Evolution implies learning newer aspects of reality with a humble outlook that there is more to understand, refine and even re-define all that we have come to accept as true. This also applies to the foundational concepts like the equation between ego and soul. Anyone exploring the Spiritual underpinnings of the human situation would have come across the culpability of our ego for keeping us from an enlightened life. Our soul, a particle of God, has always been believed to be the mute victim for the choices of the ego. About five years ago, the Rishis revealed – ‘Ego is the attitude of the Soul.’ From that point onwards our exploration of this matter has brought clarity, though it goes against the grain of popular beliefs it all adds up. In the February Residents’ Meet this point, along with many other, were discussed.

Mr. Gururaj Kanade asked, “Guruji, this is about our new understanding of the ego. Since it is the attitude of the soul, can we say that Meditation is the best way to influence or reshape the attitude of the soul?”

Guruji explained, “Ego is defined as the collective intelligence of our body, mind and intellect; which are sheaths or subtle bodies we took on to experience Creation at the respective levels of Manifestation. The subtle bodies have their own intelligence and can voice their views too; however, these are sentient tools at the soul’s disposal. It is the soul which has taken bodies to experience all that it wishes. It is not the mind, a subtle body, but the soul which gets angry.”

He gave an analogy to clarify, “Ego is like water, it will take the shape of its container. It is the soul which wants to experience diverse emotions – both, positive and negative. The ego does not have negative qualities; it may carry the accumulated old negative tendencies of earlier lifetimes but it can only influence with its limitations, nonetheless, the soul reigns supreme.”

With a clear tone of authority Guruji said, “It is the soul which needs transformation not the ego.” Pausing just about enough so that we could have a moment to grasp this rather radical truth, he continued, “Meditations will help clear the impurities in the body, mind and intellect hence opening up faculties, etc. But the final awakening depends upon the soul’s choice. Ego only represents the attitude of the soul.”

The next question led to a very interesting answer. “Guruji, does the attitude of the soul change from the Divine when it enters the Material Cosmos?”

“The soul chose its attitude even before entering the Material Cosmos. When we came down into Creation and accepted the body, mind and intellect, the soul’s attitude got manifested through these entities. In the Divine Cosmoses we did not have the negative choices we have here in the Material Cosmos. Here, God has made such experiences available to us, so we can choose to go through the, so called, negative experiences as well. That is why a little bit of anger, a bit of jealousy is allowed. Only when it gets out of hand does it become a problem. Excess is not fine, moderation is always recommended. We are here to experience the diversity of emotions from the very good to the opposite if we so choose.”

These points help understand the choice we need to make when we stand at the very threshold of the Light Age. Choosing Light and Love at the level of the soul is different from choosing intellectually.

In the context of the Light Age there were two good questions; first – how will the increased Spiritual energies during the Shift in human consciousness affect our material life.

Guruji’s answer – “Our material life improves. There will be stability and we may even have abundance. It is very important to understand that abundance does not pertain to wealth only, it also means abundance in peace, contentment, etc. Our material life becomes beautiful and we will certainly have material comforts. When we respond to the new energies Spiritually, we get rewarded by the Universe; our life becomes free of conflicts of all kinds.”

The second question was about the souls taking birth on earth in these times of great changes. Will they automatically have Light bodies?

Guruji said that the souls which are taking birth now will have physical bodies like ours, however, they have superior intelligence and their capacity to assimilate knowledge is very high. Those who will take birth after the Light Age is established may not need to enter wombs for the gestation period, they may just take Light bodies. There is an example of this possibility mentioned in the Astral ventures of Maharshi Amara. Please refer the booklet – Astral Ventures of a Modern Rishi – for more details. There are earths where there are no physical bodies required.

The next two questions were on a different note altogether. “Namaste Guruji, sometime back you had explained the difference between God and gods. I wanted to understand whether the Rishis and demigods, like Gramadevathas (village deities) can be classified as gods?”

“Rishis are souls just like us; however they are highly evolved. The village deities are specially created in different Lokas, for example in Shakti Loka or the Plane of Divine Feminine. They are not souls like us, they are created as gods and goddesses with special powers and specific jobs. Like for example Lord Indra. However, there is only one real God – Parabrahma – who is omnipresent.”

Angels, Gandharvas, Kinnaras, etc are beings from different planes of existence and cannot be defined as gods.

A very sincere voice soaked in humility, fully resonating with an urge to receive an answer asked, “Though we put in a lot of effort to achieve something, the desired results are either not achieved or are delayed. Does this mean that we have not tried hard enough or that something else is preventing us from achieving the results?”

Though the context was not clear Guruji addressed the concern behind the unknown details of the question. “Strangely something similar has been on my mind as well for the last one week. Our efforts can be increased, no doubt about that, but let us not forget that the effect of the Timeframe or the Yuga we live in also plays a role. There is a kind of inertia which pushes us back. We have to increase our efforts manifold to overcome inertia.

“When it is about Spiritual progress we have to understand that the Rishis take us slowly ahead in a careful and controlled manner. Say for example even if you have achieved Mukti you will not be given the highest Samadhi experience because if you do then you will lose all interest in your life and your life’s mission.”

The Rishis are the wisest beings in this Creation; they know what is best for us. They know when, how and where to give us successes and even failures.

In response to how the soul’s awareness operates during deep Meditations Guruji delineated the process.

