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An
swers to
Basic
Sp
iritual Q
uestio
ns
of S
adh
aks
Sw
ami S
han
tanan
da P
uri
Publisher :Parvatham
ma C.P. Subbaraju Setty Charitable Trust
# 13/8, Pampa M
aha Kavi RoadShankarapuram
, Bangalore - 560 004. : 6523011, 6678070
1
Q.1.O
n
wh
ich
sym
bo
l o
r G
od
sh
ou
ld
Im
editate? O
r wh
ich G
od sh
ould
I choose
for worsh
ip?
A.
Ultim
ately there is only one God
who is the
Self (Atm
an) of all and is form
less. As H
ispow
ers are infinite, He can also assum
e anyform
(say of Ram
, Christ, K
rishna, Siva, etc.)on
wh
ich th
e devotee con
ceives of Him
.T
hose forms of G
od are as real as the seeker.
The G
uru is the best judge to choose w
hichG
od you should
med
itate on, based on your
condition and
your sp
iritual constitu
tioninherited
from the past. In w
hatever form (or
formless) you w
orship, consider that H
e isyour ow
n Self and is the highest unlim
itedSuprem
e being who only takes and m
anifestsin
all the oth
er forms of G
ods. A
rough
formula for choice could
be in the following
priority :
1.Self (A
tman) or the Suprem
e Conscious
Being
<
ûm«r JU
{em`
Z_•<
ûm«r
JU{e
m` Z_•
<
ûm«r JU
{em`
Z_•<
ûm«r
JU{e
m` Z_•
<
ûm«r JU
{em`
Z_•
2.A
n In
finite G
od
with
ou
t form
and
without attributes (N
IRA
KA
RA
& N
IRG
UN
A)
3.A
Sup
reme fo
rmless G
od
with
allattributes of love, kind
ness, compassion
etc. (as in Christianity) (N
IRA
KA
RA
but
SAG
UN
A)
4.A
ny P
ersonal G
od w
ith form
(SIVA
,V
ISHN
U etc.) and
all attributes, according
to one’s own preference.
An
y one of th
ese will lead
ultim
ately toG
OD
-RE
AL
ISAT
ION
.
Q.2.W
hat is th
e differen
ce betw
een S
elf-realisatio
n (A
tma S
aksh
atkara), G
od
-realisatio
n
and
M
uk
ti o
r M
ok
sha
(liberation
)?
A.
There is no d
ifference at all. These are all
different term
inologies used to d
enote oneand the sam
e experience. By knowing the Self
or God
, one pu
ts an end to the ignorance
(Av
idy
a) wh
ich is th
e cause o
f on
e’ssufferings, sorrow
s and unhappiness in this
world and finds oneself in a state of perennial
Bliss. T
his state is called M
UK
TI or M
OK
SHA.
Th
e defin
ition an
d con
cept of M
ukti is
different in d
ifferent religions and system
sof philosophy (viz. Jainisim
, Bud
dhism
etc.).
23
Q.3.W
hat is Ign
orance an
d h
ow d
oes it cause
sorrows, su
fferings, lack
of peace of m
ind
,u
nh
app
iness etc.? H
ow can
we rem
ove it?
A.
Du
e to past cond
itioning, each individ
ual
iden
tifies him
self with
his b
ody
-min
dcom
plex. E
ven th
ough
he h
imself is th
eim
mortal Su
prem
e Con
sciousn
ess of the
nature of B
liss unlim
ited by T
ime, Sp
ace,O
bjects and C
ausation and not lim
ited by a
body, he su
perim
poses on him
self all thecharacteristics and
limitations of the bod
y-m
ind
comp
lex–viz., m
ortality or death
,agein
g, un
hap
pin
ess, relationsh
ip w
ithothers etc., and
becomes unhappy. T
his stateof w
rong identification of the Self w
ith thebod
y is called ignorance. B
y knowing the
Real Self i.e. w
ho we really are, w
e dispel the
ignorance.
For examp
le, in a room
wh
ere there are
different bulbs of different voltage–zero watt,
60 watt, 200 w
att & 1000 w
att, the bulbs ared
ifferent in colour, age, cap
acity and are
vulnerable to breakage (death).
Bu
t all these bulbs are fed
with only one
electric energy coming through a single set
of wires bu
t du
e to different cond
itioning(resistance) of each bu
lb, its manifestation
beco
mes m
ore o
r less. It is on
ly o
ne
continuous electric energy which pervad
esall bulbs. If the electricity in each bulb w
hichis ind
estructible were to id
entify itself with
the bulb and consid
er each one as separatefrom
the other, the zero watt w
ill become
jealous of the 1000 watt, the bulb w
hich isold
er in age may d
islike younger bulb, all ofthem
will think that they w
ill also die on the
day the bulb breaks or fuses and
the bulbs ofind
igenous origin will d
islike the bulbs ofim
ported origin etc. T
hus as a result of theignorance of its real nature, the electricity inthe bulbs und
ergoes miseries and
sorrows.
Th
e same h
olds good
for hu
man
beings
identifying w
ith their bodies.
Meditation on the Lord is the m
ost efficaciousm
ethod for rem
oving ignorance.
45
Q.4.Is a G
uru
necessary? C
an w
e not p
roceedon
this p
ath on
our ow
n w
ith th
e help
ofb
ooks etc.?
A.
Wh
en th
is question
was p
ut to R
aman
aM
aharsh
i, he q
uip
ped
– “Is a mo
ther
necessary for a child?” H
e himself clarified
elsewhere as follow
s:
The real G
uru is God
or your own Self, w
horesides in the heart. Except aspirants in a veryhigh stage of evolution (w
ho also may have
had G
urus in their past lives), most of the
aspirants will not be able to take guid
ancefrom
the internal Guru, the Self. So G
od, in
His G
race takes pity on the loving devotee
and m
anifests Him
self as a Guru in a hum
anform
according to the d
evotees’ standard
s.Even though the external G
uru is God or Self-
incarn
ate wh
o work
s from w
ithin
, the
devotee thinks initially that he is a m
an. Each
individual has got different conditioning and
requires different hand
ling and guid
ance insad
hana suited to his constitution w
hich abook cannot give. O
n the contrary, the books,our scriptures, if not properly interpreted
inthe light of real experience could
result inchaos and
confusion.
67
Q.5.H
ow sh
all I find
a prop
er Gu
ru w
ho w
illgu
ide m
e? Can
I chan
ge my G
uru
if the first
one d
ies or if I find
a more b
rilliant an
daccep
table G
uru
sub
sequ
ently? If I fin
d th
atm
y Gu
ru is a h
ypocrite or a rogu
e ind
ulgin
gin
sex and
fraud
, can I ab
and
on h
im?
A.
