How will the 2012 scenario unfold? Will the journey towards the Light Age be marred by tragedies? Will the destruction preceding construction be severe? What will happen and how? Such questions aggravate our concern for our loved ones and ourselves. Guruji has always said categorically that a lot depends on the choices that humanity makes at large, which is nothing more than the sum total of all individual choices. A lot has been spoken about this in the New Age circles. Recently Guruji had mentioned in passing that one of the possibilities is wherein most human beings will be transported and lodged in another dimension until the destructive part of the Shift gets over. A question regarding this from Ms. Sunita Deshpande, resident meditator and library in-charge, started this interaction session with Guruji.

“Anything said now will only be speculative. Rishis have many ways of saving us and they have not finalised on any one way yet, because, they want humanity to evolve along the way. If we are moved to another dimension then we will be taken there physically. In that place we will live on Prana directly and will not require conventional food. What is most striking about this possibility is that a day over there will be equivalent to many years over here. So that when we return to earth, its environmental condition would have stabilised enough to sustain life again.”

An uncanny silence descended over those gathered; each of us wondering if their mortal eyes would actually get to see such an unprecedented seraphic phenomenon. My imagination had already fashioned an angelic UFO for transportation and was working out the logistics of the much anticipated rapture, which is, the instant disappearance of people as mentioned in the Bible. A concerned Sunita asked if we will retain our memory after rehabilitation. “Of course” Guruji said, “all our memories will be intact. Instead of being here, you will be in that dimension, that’s all. But we do not know if Rishis will use this method to save us. However, any rescue plan will undeniably be a miracle.”

“What is known for sure” he confirmed, “is that only those who have increased their levels of purity will be helped. Which means meditators and good people from all over the world will be helped. Who knows, we might be taken to Shambala.”

Mr. Swaminathan requested Guruji to help us understand the difference in time scales between our earth and the dimension, which could be our probable rescue camp.

In response Guruji gave us a tiny glimpse into the mysterious incidents which happened to him. “We will be taken to a different dimension where space-time reality is not the same as ours. It is difficult to intellectually comprehend but we do experience similar things right here. For example, just the other day I was seriously working for two hours but when I checked the time only an hour had passed. Once it so happened that I had a lot of work but very less time. I was struggling. So I just focused on my task completely; upon completion of two hours of work I saw that only twenty minutes had passed!”

Pausing just enough for all of us to register the unusual facts in our minds he asked, “How do you think it happened? This does not occur very often or at my will. I feel that a Higher Intelligence is watching over us and making such supernatural events manifest.”

For an impersonal Universal purpose, I feel, the Higher Intelligence allows laws of Nature to alter. Did It not part the sea for Moses and the Yamuna for baby Krishna? In fact, many students have reported that during long hours of Meditations they have noticed a change in the pace of time. After going deep into stillness when they emerge to the conscious level of awareness only a few minutes would have passed. Time actually slows for a few!

So, what does one do to qualify for the rescue if humanity pushes itself to the very brink? Guruji assuaged our unexpressed anxiety; maybe it was visible on our faces, what with our eyes gaping incessantly at him. “Do not worry about these details. Focus on Meditation and positivisation; be good, simple and honest. That’s enough. Be carefree, not careless. We don’t require a very special training. I think it is too late for that. No training is required for being good, is there? Our purity helps us qualify.”

A few days after this discussion, Guruji had told a few of us that the Light Masters are ready at the Astral level for any and all eventualities. Speaking from his knowledge and participation at the Higher level, he told us that there was no anxiety of any sort. Rishis are ready for any turn of event. Even as I write this I hear a sigh of relief from the Readers.

Mr. Sudhakar, in-charge of Anekal Meditation Centre and a Taponagara resident asked the next question which pertained to our identification with our identity! “Guruji, when we say connect to your soul, is it because we have identified ourselves with our ego or to this lifetime’s personality?”

Guruji: “You see, the soul is always connected to God. Whenever I speak of such things, I mean connection with God Himself. The soul itself makes attempts to further strengthen this alignment. With this connection we can go beyond the ego, beyond the collective intelligence of the body, mind and intellect system.

“When I say connect to your soul, it is an expression, probably I should say, be aware of your identity as the eternal soul. When our awareness is with our ego, our body-mind-intellect complex identifies itself with the current lifetime’s personality only. When the ego is silent the soul takes control of our lives. Ego is required; our persona helps us think, emote and live in this lifetime. Only when we allow our ego to become dominant does it gain a lot of strength and becomes arrogant. It can also become a negative entity. If our ego is silenced it will co-operate, then our persona aligns to God while we live this life.

“Having spent thousands of years in this darkness of ignorance we have forgotten that we are always connected to God. Processes like Meditation help us in remembering our true identity. We are always connected to God. Realising this simple truth takes time.

“Spiritual realities are essentially very simple. But sometimes we take a long time to realise them; it could vary from a single lifetime to many. For example, many struggle to realise that God is Light, God is everywhere and God has no form. Whenever I say God, I mean Parabrahma, the formless God not the deities with a form like Lord Venkateshwara or Lord Shiva. They are all Divine manifestations.

