What do you mean by ‘mind’?

Mind cannot be defined as can a worldly object. Mind is very subtle matter. It is partly physical and partly paraphysical. That’s why the mind has the capacity to go through a wall. It’s like a magnet - the magnet has a physical limit, but the force of the magnet has a wider range. The magnet is a piece of metal, but you can move a pin with it, can’t you? That means that it has a dimension, but its force extends beyond that dimension. The mind is more like the force of matter. Mind is like a negative magnetism. It is like the magnetic power of the body - the body is like the magnet and the power of the body is the mind. The magnet is solid but the magnetism is not solid; it can go through things. I could be sitting in a closed room, but the mind will go out. You have to control the mind, because it can go and roam about, but it can be used if you control it.Let me explain further. The mind is like a gate that stops everything, like the gates of a dam. When you open the gates, the water flows, and if the gate is closed, the water doesn’t flow. Water is the energy, but that energy is still be controlled by the gate, which is the mind. So without the mind, the energy simply flows and completely engulfs your life. But if the mind is there, the energy will be blocked. So if you actually want to have more experience, you won’t get more, you’ll get less, because of the mind. www.manavdharam.org

Once I get Knowledge, that’s it, isn’t it?

You plant a seed in the ground, you don’t plant a huge tree. Automatically, that small seed grows and becomes a tree. Spirituality, or the path of Knowledge, is not like a trip that you get into for may be three or four years. It is a way of life. Once you are initiated, then actually you have to live that life and evolve spiritually and finally merge into the infinite, because merging into the infinite is salvation. It’s like a sugar cube - the cube has length, breadth and height. Now, if you put it into water, what happens? the length dissolves, the breadth dissolves and the height dissolve. In the same way, these dimensions totally dissolve in infinity.

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Can you meditate while doing other things?

You can meditate 24 hours a day. You can actually go shopping and meditate at the same time. That’s feasible. Have you ever ridden a bicycle? Have you ever taken another person along with you? Now, you are pedalling, you are talking, you are balancing yourself, you ring the bell and look here and there. So many things are happening at the same time. But where’s your mind? It is on the road, your attention is on the road. In the same way, your organs could be doing what they are assigned to do - your eyes could be seeing, your mouth could be speaking, your ears could be listening - and at the same time, your mind could be in unison with God. Each organ has a different function, and the function of the mind is to meditate. You can think about your friend, your money, your business, and this thinking causes problems. So the best thing is to think about God, and be in the world, but not of the world. Jesus said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” The problem is, that we all know that God is within us, but we are not in God. Only through meditation do we go in God, merge in God. This is the climax of human life. www.manavdharam.org

Isn’t having a family, living a good life and trying to be a good person what life is all about?

Having a family, having a social life, having a job, having an education, all that adds up to a human life. But what is human life for? Ultimately, the answer is that it is for achieving total satisfaction.Take for example, the process of induction. Induction means, if we have a north pole, then automatically a south pole will be existing. If we have a south pole, then automatically we will have a north pole. That’s logic. In the same way, have a coil of wire, and if we pass electricity through that, then it becomes a transformer, it’s induced to a higher or a lower potential. In the same way, because we are south poles, we are automatically looking for a north pole. It has to be somewhere, and that north pole becomes the unknown factor, like a mysterious or mystical experience. So being in the physical world, we automatically project spirituality and recycle that, just as in a magnet the polarity, the magnetic force, oscillates from north pole to south pole and then back again. So we want to complete that cycle. That’s why we seek harmony between materialism and spirituality. Everyone wants mental peace and to be perfect in the world. You cannot say that a man is like a cog in a wheel or that man is like a robot - you cannot say that. Human beings are something more than that, because we have spirit, we have mind and that mind wants satisfaction. www.manavdharam.org

Is your effort determined by previous karmas?

Yes, by previous karmas and karmas which are present now. Listening to satsang is a karma. Now, if you are encouraged spiritually, if you get satsang, if you get your doubts removed, and you sit in meditation, apply all your energy and your mind becomes concentrated, then you’ll have a good experience. But see, meditation should be for the sake of meditation alone. Good experience comes when you don’t want anything. When you go above your wants, then you can have a good experience. www.manavdharam.org

HUMANITY DEFINES A HUMAN BEING

In this world, someone reads the Bhagavadgita daily, another reads the Ramayana, and still others read the Koran. Is it written in any religious scripture to fight in the name of religion, to kill your own brother? It is nowhere written, so why are we still fighting in the name of religion, community or rituals? That is why it is most essential to understand Spiritual Knowledge.