When once w
e increase our longing for God
to a volcanic exten
t and
pray to G
od to
provide us w
ith a Guru, w
e will d
efinitelyget the proper G
uru. In addition we m
ay alsogo for Satsan
gs and
find
out am
ong th
eM
ahatmas w
e come across w
hether there isanybod
y who is w
ell-versed in scriptu
res,d
esireless and
selfless, lackin
g in
ego,
hum
ble, shunning m
oney, sex, name and
fame, w
ith an
equ
al visio
n an
d o
ther
qu
alification
s as describ
ed in
V
IVE
KA
CH
UD
AM
AN
I by AD
I SAN
KA
RA
. Wh
en ou
rlonging for G
od becom
es deep and
intense,the G
uru will w
alk into our life.
As the Sad
guru in external form is verily the
Self, the guidance w
ill continue to pour even
after the external Guru ceases to exist in his
body. No G
uru can be expected to live as longas w
e live.
As the G
uru chosen once is verily the God
-incarnate and
he is not the human bod
y, thequestion of aband
oning him at any stage and
for any reason whatsoever, d
oes not arise.E
ven if he turns out to be a bad person, so
long as he has given you a path or a Mantra
(sacred syllable) recognised in scriptures, youm
ay continue to go on the path directed
andall guid
ance will flow
from w
ithin. Further,it is said
that one gets the Guru one d
eserves.If the G
uru is a sinful man, he m
ay perhapsgo to h
ell but th
e discip
le need
not be
concerned about it.
89
Q.6.I h
ave some vagu
e inclin
ation tow
ards G
od.
It is all luk
ewarm
. I do n
ot feel inclin
ed to
read an
y book
s on religion
or spiritu
alityas I fin
d th
em con
fusin
g and
sometim
esm
utu
ally co
ntrad
ictory
. Ho
w sh
ou
ld I
proceed
?
A.
You have to increase your longing for G
odtill it becom
es an agony and a torture. For
that purpose you should go often for Satsang
i.e. seek the company of evolved
souls, holym
en an
d d
evotees of a high
order. T
he
Satsang could be in the form of bhajans, nam
asm
aranam (taking lou
dly the nam
e of theL
ord), d
iscourses, qu
estions and answ
ersetc., and
sometim
e the Mahatm
a may sim
plybe sitting quiet in silence, m
utely radiating
his vibrations. In case you do not get such a
holy company, you m
ay read books of non-
controversial saints (their talks and gospel
and not books originally w
ritten by theird
isciples) like Ram
akrishna Paramaham
sa,B
hagavan
Ram
ana, Y
ogi Au
robind
o, Ma
Anand
amayee etc., books containing their
biograph
ies and
autobiograp
hies, books
relating
to th
e dev
otees o
f yo
re like
Kabir D
as, Tu
lsi Das an
d M
eera; Bh
aktaV
ijayam, and
also Srimad
Bhagavatam
, Ram
Charit M
anas of Tulsi D
as etc. These w
ill alsobe consid
ered as Satsang. In your spare tim
e,you can also d
o some selfless social service
like h
elpin
g th
e blin
d, old
patien
ts inhospitals and
old age hom
es, collecting anddistributing old clothes and bread to the poorin slum
areas etc. This w
ill purify the heartso that further path w
ill become clearer to
you in due course.
1011
Q.7.W
hy d
o we n
eed G
od? W
here d
oes He
reside? H
ow can
we get H
im?
A.
Ev
eryb
od
y
wan
ts to
h
ave
un
limited
hap
pin
ess and
to elimin
ate all sorrows,
miseries, sufferings etc., from
his life. God
isthe Super Bazar w
here alone you get genuinehappiness.
As w
e have stated in an earlier answ
er, allth
ese sorrows etc., are as a resu
lt of not
knowing ou
r own Self i.e. w
ho we are in
reality. Self is the key to our happiness andthat Self is called
God
. Du
e to our w
rongid
entification with the bod
y, a comm
on man
cannot easily be convinced that he is the
Imm
ortal Infinite Self, the very existence,w
ho is all Bliss w
hile he is experiencing oldage, d
iseases, death and
sufferings in his
everyday life. So the Self is conceived
by himas a G
od external to him
residing in som
eunseen D
ivine regions, who w
ill help andrelease him
from his m
iseries. Those w
ho arenot able to conceive of and
search for theirow
n self and w
ho continue to consider the
world
as separate from their ow
n self haveto take recou
rse to the G
od w
ho is th
e
controller and p
rotector of the world
(asev
ery sy
stem w
orkin
g in
an org
anised
manner should
have a controller). As it is the
all-powerful and
all-pervading Self w
hich isim
agining itself as a separate God
, the Self iscap
able o
f takin
g th
ose fo
rms also
ascon
ceived
by th
e dev
otees. Fin
ally, by
seeking God
, the man seeks his ow
n Self andgets G
od-realisation.
The personal god
s with form
and attributes,
being the manifestations of the very Self,
should not be consid
ered as a concession to
the ignorant because they are also ultimately
as real as the form
less. Accord
ing to Sri
Ram
akrishna, they are the two sid
es of thesam
e coin.
The regions like K
ailash or Vaikunta w
herethe personal god
s are supposed to resid
e areall as real as this w
orld and
can be seen ind
ifferent planes of consciousness.
To realise God or Self, there are infinite paths.
Med
itation, P
rayers, Devotion
and
Self-en
quiry are som
e of the m
ore comm
ond
evices to get God
-realisation.
1213
Q.8.W
hat is m
editation
and
how
does it d
ifferfrom
prayers? H
ow sh
ould
I do m
editation
?
A.
Accord
ing to a Mahatm
a, when you talk to
the Lord
and H
e listens, it is prayer. When
He talks an
d you
listen in
silence, it is
Med
itation.
There are readym
ade prayers as in the ShantiM
antras of Upanishad
s and various Stotras
(hymns of p
raises) in Pu
ranas and those
comp
osed by
saints of rep
ute lik
e Ad
iSankara. O
ne could
also talk to God
andpraise H
im in one’s ow
n word
s.
Med
itation is defined
in various ways by
different m
asters. Continuously fixing the
attention of the mind
on a single thing, sayG
od,
and
holding
on to
that thought
without
breaking the
continuity is
med
itation1. It is called
Dhyana in Sanskrit.
It is the art of raising the intensity of ourinw
ard consciousness so as to m
erge with
the ultimate A
bsolute Divinity. T
here arenum
erous established
w
ays of
doing
med
itation, apart from those being d
evisednew
ly by the mod
ern masters. E
ven Japaand
sincere
prayers d
one w
ith an
emotional upsurge lead
s to med
itation andfinally
to Sam
adhi
(the Super-conscious
state). One m
ay take any symbol like ‘O
M’
and concentrate on that sound
. One m
ayim
agine the
form
of one’s
favouritepersonal G
od and
concentrate on each partof H
is body starting from
the nails and toes
of the Lord
’s feet and going up to the hairs
on His head
(known as [mXmoXH{$e
Ü`mZ§) andfinally
on H
is entire
form.
There
arem
ethods of concentrating on the L
ord in
the form of the entire universe (Sun and
the Moon being his eyes etc.) know
n asodídê$[
Ü`mZ§ (m
editation
on the
cosmic
form). It is the G
uru who should
guide you
in the type of med
itation suitable for you.
1415
1 VÌ àË``¡H$VmZVm Ü`mZ§
Q.9.W
hat is D
iksh
a or Initiation
? How
does it
help
?