“Sometimes people ask, what do we meditate upon? We don’t meditate upon anything; we meditate to enter into stillness. In Puranas it is mentioned that some meditated on Lord Shiva or Lord Brahma and were bestowed with rare powers. When we want to gain something we approach deities. But that is not Meditation. Meditation is silencing the body-mind-intellect system so that we can enter stillness.

“Rishis just meditate to experience God and while experiencing they receive a lot of energies. They don’t sit with the purpose of getting the energies, it is like a by-product, and there is no selfish purpose, absolutely none. In fact, that is how all of us have to meditate. We don’t have to ask for anything, just sit and meditate. God knows. You will get everything.

“This is a very important point. Perhaps when you ask, you only receive that much. Don’t ask and you get everything. Rishis perform Tapas like this. And they don’t even keep the energies for themselves. They spend it on seekers whenever they initiate, give boons or whenever they work. So, the gathered energy gets expended.

Underplaying his dislike with arguments on Spiritual matters, he said, “Many times I have observed people start asking questions just from the intellect. There are always answers. A humble person is always receptive, so he can understand. But sometimes people begin arguing. The moment you begin arguing indicates that you do not accept. Arguments will never help us to realise the Spiritual Truths. We must allow the system to assimilate by itself. There is a special intelligence in us, let us call it the Spiritual Intelligence.” Looking at me he said, “I had used this term some twenty years ago when people were not even talking about emotional intelligence.”

“Anyway, Spiritual Intelligence is not blindly accepting without discriminating thought. It is not blind acceptance out of ignorance. But when we accept by using this Intelligence, we tend to straightaway agree. It is out of a deeper awareness. Suddenly you realise the truth. There is a higher Spiritual Intelligence at work. We are in advanced Spiritual times. People can and do understand. There is no point in wasting our time on convincing argumentative people. Many evolved souls have been taking birth in the last few decades. I saw a three year old kid operating a computer. This advanced soul does not require much time to learn.” So true, the age of the physical body does not dictate the person’s maturity anymore. There is a famous allegory - a writer was asked about his age, he humorously said two thousand years.

Mr. Samanwar, a visitor from Nagpur, asked the next question. “Namaskar Guruji. It is said that we suffer or enjoy due to our Karmas. Also it is said that everything happens as per God’s will. Now the question arises, if everything is being done by Him or with His consent, why are we required to face the consequences of the Karma done by us?

Guruji: “This is a very elementary question. You see, God has a grand design; one can call it a Divine program. Everything works out as per this plan and that’s why we say everything goes according to His wish. However, He has bestowed us with freewill. You can accept His program or deviate from it. He allows us to exercise the option of not accepting His wish. When we do not accept and do as we please then we have to face the consequences of our actions, good or bad.

“While His plans take shape, ours do as well. Though it appears contradictory, both happen simultaneously. People who accept His will do not have any problems and have no Karma consequences, because they followed His program. Again because we begin to operate our freewill it becomes our program, not His. Then there are consequences.”

Here we have to be aware of the fact that God is not into micro-management, despite the fact that He knows the shape of every blade of grass. His plans are for the entire Creation and everything in it, and within this framework there is scope for personal choices. When we choose tea over coffee we are not changing any of His plans. To clarify this further, here’s a conversation which a Meditation student had with God. Guruji has confirmed this experience as true.

While the student was pondering about the enormity of microbiology and the fact that its study is endless due to mutation in viruses, God spoke, “I only put the Principles of Nature in motion; all the fine details fall in place.”

Further contemplation on these points will result in a deeper comprehension. On the point of Karmas versus freewill Guruji explained more, “As I have mentioned many times before, Spiritual Truths appear contradictory. But it is not so. They may appear contradicting only at this level. When you see the situation from a Higher perspective, then, you see, there will be no contradictions. That’s why we take up Sadhana, Meditations. They lead us to Higher levels of understanding. From our level of logic and rationale, we cannot find all the answers.”

Many justify atheism by asking why God allows suffering in His Creation. In the context of the question Guruji was responding to, he answered by posing some painful and haunting questions. “Why should earthquake victims in Haiti suffer? Now they have cholera, will their problems ever end? Why did Aung San Suu Kyi languish for so many years? Why is Irom Sharmila still suffering? Why? Why should there be such injustices?” His voice echoed the pain he feels for those who suffer, “Ordinary people are just votes. We have to put up with so much. Why is cruelty and violence allowed in this world? Nature is so loving and beautiful, yet thousands die in floods? Even in our personal lives and in our surroundings there are many difficult questions.”

His defocused gaze showed that something from within him was surfacing; the truth about hope, I guess. “The answers we find at this level using our intellect are not satisfactory. So we have to rise above everything and see from a higher angle. It is then we see all the pieces of the jigsaw and how they fit together to make the pattern complete. That is why I insist that we have to meditate. Meditation is the doorway to the answers for these seemingly contradicting truths.”

