassionate. We cannot do anything else. If compassion has to be used, it should be all compassion throughout. You should not feel down.

Shaarda: Swamiji, what is the best way to be free from the very natural human sense that there is death or loss?

Swamiji: You should not remain the human sense. As long as the human sense is there, there is a sense of death or a sense of loss to the body. That is a human, who is always tuned into his existence as a person, as a human being. That's all.

Kaanti: Swamiji, I've become aware that I don't always include you in the way I'm expressing.

Swamiji: I am of the type that you never ever exclude Me. You always include Me. The moment you began to speak and said, "Ah," before that I am there. You can say, "I don't remember this." That's another thing.

Abhaya: Swamiji, I've been wondering for some time how I could truly realize the state of non-division, which you have often said is synonymous with the definition of fearlessness, or abhay.

Swamiji: That which never dies has no birth. If your sense picks up birth and is attuned to birth, there will be a division in it and that will be death. Transcend birth and death. Then, you are in non-division.

Gangesh: ...In every experience that takes place, I can recognize Awareness, which permeates the experience. Also, when there is no experience, I know that Awareness is there. Awareness is that which is unborn, undying, never changing, yet it often seems that when an experience takes place I have to shift my attention in order to recognize that Awareness.

Swamiji: Then you should not be in the state of the sense of otherness, you should be always with the Awareness. - which means, pure Existence is Awareness. You should not be with the awareness of the body, which is the sense of otherness. Awareness alone is. If you'll be with That, then you will always, always be tuned into Awareness.

Alka: Swamiji, how can I transform the limited consciousness that says, "I am Alka," and how can I know You, the indestructible One?

Swamiji: Alka is the name of a form. The form will be destroyed. If you remain tuned into Alka the form, you will never be indestructible. Therefore, meditate and grasp that Indestructibility which has never taken birth and thus will never die.

Veena: Swamiji, you sometimes point out that one is so grounded into the sense of I that one always says, "I do it" and "I know it" - so much so that even when one sometimes says, "Only God knows," one still feels that "I know that only God knows." To be free from that sense of I, is it enough just to hear it and to understand it, or is something more needed?

Swamiji: Once you have understood or realized that I alone am, then you can freely make use of the I, and that's it. There's absolutely nothing else but the I, or the Self, or, in religious words, God- that is the I. The first I is manifesting: there is the whole sunshine, and wherever it is, it is the sun. In this way, you will always be tuned into I as a whole, and in your conversations, or in your talks, you can safely use "I" and you can use "you." They can say "I" and you can say "I." This way, you will remain forever tuned into that I.

Jyoti Swaroop: I'd like to ask how can I be free from the sense that there is something else other than Me?

Swamiji: You should not have your girlfriend. [laughter]

Mahabir: Swamiji, when you say that I alone am, it seems so clear to me that it's obvious that is the only reality. How is it that that obviousness gets lost?

Swamiji: When you say, "I alone am," at that time you fall on this body. "I alone am" has got nothing to do with "alone am" - I, that's it.

Mahabir: Then, what am I understanding when you say it?

Swamiji: When I say it, then you understand "I alone am" means, "I'm Don and I am flying everywhere." [laughter]

Praym: The other day you said that your Guruji said to you, "It's all one Reality," and you said, "Fine." Is that faith or direct experience?

Swamiji: It's Guru. I didn't remain anybody else. Even after that, I never asked the question, I became That.

Bholay Shyam: Many times you've said that the state of Self-realization is where the nervous system is working properly.

Swamiji: No, I must have not stopped there, I must have gone further. If your nervous system works properly, your work or efforts will not be stopped. When the nervous system does not work properly, you do not pursue this. I must have said that as long as your nervous system works properly, then treat it that you will attain that Self. You have the chance to ask a second question.

Bholay Shyam: Thanks. Wow. I have to figure if I've understood the first bit. [laughter] It's a quantum leap. Can I come back to you on that one?

Swamiji: Yes.

Soorya Pooran: Will I attain that Self?