A.
In the traditional w
ay, whenever a G
uru isap
proach
ed by a seeker or asp
irant, th
eform
er gives him a M
antra (sacred syllables)
relating to th
e latter’s favou
rite (Ishta)
personal G
od or im
personal (rarely). T
hisprocess is called
diksha or initiation. In this
process th
ere is a subtle tran
sference of
po
wer to
the d
isciple an
d th
e Man
trabecom
es a link th
rough
wh
ich th
e Gu
rubegins to look after his sp
iritual w
elfare.A
ctually speaking, if the disciple continues
to d
o th
e Japa (rep
eated recitatio
n o
rchanting), his ow
n dorm
ant spiritual powers
begin to be awakened
. There are also various
other kinds of D
ikshas, through the eye,
through touch etc.
Q.10.W
hat actu
ally is a Man
tra and
how
is itsJap
a to be d
one? H
ow d
oes it help
in th
esp
iritual p
rogress?
A.
Sages (Rishis) of yore, after a lot of sad
hanaand
purification of their mind
, used to get
certain sacred
syllables (say OM
NA
MA
HSIV
¡Y
A) through inspiration from G
od. They
contin
ued
to recite them
for years fromm
ornin
g to n
igh
t, keep
ing
their m
ind
concentrated on them
and consid
ering theM
antras as the very manifestation of G
od as
soun
d en
ergy and
finally got th
e direct
vision of their respective god
s, ultim
atelyleading to Self-realisation. These M
antras areconsid
ered as secret and
are contained in
texts (like MA
NT
RA
MA
HO
DA
DH
I) which form
part of Mantra Sastra (scriptures relating to
Mantras), in T
antric texts and in P
uranas
also. Each M
antra is to be accompanied
bycertain specific purificatory and
preparatoryrites called A
nganyasa, Karanyasa, C
hantingof R
ishi, Chandas, D
evata etc. These Mantras
beco
me effectiv
e on
ly w
hen
they
arecom
municated through the m
outh of a Guru
(Gurum
ukha) and not if practised by reading
1617
them from
a book or text. The continuous
Japa can lead to m
editation, cessation of the
mind
and even u
p to the Sam
adhi stage
which results in G
od-realisation.
Fo
r Jap
a p
urp
oses,
certain
sects in
Christianity use “Jesus, have m
ercy on us,”as a m
antra. Similarly, hym
ns from ‘Jap Ji’
of GU
RU
NA
NA
K D
EV
are also used by som
eas M
antras. If done w
ith Faith, these are alleffective.
From each syllable of a M
antra, a particularenergy em
anates each of which is capable of
eliminating a particular type of vasana and
pu
rifying th
e min
d. For in
stance K
leem(som
e pronounce it as Kleeng) is called K
¡M
AB
EE
JA and is capable of granting all righteousd
esires and finally d
estroying all the vasanasof d
esires including sexual passion and
lust.
In mod
ern days, m
any of the Ashram
s arein the habit of m
anufacturing new m
antrasbased
on the name of the respective G
urusw
ho founded
the Ashram
s (normally after
the d
eath of th
e Gu
ru), th
rough
wh
ichd
isciples are initiated. T
here are also Gurus
who are not aw
are of Mantra Sastras bu
tsim
ply make up som
e mantras on their ow
n(w
ith impure and
wrong pronunciation of
words) or by reading som
e way-side popular
book series giving some m
antras (existingand
non-existing) with a lot of gram
matical
mistakes.
There are a number of rules relating to the
process of doing Japa which the G
uru revealsat the tim
e of initiation.
1819
Q.11. W
hat is ‘N
AM
AS
MA
RA
NA
M’?
A.
Constant rem
embrance of G
od is the key to
God
-realisation. All p
eople irresp
ective ofcaste, creed or sex (including those w
ho havenot been initiated
by any Guru) can go on
reciting mentally or loudly the nam
e or seriesof nam
es of God
e.g.
(1)R
AM
(2)H
AR
E K
RISH
NA
HA
RE
KR
ISHN
AK
RISH
NA
KR
ISHN
A H
AR
E H
AR
E
(3)H
AR
I OM
(4)SR
I RA
M JA
I RA
M JA
I JAI R
AM
This is N
AM
A SM
AR
AN
AM
.
While Japas are governed
by a set of rulesan
d
cann
ot
be
do
ne
any
wh
ere an
deveryw
here, taking the name of the L
ord can
be don
e wh
ile travelling in
buses, w
hile
walking and even in toilet or bathroom
. Here
also from the syllables form
ing the names,
Divin
e energies em
anate w
hich
help
inelim
inating our conditioning (vasanas) and
in raising our level of consciousness. If done
with
ded
ication
and
inten
se dev
otio
nN
amasm
aranam
is consid
ered to be as
effective as Japa or m
editation. E
ven fortaking the nam
e, if it is given by a Guru, it
can be more effective.
There are also scriptural texts containing 108
or 300 or 1000 names of each G
od e.g. SIV
AA
SH
TO
TT
AR
AM
, LA
LIT
A T
RIS
HA
TI, V
ISH
NU
SAH
ASR
A N
AM
A ST
OT
RA
M etc. T
he regular
recitation of these hymns of G
od’s names can
also be categorised u
nder nam
asmaran or
prayers. In the case of certain Stotras (hymns)
like Vishnu
Sahasra Nam
a, they are alsotreated
as Japa if d
on
e with
all the
preparatory Nyasa, Sakti, K
eelakam etc.
2021
Q.12.
Wh
at are prayers?
A.
Prayers are in effect talking to God
. Prayerscan take any one of the follow
ing forms:
Praise of G
od and
His glories or seeking
material favours like prom
otion, getting ajob or a son or m
oney etc. or seeking spiritualfavours like pure d
evotion, destruction of
wron
g cond
itionin
g (vasanas) etc. H
ereagain, one m
ay recite set prayers written in
the Vedas, Bible, Puranas or Stotras (hym
ns)w
ritten by great saints like Ad
i Sankara,V
edanta D
esika, Valm
iki, etc. or talk to theL
ord sp
ontaneously in one’s ow
n word
sabout one’s ow
n problems in fam
ily, daily
life, office or in m
editation
and
other
spiritual aspects.
Sri Ram
akrishna Paramaham
sa, Paramhansa
Yogananda, etc., used to talk to G
od daily.The book “Letters from
Brother Lawrence”
or “Practising the presence of God” used to
be recomm
ended by Swam
i Vivekananda.
Prayers can be done as a separate sad
hanabu
t if they are done in com
bination with
Japa, Nam
asmaran and
Sw¢dhy¢ya (stud
y ofscriptures and
allied texts) they w
ill be more
effective.
Th
ose w
ho
are con
stitutio
nally
mo
reem
otional and those w
ho find them
selvesunable to sit in Japa or m
editation w
ill findprayers as an easy m
ethod to keep the m
inden
gag
ed
in
Go
d
and
to
d
evelo
pconcentration.