“And yet,” he said looking at all of us, “here we are humans first. We go through different emotions of disappointments and hopelessness, and all such questions arise. This is natural. Every one of us, every thinking person who has his conscience operating will naturally think like this. Getting upset emotionally, feeling angry with this cruel system, etc are human experiences. We, the Divine beings, live on this earth as human beings and undergo various human emotions. We have to carry these rare experiences along with us when we leave for Higher planes.”

Amaraji had said – ‘Feeling a little jealous or angry is okay, it is an essential human experience.’ Again this cannot be taken out of context to justify strong negative emotions. Life is not lived by following simple logical truths and simple guidelines. There is so much more to understand. There are contradictions; and they are real, everything is real. I have learnt many such things in my life. This reminds me of what Guruji had told us once, “All rules are only guidelines.”

Someone from those gathered made a comment about how some people do bad things and ascribe it to God’s will.

“Many follow convenient philosophies. That’s why we have to have a lot of patience and also an open mind. We can never draw a line and say this is it. Sometimes similar problems have different solutions. That is why we need wisdom, a kind of Spiritual Intelligence which comes with Meditation. Again Meditation is only the beginning not the end. That is why our ancestors have very aptly described Sadhana as a journey, a never ending journey.”

As long as the influence of the Dark Age continues we will not be at peace with dynamism in applied Spiritual wisdom. Our intellect is not that expanded. Perhaps this is why Ascended Masters had given humanity a list of simple commandments to follow.

Mr. Sudhakar asked about the application part of awareness of our identity as souls living in human bodies. “Intellectually I understand that we are souls. But to actually feel and live like that, by silencing our system and being aware of stillness all the time is difficult.”

“That is a real challenge” Guruji said, “We have to live as ourselves. We are the souls in a human body which is a very good tool. Operate it, don’t allow this body, this system and ego to dominate you. That is why when our awareness enters stillness and becomes aware of the fact that you are the soul, you become the master. Then we begin living as souls and a whole new world opens up for us. A world we have forgotten. Be aware of your connection as a soul to God and operate it. Meditation heightens our awareness about this connection. Then life becomes Divine and we won’t be bound by negative emotions and thoughts; because the soul is always positive. We must go on understanding the Truths relating to us, this Creation, etc. Sadhana is a long journey which ends only when we reach our destination, Mukti - God Himself.”

Soaked in silence nobody spoke for a few minutes. After all we had received such esoteric knowledge in simple words. “All of us have become so serious” Guruji remarked, “as we continue to understand these Spiritual realities, it is also important to be aware of the ongoing this-worldly realities. Like for example, what is happening in North Korea? All of humanity is one, so concern for another is a Spiritual requirement. That is why we should know.” Yes, I thought to myself, know and channel Light to help the situation. Thanks to Guruji, we can now contribute to world peace.

Ms. Shruti, a young Human Resources professional and Mr. Sudhakar’s daughter asked Guruji about Angels, “Guruji, are Rishis the same as Angels? Western art depicts them with wings and other paraphernalia.”

Guruji: “Angels are different entities. They are also very benign beings. Rishis rose from the human level. Read the book - Descent of Soul. They exited Parabrahma Loka with us but maintained their connection with God and did not accumulate Karmas. They are our guides. Angels were created later. They are several types of angels. In Sanskrit, they are called Gandharvas, Kinnaras, Apsaras, etc and they come from different worlds. They help us by giving us comforts; they help us in reaching heaven. No doubt they are special but they cannot guide us spiritually. Only Ascended Masters can guide us back to God because they have a lot of Spiritual knowledge and energies whereas angels don’t. Westerners may not be aware of such details.”

In a recent Sunday Class Guruji had mentioned, that we have to burn our major Karmas in the next few months, after which the Rishis will guide us ahead. Then what about those who are not meditating or pursuing any Spiritual journey? This has been asked many times over, yet Guruji answered again.

“Everybody is contacted at the Astral level. They are guided to positivise. There is a lot of activity in the Astral world which is done under the supervision of Lord Kalki. Whether he appears or not, Lord Kalki is already working. Similarly, even the dark forces are working overtime. Even they have very powerful guides. In this cycle of time, as the finale approaches, the war between Light and Dark intensifies. That’s why, I say, be careful. They can inject negative thoughts into anybody. Remain aligned to the Rishis all the time. Do not entertain a single negative thought. Although we are in a protective shield, we often allow negative thoughts. And whenever this happens we puncture our shields. Again, just because a negative thought comes in don’t get alarmed. I have said repeatedly in the Classes, just meditate and positivise, sincerely and completely. That’s enough. Rishis take care of anything and everything. Don’t get alarmed but you must know about such things.” This must be the reason why Rishis have made strengthening our shields a daily practice.

The war at large will be won if the war within us, each of us, is won to start with. Guruji has equipped us with enough meditational techniques to succeed. Certainly there is light, or should I say the Light Age, at the end of the tunnel, but will the last segment of the tunnel by too dark for us to handle? Will we be rescued to a different dimension? Scenes from the Hollywood movie ‘Knowing’ starring Nicholas Cage comes to my mind. No matter how the Light Age dawns, it will do so for sure. In the meanwhile we have to work towards qualifying ourselves to become the first citizens of the Light Age.