We see how chaos and disturbance has spread all around. We read in the daily newspapers how school children were kidnapped, or how a villager killed another man from another village, or of brothers fighting among themselves. Just think about how rampant vices and criminal activities are today!
Where did the terrorism originate that we see in society? Our great Masters and saints tell us that all these firstly appear in the mind of man. If we want to wipe out malice and disturbance of mind then we have to look within and bring forth true transformation. Only when turbulence and instability are wiped out from the mind, will malice and unrest be banished from our society. When we are upset mentally, then our nature automatically becomes irritated and we say bad things to someone and hurt his feelings. If bad and malicious feelings do not crop up in our mind, then we will never be angry. Our life has to become a source of inspiration.

Great divine personalities come into this world from time to time. We tell stories about them to our children, we recite verses from the Ramayana in our homes so that the next generation can learn how such Masters led through their great self-sacrifice. Today we all need this same guidance. If we want to eradicate the darkness of ignorance, then propagation of Spiritual Knowledge is most essential. Only when we understand this are we true human beings.
What does it mean to be a human being? One can be called a ‘human being' if there is ‘humanity' within him. Don't think that we are human beings just because we nurture and expand our family, because we have feelings of love and kindness for them. Animals also have this potential of nurturing their offspring with love and kindness. Animals also feel love. Then for what do we call ourselves human beings? What is the difference between a man and an animal? If we examine it, we find out that one lion does not kill another. He may fight with an elephant but not with his own species. Only humans kill other humans.
We have broken all the rules of Nature, so how can we call ourselves human beings? True humanity is when feelings of love and kindliness have developed so much within us that we care not only for our problems or grief but also for the problems and grief of others and try to solve those. By the grace of the Almighty we have got this human body which is rare even for deities. God has given us the power of reason with which we have been able to accomplish impossible tasks. With the power of reason, man has reached the Moon. So we should always utilize our reason for good and positive work.
One has to develop the inner urge to know what Spiritual Knowledge is. This is the first step, but ahead of this is a long road. We have to receive Spiritual Knowledge from the Master and do as much meditation as possible. Then, by and by, desire, anger, lust, temptation and ego will be eradicated from our minds. Only then will we be able to understand the importance of Spiritual Knowledge.
So let's find out what our true human religion is. Let go of deceit and cunning and follow the path of Spiritual Knowledge revealed by the true Master.
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How does a person overcome weakness?

Any weakness which a person has basically comes from the weakness of his mind. For example, if your stomach is not functioning properly, your body will get sick. In the same way, if your mind is not concentrated, if your mind is not getting the proper spiritual food, there will be weaknesses. So, directly and indirectly, when a person meditates, the meditation itself will removes all the weaknesses that he sees through introspection. Through Knowledge, one is contented in himself. Through meditation, all the desired results are achieved.For example, I am sitting in a car. Even though my vision, my power to see, is perfectly normal, if there is dust on the windscreen I cannot see properly. So what I do is, get out of the car, clean the windshield and then I can see properly. Likewise, right before a meditator are all his karmas on the windscreen. The karmas are simply there, clouding his vision. “Simply by shooting an arrow into the sky I can tie the sky into one bundle, but I cannot control this mind”, said Arjuna. His karmas were right there before him. That is why patience is necessary. If you have perfect concentration, you’ll have a perfect experience. If your concentration is lacking, you’ll have a different experience. It depends on your efforts. One day your effort is there and you have complete concentration. You put all your efforts there and you can concentrate. Effort itself is karma.

How can we actually see and know God for sure?

We have to break these three dimensions, because man is a three-dimensional being. If you go past these dimensions, then you can see. That is why the scriptures talk about being above, overcoming the sensory organs, mind and intellect. If you pass beyond them, if you overcome them, you can see God as God is. Otherwise, you’ll be perceiving God either with your intellect or with your mind, and trying to make God something which God is not. That is why the scriptures say that people have to go beyond mind and intellect, they have to transcend all the working organs and sensory organs (karmindriya and gyanindirya). Cross over them, jump over them and then experience God as God is. Otherwise, the experience of God will not be pure, it will be diluted. www.manavdharam.org

How can we know what is the proper balance in our lives? The more you meditate, the more balance you’ll have in life. A person who doesn’t meditate can’t understand that, but people who have done meditation understand that the more you meditate the more balance you get. You have worldly obligations, and you blend spirituality with them. You say, “I have to work this much for my living and this much action performed in the world will give me enough food and clothing, enough time for my spiritual practice.” I think that it is on the basis of the spiritual experience that you can balance yourself. It naturally happens. When you throw a log into the water it does not swim - it does not have the power to swim. It floats with the water. So in meditation you throw yourself into that stream of life, it picks you up and you can go with that. www.manavdharam.org