2223
Q.13. D
urin
g med
itation or Jap
a, my m
ind
never
remain
s still even for a m
omen
t. As m
any
times as I resolve to b
ring th
e min
d b
ackto G
od an
d con
centrate, it slip
s away an
dis b
usy w
ith variou
s thou
ghts relatin
g tow
orldly affairs. W
hat sh
all I do to con
trolth
e min
d so th
at it can con
centrate on
God
?
A.
This is a problem
which is com
mon to 99%
of the Sadhaks (seekers or asp
irants). InBhagavad G
ita also, this very question is putto Sri K
rishna by Arjuna.
For births and births m
ost of us have beenengaged
all our life in w
orldly affairs, in
running a family life, profession or business,
the social life, politics etc. Even in this life,
after having come to know
of the spiritualpath, out of 24 hours in a d
ay, even retiredpeople spend
barely 1 to 2 hours for God
while rest of the tim
e is spent in seeing T.V
.,in looking after the health of self and
family
mem
bers, atten
din
g so
cial fun
ction
s,read
ing newspapers, sports, politics, going
to club etc. When all our life is engaged
inw
orldly m
atters it is but natural that even
wh
en you
sit for med
itation, th
e min
dco
ntin
ues to
revo
lve aro
un
d w
orld
lym
atters.
As per G
ita, “The m
ind of those people w
hoare engaged
in continuou
s activities andw
allow
ing
or en
gag
ed in
riches an
denjoym
ent of sense objects can never bem
ade to rem
ain quiescent.”2
Accord
ing to Lord
Krishna, the only m
eansto control the m
ind are ‘repeated
practice’(A
bhyasa) and “D
ispassion” i.e. complete
detach
men
t from
all wo
rldly
ob
jects(V
airagya). There is no other short cut. W
eh
ave to d
evelop
an all-con
sum
ing an
dunsw
erving love and devotion towards G
od(for w
hich we have to pray to G
od regularly
and sincerely) and
a complete ind
ifferenceand
lack of interest or attraction toward
s allw
orldly objects viz. accumulation of m
oney,
2425
2^m{J¡œ`©àgº$mZm§ V`m[öVM{Vgm_²$&ì`dgm`mpË_H$m ]woÕ• g_mYm¡ Z odYr`V{$&&(G
ita II - 44)
name and
fame, attachm
ent to wife, son and
family, ind
ulgence in sex, interest in sports,p
olitical affairs, so
cial activities etc.
Secon
dly
, w
heth
er th
e m
ind
g
etsconcentrated
or not, one should not leave
off med
itation or Japa. Any num
ber of times
the mind
goes wand
ering, one should bring
it back to Japa, God
etc., patiently again andagain. It cou
ld take years or even births
before we cou
ld su
cceed bu
t we have to
pursue this path untiringly. One d
ay Lord
’sG
race would
descend
and Sam
adhi w
ouldresu
lt, leadin
g one to G
od-R
ealisationultim
ately.
Q.14. E
ven th
ough
I have h
ad in
itiation from
aG
uru
and
am p
ractising Jap
a, med
itationan
d V
airagya, I contin
ue to b
e assailed b
ysexu
al thou
ghts an
d im
pu
lses of passion
and
lust from
time to tim
e. Som
etimes I
have to in
du
lge in sex an
d even
otherw
iseI lik
e to b
e in th
e com
pan
y o
f yo
un
gw
omen
. How
can I get over th
is?
A.
K¡
MA
VA
SA
NA
i.e. sexual attractio
n is
extremely d
ifficult to be quelled and
evensaints and
sages have fallen a prey to it
during their Sad
hana days. It is the grace of
God
and G
uru alone which can com
pletelyan
nih
ilate this v
asana. T
he fo
llow
ing
method
s could be used
:
1.Intensify Japa and
med
itation.
2.D
aily weep before G
od in private and
pray to Him
sincerely for His grace.
3.A
vo
id
readin
g
all n
ewsp
apers,
mag
azines,
fiction
an
d
bo
ok
s o
fsensational stories relating to sex.
4.A
void the company of those people w
hoind
ulge in sexual talks.
2627
5.A
void the com
pany of the opposite sexespecially w
hen alone even if they aregood
devotees of G
od d
oing sadhana
and get out of such com
pany with som
eexcuse.
6.T
ry to go to Satsangs, particip
ate inB
hajans and cultivate the com
pany ofholy m
en who are highly evolved
.
7.T
alk to your Guru (if he is a m
ature andevolved
soul) and som
e of them could
help you
with a sp
ecial Mantra or a
Bijakshara (a single syllable) w
hich isspecific for this vasana.
8.R
ead
the
auto
bio
grap
hies
and
biographies of old and
latest saints likeT
uka Ram
, Jnaneswar, Purand
ara Das,
Nam
Dev, R
amakrishna Param
ahamsa,
Bhagavan R
amana, etc. d
aily.
9.M
any suggest that one should look at
the other sex as one’s own m
other orfather as the case m
ay be. In most cases,
in practice, this theoretical advice fails.
Continuous and
regular prayer to God
to rid one of this vasana is the best but
it should be com
bined w
ith the rest ofthe m
ethods suggested
above.
10.Accord
ing to some, the d
aily reading of
LA
LIT
A S
AH
AS
RA
NA
MA
ST
OT
RA
and
VISH
NU
SAH
ASR
AN
AM
A ST
OT
RA also (if
possible) h
as been fou
nd
extremely
beneficial.
11.As early as possible or soon after the
sexual th
ough
ts have su
bsided
eachtim
e, sit quietly and look at the mere fact
that your m
ind w
as fully engaged
insexual thoughts. Just look at the fact fora few
min
utes d
aily as a w
itness,
without any criticism
or judgem
ent asto how
bad it w
as, withou
t any self-accu
sation
o
r g
uilt
feeling
,retrospectively. If d
one regularly aftereach tim
e, this method
would
prove tobe very effective.
2829
Q.15. W
hat is P
RARABDHA
or destin
y on accou
nt
of past action
s? Is our en
tire life pre-
destin
ed in
clud
ing G
od-realisation
? Wh
atis th
e role of self effort and
free will? H
owd
oes Prarab
dh
a differ from
Vasan
as (past
latent ten
den
cies)?
A.
Even scientifically, every action m
ust havea reaction (N
ewton’s law
of motion). In the
same w
ay if we d
o any bad action in this
birth, w
e cann
ot get away w
ith it. T
he
punishment for the past bad
action or therew
ard for th
e past good
action w
ill bem
eted out by the L
ord in the next birth and
we
hav
e to
exp
erience
them
. T
he
punishment in the form
of disease, cancer,
bereavement, loss of property or reputation
etc., give us sorrows w
hile the reward
s likebeing born in an afflu
ent family, getting
unexpected fortunes etc., give us joy. T
hisprocess of reaping the result of past actionsis called
Prarabdha and
it cannot be avoided
even though its severity can be mitigated
byprayers, grace of a M
ahatma etc. In each life,
a portion is only destined
which com
es inth
e form of even
ts and
hap
pen
ings. In
respect of the balance portion, fresh and newactions are perform
ed (theoretically througha free w
ill) which becom
e the Prarabdha for
the next birth and so on so that a continuous
chain of births and d
eaths is forged.