“When you enter Stillness during Meditation your awareness expands. In the beginning when you become silent, if not into deep Stillness, you enter the borders of Samadhi. Then, you will become aware of your own thoughts; next, the thoughts will start appearing very distant. If you go deeper and deeper into Stillness, you will become increasingly aware of newer realities as your awareness expands. If you reach higher then you will be aware of the present, the past, the future simultaneously. Extending this principle, you will become aware of everything about yourself. On further expansion of awareness, you become aware of everything that is happening on this earth. Extend the same thing, you become almost like God. You become aware of everything that is happening in the entire Creation. That state is not easy to achieve, but in principle, it is possible. Our awareness can expand to unlimited proportions.”

Guruji also gave us as example, “Atri Maharshi who is in-charge of this earth’s affairs is aware of everyone’s thoughts and everything that is happening on this earth.”

Probably inspired by this extensive understanding of the soul’s awareness during Meditation, someone enquired about how to graduate from visualization in Meditational techniques to actually experiencing Light.

“It is simple but difficult to explain. Imagination is just the first step; as you go deeper you experience, and then become Light. Experiencing Light means we feel the Peace and Stillness within us. To start with we should experience Light for shorter durations. It is difficult to do so all the time because we are engrossed in this world. We are capable of experiencing Light, perhaps, Rishis allow us to experience in a controlled manner because once we do we might lose interest in our routine lives. Once we grow in maturity and value life as it is then we may be granted the experience.”

Assuaging our self-doubt he said, “There are many factors why we cannot experience Light easily, while we can increase our efforts, do not blame yourself.”

Mr. Nedu Durai shared his concern over the constant paucity of time, the constant struggle to meet both ends of the job list and whether the compression of Time is a factor. He also quoted the time management approach of a famous corporate leader.

"This has nothing to do with the compression of Time. Sometimes failing is the right thing to happen!” Guruji said and gave us a lesson of surrender without passive fatalism, acceptance and faith. “We cannot and need not always succeed. There are always lessons to learn from failure as well. We have to accept what happens and continue to make ever-increasing efforts. We are with the Rishis, so if we fail in some tasks, maybe that is the right thing. With this background evaluate your life situation and struggles, and write to me if you need more guidance.”

Before giving his own life as an example he said emphatically, “Prioritize. Define the most important thing in your life and check it against your job list. Is your wish list in harmony with your primary and secondary goals? For me my Work is the most important thing in my life. My priority is clear.”

An invaluable insight emerged from Guruji’s answer despite the fact that this question has been addressed earlier. “The corporate leader you are referring to has made amazing strides in his field, but he was rude and ruthless. He was not a nice person to work with. For me human values are more important than worldly achievements. On the lower Lokas or planes of existence there is a lot of technological advancement but they are inhabited by dark souls. Success and achievements does not imply Spiritual growth.”

Most people who are employed know the poisonous work environments full of sharp competition, office politics and exploitative merciless work hours. The educated urban population often feels like EMI bonded laborers. Guruji’s message is very clear – human values should precede any achievement.

Mr. Sudhakar shared his views on the subject of ego and the soul. “Guruji, I have always felt that the body, mind and intellect have been like my friends. Each of these entities love my Spiritual pursuits. I used to wonder how the ego can misguide because Koshas come from Divine Cosmos. Now it is clear to me that it is the soul which chooses.”

“It is good that you have understood in the right spirit. Everything is from God. Everything is Divine. We are Divine souls. But when we take birth in the Material Cosmos we get angry, we hate and indulge in excesses and wrong doings. How is this possible? It is because of our Freewill. Also we have come here to experience everything good as well as bad. Let me reiterate - there is absolutely nothing wrong in getting slightly angry. When we overdo and cause harm then God’s Laws of Karma come into action. Before we took birth we were briefed about the Laws of Freewill, Karmas, etc so we knew everything.”

He sipped some water and said that God has made available for us to choose between good and bad and everything in between. We chose this obstacle course of life in this plane. Everything comes from God; technically even the dark is not outside of God’s Creation.

“We should never condone negativity or the activities of dark souls. From the human plane we should never accept hatred amongst people. But we have to see things from a higher perspective also. The positive and negative are a part of this Creation. It is we who have to consistently choose good over evil; we cannot choose Light over darkness if there is no darkness. So don’t hate Hitler, he was just providing options, feel sad for those who chose hate over love.”

A long pause followed. Suddenly the onus of the negative world environment fell on the good people who chose bad things. Female foeticide is an example.

"It is not easy to understand life. When you remember that there is a higher perspective as well we become more responsible, more tolerant and we do not judge. We do not judge anyone, not even Hitler. Then we grow.”

Sensing that we have understood what he has said so far Guruji continued, “Let me remind you that when we live a human life we do have strong opinions if not judgments. We have to defend ourselves and stand-up for all that is good. If someone is punching you then you have to defend yourself; you may have to hit back. Understanding this is very important. So when do you tolerate and when do you hit back? This is where our Spiritual maturity and discretion come into picture. Rishis are our role models. They can give boons as well as curses.”

With a big smile he said, “We should respect all creatures but again if you see cockroaches in your kitchen it is okay to kill them.”

Sudhakar sir mentioned that owning responsibility for what happens in our lives also gives us strength.

Appreciating this point Guruji said, “Yes, we always like to pass on the blame to others. We blame the ego for our arrogance, etc. The realization that I am responsible for whatever I do or my behaviour, that itself is a great advancement in spirituality. The moment we begin owning up, we also use our discretion. We do not repeat our mistakes. This takes a lot of time to understand and of course to put into practice.”

The Residents’ Meet came to an end; we proceeded to distributing gifts to the residents whose birthday fell in February. Usually it is books for adults and toys for kids. Later the residents proceeded for the group dinner. Every month a few resident families sponsor the evening feast. In small groups everyone was chatting and catching up with one another, parents were chasing their kids to eat dinner; behind the routine smiles there seemed to be something stirred in everyone. This was one of the most intense Residents’ Meets of all times.