Swamiji: Never. [laughter] Because the Self is not attained - the Self you are. Wealth can be attained. Things can be attained. Diet can be attained. Anything can be attained, but not the Self.

Jagadamba: Swamiji, does the sense of nothing or the sense of God have anything directly to do with the world of feelings?

Swamiji: With all three.

Vidyaatmaa: How can I develop more power not to get shocked by the changing field?

Swamiji: You have practiced a lot about the Unchanging. But when you come to know that the Unchanging alone is - that there is no change - at that moment you will never be shocked by the change.

Vidyaatmaa: Another question: How can I develop more awareness to know what is good for me and what is not good for me?

Swamiji: That which does not create diarrhea, that is good for you. [laughter] Anything that is good for you is healthy.

Vishuddh Nath: Does the answer you gave Jyoti Swaroop apply to everybody? [laughter]

Swamiji: No. That's for him. For you, is that you should have another girlfriend. [laughter]

Kalyani: ...It seems as if you are one being, while the whole world with their mortal knowledge and information is on the other side. Is it ever a wonder to you that more people don't plunge into knowing who they really are to experience that Bliss?

Swamiji: There are not other people, or many people. There is only one Being.

Ritambhara: If I had one question that I should ask you, what should it be?

Swamiji: Because you don't have, don't ask. You say, if I have one question...

Ritambhara: What's the best question that I should ask?

Swamiji: That's it. You have not to ask a question. You just look at Me.

Ritambhara: For how long? [laughter]

Swamiji: That is the question. One second.

Ritambhara: Forever.

Swamiji: Forever.

Mukta: Swamiji, what is the knowledge that removes the sense when one sees a snake instead of a rope?

Swamiji: The knowledge that he is in the waking state. In the waking state, he will always see a snake. He should sleep, then he will not see a rope and will not see a snake - that's samaadhi. He should be in pure Awareness. Then there is no rope and no snake, it's pure Awareness. Very nice.

Praymuda: How come we forget God? For instance, you said that Hunter has no memory or experience and he knows God. We incarnate many times and we have memories. How does that relate to the idea that whenever you remind me of God, I remember?

Swamiji: A man may forget, but God never forgets God. You be That.

Sreshth: When I am in the West and I speak to people about my knowledge, I often get the sense that they kind of understand my words. Then I think, why bother, they're never going to understand. Then I come and look at you and see the infinite patience that you have with me and with others. You never seem to think that it doesn't work. I am wondering how that infinite patience can also permeate this?

Swamiji: You begin to think that they did not listen to you or they did not understand. At that time, the sense of duality, or otherness, is created. Whenever you are in the West, or in the East, or wherever you are, whoever meets you is your own Self. Then, whenever he asks, you give the answer. If he accepts, well and good, or if he doesn't accept, well and good. You will remain forever Free.

Gyaan: Swamiji, how can I always remain focused on you?

Swamiji: By having a camera twenty-four hours. [laughter]

Dinesh: Swamiji, how do I become free from getting into a bad mood when I feel separate from you? [laughter]

Swamiji: That is a plus point. You should always, always be in a bad mood when I am not there.

Leela: Swamiji, what is this state that is totally questionless and blissful? What is it? Is there a name for it?

Swamiji: Yes, that is called You, Leela.

Turiya: How does one not get into expectation and hope in relation to someone whom they love very dearly?

Swamiji: Who they love dearly, or who you love?

Turiya: Who I love dearly. How do I not project expectation and hope?

Swamiji: In love, it is not necessary. It is inevitable that you should expect that the one whom you love should love you.

Turiya: ... In relation to Guru, who alone is the Self pure, free, and not individual, how do I not get into hope and expectation?

Swamiji: Because he alone is, he is never, ever separate from you. He alone is - you are also the same. This Oneness will never create any expectation. It will always be there, and you will have Oneness forever.

Krishna: You had once told us that the grace is always there, but we have never admitted it. How does one admit grace?

Swamiji: Just by looking at it - such as sky is always there, but if you keep looking at the ground you will not be able to see it. It is admitted just by looking at grace and seeing that it is forever, that it has never, never disappeared, that grace is always there.