Apart from
the reaction it creates in the formof P
rarabdha or d
estiny, every action hasanother second
ary effect. Every action (say
going to tem
ples, stealin
g somebod
y’sm
oney, going to horse-race or casino) leavesan im
pression in our sub-conscious mind
.T
his im
pressio
n is called
vasan
a or
cond
itionin
g. Th
is imp
ression creates a
tendency to rep
eat the action again andagain and
thus tries to influence our action.T
he more the num
ber of times an action (say
praying to God
) is repeated, stronger that
particular vasana becomes. T
he mind
alongw
ith all th
e vasan
as emb
edd
ed g
oes
alongwith the subtle bod
y to the body of the
subsequent births. Whenever w
e decid
e tod
o a particular action, the various vasanasin
trud
e and
try to influ
ence ou
r min
dtow
ards either d
oing it or not doing it or
doing som
e other alternative action. There
3031
will be a conflict of vasanas and
the strongerone w
hose impression is deeper due to m
orerepetition w
ill win the d
ay and w
e will act
as dictated
by that vasana. Vasanas m
ay bebad
e.g. greed, anger, lust, d
esire to murd
eror steal etc., or vasanas m
ay be good e.g.
helping others, forgiveness, giving charityetc. By succum
bing to these vasanas without
using our reason and knowledge w
e become
weak. So even though w
e have a free will,
we d
o not use it but we feel a prey to the
comp
elling v
asanas. V
asanas are m
eread
visers and theoretically w
e may use our
own free w
ill without heed
ing the advice of
the vasanas. We are like those G
overnors ofStates w
ho, in their weakness are com
pletelyg
uid
ed b
y th
eir adv
isers and
are no
tprepared
to assert their own free w
ill. These
vasanas are not unavoid
able. Unlike the
Prarabdha, the vasanas can be uprooted andself-efforts m
ade to go on the spiritual path.
An actor’s every action and
dialogue in a
dram
a or cin
ema are co
mp
letely p
re-d
estined accord
ing to the script of the storybu
t while acting on the stage as p
er thescript, he has every freed
om or free w
ill to
keep his mind
on his house and think of his
wife and
children. Sim
ilarly, even while life
is patterned on pre-d
estiny, there is nothingto prevent us from
keeping our mind on G
odand
mentally m
editate on H
im and
pray toH
im. It only requires our self effort to d
irectour m
ind to G
od.
3233
Q.16.H
ow can
we rem
ove the b
ad vasan
as?
A.
Th
eoretically it can be d
one by su
per-
imp
osing good vasanas bu
t in practice it
becomes im
possible more often.
Guru’s grace is capable of rem
oving all thebad
vasanas. Similarly prayers to G
od are
equally effective.
Each tim
e a bad vasana propels your m
indto d
o a bad action–say p
laying cards for
stakes or playing dice, fight against it. D
elayor postpone that action and
try to do som
eother action. Finally, d
espite all your efforts,you m
ay succumb to your vasanas. It d
oesnot m
atter. If you continue to fight againstyou
r bad vasan
as every time, in
spite of
successive failures, each time your free w
illgets strengthened
little by little so that a day
will ultim
ately daw
n when you w
ill be ableto
exercise yo
ur free w
ill un
imp
eded
overcoming the vasanas.
Occasional fasting, resorting to silence for a
day every w
eek or for a few hours everyd
ayand
breathing exercises called Pranayam
aare all very helpful.
The m
ethod of looking at the vasanas, soon
after succu
mbin
g to them
, imp
artiallyw
ithout judgem
ent or criticism as d
etailedin
meth
od 11 of an
swer to qu
estion 14
regarding quelling of sexual thoughts and
impulses hold
s good in this case too.
3435
Q.17. H
ow can
we k
now
wh
ether w
e have got
God
or Self-realisation
?
A.
In the case of an individ
ual w
ho is Self-realised, the lim
ited I or ego identifying with
a particular body no longer rem
ains as it hasm
erged
in
th
e Su
prem
e C
osm
icC
onsciousness covering the entire cosmos
and beyond
. He has no bod
y-sense left eventhough an onlooker looks at him
as a formw
ith a body. A
s the Self or Atm
an is selfaw
are and as it is alw
ays ever liberated(N
ITY
A M
UK
TA) and
ever enlightened (N
ITY
AB
UD
DH
A), the idea that I am
Self-realised or
I am not Self-realised
never arises in himw
ho is no longer linked to this bod
y. These
questions arise only to an ignorant m
ind.
Anyone w
ho thinks that he is Self-realisedcan
not be a realised
soul. M
any of th
esad
haks, at various stages of sadhana, fall
into a delusion that they are Self-realisied
and others also get d
eluded
by them. If you
go and ask a rope w
hich was m
istaken inthe dusk for a snake and subsequently foundto be a rope w
hether it has now realised
itsn
ature (Sw
aroopa) an
d g
ot out of th
e
delu
sion, it will only lau
gh and exclaim
“What are you talking? I had
always been a
rope. Where is the question of realisation?”
So, one h
as to go on w
ith h
is sadh
ana
indefinitely till all bod
y-sense disap
pears
com
pletely
an
d
the
Atm
an
beco
mes
manifest in its Self-aw
areness.
3637
Q.18. W
hat is E
go or ‘I’ and
how
does it h
armu
s? How
can it b
e removed
?
A.
Whenever an ind
ividual says “I have taken
my lunch” or “I gave a talk”, he id
entifiesh
imself w
ith h
is bod
y-m
ind
comp
lex.A
ctually every ind
ividu
al consists of two
units of opposite characteristics – one theso
ul o
r the Self w
hich
is un
attached
,im
mortal and
changeless and the other the
body w
hich is subject to birth and
death,
decay an
d all oth
er chan
ges. Wh
ile the
bodies are d
ifferent, the Self is only one andp
ervades all bein
gs. Du
e to the w
rong
iden
tification w
ith th
e body
, the joy
s,sorrow
s, diseases, birth and
death and
allchanges are superim
posed on the self w
hichis thus subject to all sufferings and
miseries.
The ind
ividual begins to think that he is the
doer of all actions and
that he experiencestheir results–good
or bad–lead
ing to joy orsorrow
. In a w
orkshop
wh
ere there are
different m
achines, it is the one electricityw
hich activates all the machines to d
o theirrespective jobs and
the machines have no
right to consider them
selves as the doers.
Furth
er, wh
en th
e one Self reflected
ind
ifferent bodies id
entifies itself with the
body, then it begins to consid
er each body
or things as different from
himself resulting
in likes and d
islikes and concepts of friend
sand
foes and consequent calam
ities.
If once we realise that w
e are not the doers
and it is the one God or Self w
ho is activatingall, w
e have no right to the results of actions.T
hen neither virtue (Punya) nor sin (Papa)w
ill accrue to us from these actions. T
herew
ill be no likes or dislikes, no tem
ptation orattach
men
t and
no con
flicts with
other
peo
ple. T
his is th
e stage o
f com
plete
surren
der to
Go
d, w
here th
e ego
iselim
inated. T
he ego also gets comp
letelyannihilated
by constant Self-enquiry as to“W
ho am
I?” as advocated
by Ram
ana
Maharshi.
