The Rishis have guided us throughout our Spiritual education right from the nascent times when we struggled with the very basics to the more advanced levels; and will do so beyond the levels hitherto unknown. During various conversations with Guruji he has given some striking insights into Spiritual realities, misconceptions and the human condition. This article presents some gems of wisdom which we have received from him.

“It is popularly believed that when someone hurts us deeply and repeatedly it must be because of a Soul contract. Which means that at the level of the soul, and usually before birth, the victim and the victimiser both have agreed to enact the difficult situation so that the victim can evolve and master his weaknesses while in the material world; is it so?” Guruji: “I do not think so. We go through bad times mostly due to our Karmas and the lessons we need to learn. The soul chooses its experiences to work out its Karma, but it need not be in partnership or agreement with another soul. We attract the problems or lessons of our lives, not the ‘villains’ who create them.”

Karmas are Spiritual results of our actions. We also undergo Karmas of the times, the country and society we live in. We do inherit some of our parents’ Karmas as well. In an effort to aid the Spiritual progress of disciples the Spiritual Masters even take over some of the Karmas to relieve them of their burden. In fact they exhaust their Spiritual energy gathered during their Tapas or Meditation over hundreds of years on dissolving accrued Karmas of others.

There is a quote – Our life outside mirrors what is inside. Is this an absolute statement? Guruji helped us understand that this is mostly true but not absolutely precise. It is not as though all that is in our lives, the good, bad and the ugly, is absolutely indicative of how we are inside.”

Many people, books, synchronous incidents in our lives are messengers; they are not the message in themselves. The messenger can change; it could be anyone or anything. We do not manifest them. But the message, situation or lesson we receive is a part of our manifestation. Each and every thing we go through may not be absolutely our own creation.

“Guruji, can we manifest our wishes into reality by visualization? Can we attract wealth and other benefits into our lives?”

Guruji: “It is possible. The Laws of Nature are such that if we attract something into our lives which is not due for us to experience then it comes with a package. There could be many things which come with the wish fulfilment which we may not want.”

Then how do we average human beings in a world full of attractive material things get what we want without collateral damage? What we understand from Guruji is that we can pray to God; make our wish known to the Universe and work towards wish-fulfilment. We can try hard but simultaneously be in a mode of surrender to the results of our efforts. We as souls came to God’s world to experience; God knows when it is safest for us to have the experiences we aspire for. We have to trust the Universe’s decisions. ‘Ask and ye shall receive’ is not a famous quote for nothing.

We have the entire spectrum of emotions in us, love, hate, anger, compassion, all the opposites and every shade in between. Anger is fine if it is against Adharma or injustice; which means anger is not always negative. The intent behind the emotion defines it qualitatively as positive or negative. It helps to build the bank of positive emotions and demolish the minefield of negative emotions. Some suggest that sheer awareness of the emotion generated helps. It is said that awareness dissolves anger and hate, however it multiplies love.

We requested Guruji to help us understand this better. He said, “Awareness is like turning a flashlight on the emotion being generated in us. When we are aware a Higher Intelligence or our soul’s wisdom guides us. But mere awareness is not enough, what we choose to do with the emotion makes all the difference.”

Awareness is the first step towards checking the vibrations we generate. How do we maintain such awareness with the kind of lives we live? It can be done by observing ourselves! This might sound paradoxical but paradoxes in truth are not some esoteric lofty theoretical possibilities. We the souls observe our ego, the collective intelligence of the body-mind-intellect complex. Ego is also defined as the attitude of the soul; left to its own devices this attitude builds and becomes an entity in its own right. Then the soul takes this identity too seriously and wavers from its Divinity. Hence, the act of observing ourselves means the soul observes the ego, maintains a distance and does not lose control over it.

This is easier said than done. Here Meditation helps. After sufficient practice, in moments of deep stillness we experience how our thoughts/emotions are different from us.
Guruji gave us some tips while discussing this. “Be aware of the all-pervading omnipresent Presence or God which is around us all the time. Shift your awareness to the Ocean of Light. Then you will be able to observe yourself, others and situations in life from a Higher perspective.”

Any further elaboration will intellectualize the message. Only experience will help us understand.