3839
Q.19. A
ccordin
g to Bu
dd
hists, u
ltimately th
ereis n
o Self or S
oul or G
od an
d it is all a void
,a n
othin
g (Soon
ya). Wh
y can’t w
e accept
it?
A.
Only those w
ho have experienced or seen
themselves w
hether there is a God
or notand
whether it is all void
have a right toassert that fact. N
obody could
say ‘I haveseen–it is all void’ because so long as the seer(one w
ho has seen) exists how could
therebe a void
? The seer w
as there. A w
itnessonce told
a judge in a court that at the tim
eof the m
urder nobod
y was present in that
room. The judge shot back a question– “H
owd
o you know that nobod
y was there unless
you were yourself present in that place?”
The sam
e is the case here. On the contrary,
ever so many H
indu and
Christian saints
had personal experience of G
od or Self. T
hescriptures as also so m
any books are repletew
ith
such
in
stances.
Ram
akrish
na
Paramaham
sa and B
hagawan R
amana are
instances of recent past of people who have
had G
od-experience.
Even B
udd
ha is stated to have refused
toco
mm
ent
either
way
w
hen
h
e w
asspecifically asked
whether there w
as a Soulor G
od, as it is not som
ething to be takenfor granted
on the authority of somebod
y’sconfirm
ation but has to be affirmed
by one’sow
n experience after sadhana.
Even in our scriptures like ‘Devi K
alottaram’
there is m
entio
n o
f vo
id (So
on
ya o
rM
ahaso
on
ya). T
hat o
nly
represen
ts ap
articular higher stage of consciou
snessw
here all the things known to us includ
ingthe entire w
orld ceases to exist in the form
known to u
s, which has been term
ed as
‘Void
’.
4041
Q.20. S
ome p
eople say th
at merely read
ing or
reciting
blin
dly
the B
hag
avad
Gita,
Up
anish
ads, G
uru
Ban
i (of Sik
hs) etc. is
of n
o u
se, un
less we u
nd
erstand
the
mean
ing an
d ad
opt th
em in
practice.
A.
Any sad
hana done w
ith faith and d
evotionw
ill lead us to G
od ultim
ately. It is the faith(srad
dha) w
hich really counts. In all thescriptures like Srim
ad B
hagavatam, V
ishnuSahasranam
a Stotram
etc.,
it is
clearlym
entioned that all those w
ho read or hear
even a very small part of it (even a part of
a stanza) get untold benefits both in their
material and
spiritual life. If we und
erstandthe m
eaning also, no doubt its effectiveness
will be m
ore ( dr©̀dÎma§ ^doV). B
ecause of thevibrations em
anating from the w
ords, each
syllable of which is an energy capsule, the
readers and
listeners will be raised
, in due
course, to a higher level of consciousness.E
ven in the west, in the churches, all the
masses and
prayers used to be cond
uctedin
the L
atin language
which
was
notknow
n to many and
similarly, in Ind
ia,
most of the poojas (w
orship) and prayers
are conducted
in Sanskrit language.
Further, the level of consciousness and our
fitness for
higher spiritual
experiencesincrease only w
hen our body and
mind
hasa prepond
erance of satwa guna ( light,
harmony and
love). Our bod
y is mad
e upof five basic elem
ents viz. earth, water, fire
etc., which are all of either T
amo G
una orR
ajo G
una except
Space (A
kasa) w
hichalone is of Satw
a Guna. Just as earth has the
quality of smell, w
ater of taste, fire of formetc., the essential quality of space is sound(e
ãXJwUH$_mH$me
_²). Hence the m
ore the soundof such holy and
religious texts goes in andis
absorbed
by the
body,
the A
kasaconstituent in the bod
y increases resultingin increase of Satw
a Guna. So long as w
hileread
ing or hearing these texts the mind
isengaged
in thoughts of God
, one has toevolve
to higher
stages. C
onstantrem
embrance of G
od is the key to G
od-
realisation and anything w
hich helps in itis an effective sad
hana.
4243
Q.21. Is ren
oun
cing th
e family an
d w
orldly life
and
becom
ing a san
nyasi (m
onk
) essential
for God
-Realisation
?
A.
While in fam
ily and w
orldly life, if one can
do intense sad
hana under the guid
ance ofan evolved
Guru, one can d
efinitely reach avery high level of spiritual progress. T
hereare m
any such instances of hou
seholder-
saints e.g. Tuka R
am. W
hat is essential isd
oin
g all o
ur actio
ns in
life with
ou
tattach
men
t, remain
ing
establish
ed in
absolute celibacy (B
rahmacharya N
ishta)and
without any d
esires or attachment for
any world
ly object including the fam
ily. He
should be bereft of likes and
dislikes and
should have no reactions to any happenings
or events whatsoever. H
e should look upon
all beings alike as his own Self. A
bsolute
dispassion (vairagya) is a m
ust. He should
have an insatiable love for God
. When the
vairag
ya
is o
nly
lu
kew
arm
and
n
ot
complete, to aband
on the family and
otherw
orldly d
uties an
d ru
nn
ing aw
ay fromthem
can never be justified.
How
ever, at the last mature stage, according
to Ad
i Sankara, taking up formal sannyasa
is a must for attaining G
od-realisation. E
venthe C
hristians like the Catholics, B
udd
hists,Sufis, Jains etc. firm
ly believe that becoming
a monk and
doing sad
hana subject to theprescribed
discipline is essential for G
od-
Realisation or liberation (N
irvana). At that
matu
re stage w
hen
an in
div
idu
al has
reached the highest stage of vairagya to the
extent of ignoring his own bod
y needs, he
has no duties other than G
od-realisation.
4445
Q.22. C
an’t w
e attain G
od b
y Karm
a alone, i.e.
by d
oing service to th
e poor an
d th
e need
y,to
patien
ts sufferin
g fro
m d
iseases,b
uild
ing sch
ools, hosp
itals and
temp
les,look
ing after th
e anim
als etc.?
A.
The scriptures declare that liberation (onaccount of G
od-realisation) can result fromSelf-know
ledge (Jnana) alone (kmZmX{d H¡$dë§̀).
Adi Sankara has declared unilaterally that
while K
arma is useful for purification of the
mind it cannot be considered as a direct
means
for Self-realisation
even in
conjunction w
ith or
as supplem
entingJnana. A
s we are all ever realised and as our
ignorance is due to the veiling of our divinenature by the inexplicable pow
er of God
called ‘Maya’, it is only the true know
ledgeand right perception w
hich can lead to Self-realisation and no K
arma has any relation to
it. Ram
ana Maharshi also has em
phasisedand reiterated these view
s at the very start ofhis book– “U
padesa Saram”.
The sad
hana for God
-realisation has two
parts. T
he first part is p
urification of the
mind
(Chitta Sud
dhi) and
the latter part isin
vitin
g G
od
to m
anifest H
imself b
yrem
oving the veil. Med
itation, prayers andself-enquiry etc. even though they belong tothe latter part, are by them
selves capable ofd
oing the purification of mind
also.
For peop
le with p
re-pond
erance of Rajo
Guna given to a lot of d
ynamic activity like
Arjuna in Bhagavad G
ita and also for peoplew
hose faith in God
and scrip
tures is not
strong or is lacking, doing selfless service
with
hu
mility an
d com
passion
toward
sfellow
- beings is excellent for purification ofthe m
ind and
is a must. T
his is also good for
waking up people full of T
amo G
una andgiven to sloth, laziness and
slumbering. T
illsu
ch time as exclu
sive love for the Lord
,in
tense d
esire for Self-realisatio
n o
rliberation and
absolute vairagya tow
ards
world
ly objects are not awakened
in our
hearts, we have to start w
ith Karm
a Yoga.
Bu
t we sh
ould
remem
ber the w
ords of
Vivekanand
a “It is good to be born in a
church and
not to die there”. W
e should
know w
hen to get out of Karm
a yoga and
4647
move into the p
ath of devotion or Jnana.
Devotion or B
hakti automatically lead
s oneto Jnana and
vice versa. We com
e to knowfully of the one w
hom w
e love. So also we
begin to love the one whom
we know
asperfect.
4849
Q.23. M
any S
adh
aks claim
to have h
ad vision
sof G
od, of d
ivine ligh
t, of a blu
e pearl or
heard
various sou
nd
s like th
at of a flute or
a veena (a strin
ged in
strum
ent) etc. A
reth
ey signs of G
od-realisation
or at least do
they sign
ify sub
stantial p
rogress in th
esp
iritual p
ath?
A.
After d
oing some p
ersistent sadhana one
may get su
ch experiences of G
od-vision,
light, sound
etc., but they d
isapp
ear alsoafter som
e time. T
hey are all mile-stones in
ou
r sp
iritual
jou
rney
. T
hey
g
ive
us
encouragement by affirm
ing that we are on
the right path. A
s a mile-stone d
oes nottrav
el with
us, after so
me tim
e these
experiences disappear. A
s God
is the onlyreality, any other experiences arising d
uringthe sad
hana are all in the realm of unreality.
We have to ignore them
and go ahead
with
our sadhana. If w
e begin to get attached to
these visions and thu
s get involved, ou
rfu
rther progress may be im
peded
. As w
ecannot quantify as to how
much of sad
hanais required
for God
-realisation, we cannot
say that these experiences signify a specific
percentage of p
rogress. Many ad
vancedsad
haks may not have had
any of thesevisions or other experiences in their entirelifetim
e. It is not therefore essential at all thatone should
experience these visions etc. atone stage or the other of one’s sadhana. Suchexperiences d
epend on various factors like
the type of sadhana, their lu
rking desires
and
samsk
aras (cond
itionin
g) of th
eirprevious births etc.
Q.24. S
ome p
eople d
o some action
s claimin
gth
at th
ey
were
spo
ntan
eou
s an
dattrib
utab
le to insp
iration from
God
and
that th
e comm
and
had
come from
God
from in
side. Is it correct?
A.
On
ly w
hen
the m
ind
gets co
mp
letelypurified
and is rid
of likes and d
islikes (ragaand
dw
esha), desires and
attachment, the
vo
ice of G
od
can b
e heard
. Till th
atpurification process is com
plete, any claimto
insp
iration
from
Go
d m
ay n
ot b
eaccep
table. So called in
spired
ideas or
thou
ghts can
only be attribu
ted to th
evasanas (cond
itioning) of the mind
and one
may fall into the error of believing them
asG
od-insp
ired. W
hen the opp
ortunity for
going to Am
erica presented
itself first toV
ivek
anan
da, h
e was n
ot prep
ared to
believe that it was the m
ission which G
odh
ad d
esigned
for him
till he tested
itsvalid
ity in various ways and
got convinced.
5051
Q.25. Is ab
ility to
perfo
rm m
iracles like
materialisin
g objects or p
ossession of
mystic p
owers lik
e divin
ing th
e min
d,
pred
icting fu
ture even
ts, healin
g diseases
etc., a sign of R
ealised-S
ouls? H
ow can
we
develop
such
pow
ers?
A.
While d
oing sadhanas by certain m
ethods
like Pranayamas of various kind
s, Tantric
Path
, Ku
nd
alini Y
oga and
other yogic
practices, on
e develop
s certain m
ysticalp
owers. E
ven
wh
ile doin
g med
itation,
prayers etc., in
the scrip
tural w
ay, one
sometim
es develop
s certain pow
ers liked
ivin
ing
the m
ind
of o
ther p
erson
s,im
med
iate materialisation of d
esires etc.Som
e practise Trataka and
other method
sof hypnotism
and m
esmerism
in order to be
able to influence the devotees as they w
ant.C
ultivation of such powers is consid
ered in
the scriptu
res as an obstacle to spiritu
alprogress. Sad
haks are always ad
vised not
to indu
lge in their dem
onstration but to
ign
ore th
em an
d g
o ah
ead w
ith th
eirsad
han
a. Th
ese are not sig
ns of G
od-
Realisation.
There are, how
ever, some Sid
dhas (perfect
masters) w
ho inherit these powers as a result
of sadhana in their previous birth. In respect
of Realised
-souls like R
amana M
aharshi,even thou
gh they disclaim
ed to u
se anym
ystical powers, m
iracles have happenedin
their p
resence w
hen
som
e sincere
devotees had
approached them
with som
ecom
plaints or problems in their life. Som
egreat souls like Jesus C
hrist, Shirdi Sai B
abahave d
eliberately used their pow
ers to healthe blind
and the lam
e or to help people intheir d
istress, presu
mably w
ith a view to
indu
ce faith in God
in peop
le. They are
exceptions.
There are instances of people getting into
deep trouble by going to some unscrupulous
miracle-m
ongers. For a sadhak it is wiser not
to cultivate such powers and
to ignore themif they d
evelop. They shou
ld also abstain
from going to people w
ho demonstrate their
powers w
ith a selfish motive to earn m
oney,nam
e, fame, or for sexual interests.
5253
Q.26. W
hat is S
amad
hi state? H
ow to reach
it?
A.
Samad
hi state is the last stage of sup
er-consciousness w
here one gets merged
in theSuprem
e Self who is the Self of all. A
t thatstage one is not aw
are of one’s body. T
hereare various types of Sam
adhis but the m
oreim
portant ones are (1) Savikalpa Samad
hiand
(2) Nirvikalpa Sam
adhi. In the form
er,one has a vision of one’s personal G
od w
hileth
e second
is the u
nd
ifferentiated
statew
here the Supreme Self alone rem
ains andthe ind
ividuality is lost. In m
editation, the
body-sense continues to rem
ain while in the
Nirvikalpa Sam
adhi it is completely lost and
the m
ind
ceases to fun
ction. B
y bein
gestablished
in the Nirvikalpa Sam
adhi by
repetitions one reaches the natural or Sahajastate w
here one remains in one’s ow
n natureas the A
bsolute Brahm
an (or Supreme G
od)
at all times w
hile walking, talking, eating,
sleeping etc. In the Samad
hi state, there isannihilation of the m
ind w
hich ceases tow
ork. Even those w
ho reach the Savikalpastage w
ill finally reach in du
e course the
Nirvikalpa Sam
adhi autom
atically.