If we compare our current maturity to what it was same time last year we will certainly see progress. Even if we have “failed” in some ways, there would have been some unarticulated learning. In retrospect we often feel we could have made better choices if only we knew any better. If we could access the wisdom garnered in earlier lifetimes then there would be a good chance that our lives could have been more fruitful. Each life incarnation teaches us a lot. Each lifetime layers us with its social conditioning, educational, circumstantial and other limitations. Can we learn lessons so deeply that they manifest unfalteringly in us for all lifetimes to come?

We requested Guruji to give us a technique to help us imbibe life’s lessons for all times to come.

The eternal Rishis always have answers, here’s their guidance, “The degree of internalization makes the wisdom last forever. If you believe in a positive trait, for example detachment, then accept it completely from your very core. Then many processes get initiated, some occur at different levels of our existence yet unknown to us. You can start the process by understanding intellectually and genuinely. Our beliefs should become us.”

This is amongst the most important guidance given to us by Guruji. And this will help us over lifetimes.

In the same conversation Guruji also added another dimension to the aforementioned point. “Even relationships can last over lifetimes.” The depth to which we feel affection for another person can immortalize earthly human associations.

What keeps us from making human equations pleasant for long? The usual hitches - emotional overloads, expectations, other’s eccentricities and a host of other seemingly irreconcilable differences. Guruji gave a very beautiful tip in managing relationships, he said, “When you accept a person, do so completely, that is, his or her positives and negatives.”

There are many other tips Guruji has given on the same subject, like, we should give others space to be themselves; we should not suffocate others with our emotional demands. There is one summary statement from him - “If you can manage human relationships sensibly then that is a sign of Spiritual progress.”

These words from Guruji can address most of the relationship problems in anybody’s life.

He has always put a lot of emphasis on respecting human life. Even the human foibles are an adventure which souls seek to live. He often refers to the Hollywood movie – The City of Angels – which showcases how powerful angels willingly take the risk of human existence to experience touch, taste, and a relationship. Quoting from his own life Guruji had once said, “At the higher level I have access to a lot of information about my life’s situations, yet I allow my human-self to undergo all that life offers, pain, joy, uncertainty, anxiety and all the other human emotions.”

We have seen him valuing sentiments attached to the moments he has spent with people, places and even anniversaries in his human life of seven decades. He has always taught us to respect our human experience and keep it balanced and detached.

When gurus look down upon human body and emotions as limitations and unholy burdens, our Guruji teaches us to respect them as a human adventure which our soul has chosen. The world that we live in has been misunderstood and condemned as illusory but Guruji has taught us that the world is temporary. This is the correct meaning of the saying ‘Jagan Mithya’. Unfortunately it has been misconstrued.

There is another important insight Guruji has given us about human existence. “Human beings are not designed to be alone. It is human nature to share, to communicate. If we have chosen Tapas in a secluded cave then that is a different matter. The communication we have need not be with fellow human beings only, we can be in the company of God; we can share anything and everything with Him.”

Again quoting from his personal experience he added, “When we are in communion with God there need not be any exchange of words. Just be in His Presence. Be.”

Through the dark ages we have lost the original import of many concepts, a lot was misunderstood and even explained wrongly with deliberate intent by some power hungry guides. For example, the Sanskrit word Sanyasi means Sa + Nyasi (a circle) the one who is perfect like a circle; a circle which encompasses all that is life and the centre of which is God. It has nothing to do with marital status as is popularly believed.

Guruji has emphatically explained many times that Spiritual life does not mean looking down on human life. His famous quote is – ‘Celebrating life is celebrating God’s presence on earth.’

The pristine guidance we have received from Guruji naturally makes us wish for a constant link with him. Would it not be nice if we could get immediate access to the ancient wisdom of the Rishis while we are right in the middle of our life’s dealings? While Guruji has given many techniques for direct contact with the Masters, he once gave us two valuable tips. First, feel the contact with the Rishis and second, start with reverence but also feel free to be a little emotional about the Masters. The eternal Spiritual Guides, the Rishis, are like our loving grandparents. Their unconditional love is beyond the scope of our understanding.

These insights and many others are a part of our education. A lot has been taught, some has been learnt, and there is more. God’s Creation offers endless experiences at many levels of existence. And at each level we will have our benevolent Rishis guiding us; at times by living life at our level.