Q.27. H
ow can
I kn
ow w
heth
er a person
is arealised
- soul so th
at I could
adop
t him
asm
y Gu
ru?
A.
As all the characteristics of a liberated
sould
elineated in the scriptures e.g., being alike
to censure and praise, not giving offence to
anybody are all objective qualities, it is very
difficu
lt to
g
ive
an
acid
test fo
rd
istingu
ishin
g a liberated sou
l. Bu
t the
followin
g broad lin
es can be u
sed w
ithad
vantage:
He w
ill not be attached to any possessions.
He w
ill be naturally humble, shunning all
publicity and
w
ill not
be after
earningm
oney, name and
fame. H
e will not be
involved in any activities personally e.g. in
bu
ildin
g
Ash
rams,
temp
les, ru
nn
ing
schools, colleges, hospitals, acquiring landan
d
build
ings,
run
nin
g in
du
stries for
manufacturing incense sticks or ayurved
icm
edicines, running m
agazines, giving T.V
.interview
s etc. He w
ill be mostly silent like
Ram
ana Maharshi or if at all he talks he w
illtalk
of nothing
but
God
and
sp
iritual
5455
sadhana like R
amakrishna Param
ahamsa.
He w
ill never criticise anybody nor w
ill heargue on any issue. H
e will treat all w
ithequal vision irrespective of caste, creed
,status, m
oney, education etc. H
e likes tohear
from
books on
God
or
devotees,
Bhajans or N
amasankirtana (C
hanting thenam
es of God
).
Q.28. C
an m
usic (th
rough
cassettes or by sin
ging
oneself), h
earing B
hajan
s and
Dan
ce help
in G
od- realisation
?
A.
When this question relating to m
usic was
put to Bhagavan R
amana, sim
ultaneouslyp
ointin
g out to m
usician
-saints like St.
Thyagaraja, St. P
urand
ara Dasa, Su
rdas,
Meera etc., R
amana M
aharshi answered
,“T
hey all sang what they attained
in God
-realisation and
they did
not attain God
bysinging.” W
hile hearing Bhajans m
ay helpin
early stag
es, they
also come u
nd
erw
orldly objects of attraction
and
one’s
interest may be d
iverted from
God
to theparticular tune or R
aga or the mellifluent
sweetness of the m
usic or the singer. In due
course, the cassette may be singing w
hile thesadhak’s attention could be elsew
here. If onew
ere to sing Bhajans w
ith emotion keeping
his mind
continuou
sly on God
, it can behelp
ful initially in concentration. Finally
God has to be obtained in silence, in stillness.
“Be still and
know G
od.”
5657
Q.29. W
hy sh
ould
God
give sufferin
gs, miseries
and
sorrows to p
eople?
A.
God
never gives sufferings to anybody. A
llthe sorrow
s and sufferings are of our ow
nm
aking, the result of our own past actions.
For the river of life to flow, it requires tw
ob
ank
s opp
osite to each oth
er–Joy an
dSorrow
. When a M
aster was negotiating a
boat in a river, his disciple asked
him this
very question. The M
aster gave the disciple
a padd
le and d
irected him
to run the boat.T
he boat was only circling around
and d
idnot m
ove. Then the M
aster told him
“Justas this boat requires tw
o paddles, we require
both joy and sufferings to run this boat of
life.”
Every suffering is a lad
der to approach G
od.
It awaken
s a slum
bering m
an from
his
indifference to his spiritual w
eal. It is onlyin suffering that m
any people begin to thinkof G
od and
praying to Him
.
Q.30.
Ho
w lo
ng
will it tak
e a Sad
hak
toach
ieve his goal of S
elf-realisation? Is it
possib
le to assess one’s p
rogress from tim
eto tim
e?
A.
Now
here it is laid d
own that after d
oing som
uch Jap
a or so many hou
rs of sadhana
God
-realisation will take place. Further w
ed
o not know how
mu
ch of sadhana had
already been d
one in previous births. So we
should continue to d
o sadhana w
ith infinitepatience, surrendering ourselves com
pletelyin
God
’s han
ds bu
t with
such
zeal and
enthusiasm as if the goal is near at hand
. Itis G
od’s grace alon
e wh
ich is th
e most
important factor in getting G
od-realization.
As the entire progress takes place insid
e ona subtle plane, it is not possible for anybod
yto assess his ow
n progress on this path. We
have to go with the firm
faith that with every
sadhana w
e do w
e are forging ahead.
5859
iiiii
ANSWERS TO BASIC SPIRITUAL QUESTIONS OF SADHAKS -
a book Containing questions put by sincere sadhaks andenlightening replies by Revered Sri Sw
ami Shantananda Puri
Publisher :Parvatham
ma C.P. Subbaraju Setty Charitable Trust
# 13/8, Pampa M
aha Kavi RoadShankarapuram
, Bangalore - 560 004. : 6523011, 6678070
Books can be had from the Publisher
First Edition: May 2003
Cover Design : C. Krishna Setty & M
onappa
Printed at:Om
kar Offset Printers# 3/4, 1st M
ain RoadNew
TharagupetBangalore - 560 002 IndiaTelefax : 6708186, 6709026e-m
ail : omkar@
blr.vsnl.net.inw
ebsite : ww
w.omkarprinters.com
Samarpana
This B
ook is dedicated with veneration to
the Lotus Feet of my revered G
uru
Swam
i Purushottam
anandaji
of Vasishtha G
uha, Uttaranchal, H
imalayas
whose spontaneous grace and com
passion
have inebriated and inspired me to
venture into writing this book.
ivv
INT
RO
DU
CT
ION
Lord
Krishna’s injunction
1 is that one shouldapproach a w
ise person well established
in theknow
ledge
of Final
Truth
and
learn by
questioning him
thoroughly
but in
allhum
ility in all matters relating to spiritual
practice and the ultim
ate truth. The Scriptural
injunction2 to the teachers is that one should
never speak voluntarily on spiritual thingsunless questioned
specifically.
It is also a fact that there will be no end
to allthe d
oubts until and unless one gets G
od-
Realisation. 3 It cannot also be gainsaid
that in
the present
days
when
people involved
deeply in w
orldly life d
esire to do Spiritual
Sadhana they are beset w
ith so many d
oubtsand
unless such basic doubts are got clarified
to their
satisfaction they
find
themselves
unable to proceed on the spiritual path. T
hisbook could
be of some use to such seekers.
One
night, w
hen I
was
locked
inside
theM
own M
andir at A
mbaji in G
ujarat for 47d
ays, all these 30 questions mentioned
in thebook w
ere brimm
ing up in my m
ind one after
the other
in a
sequence again
and
againcom
pulsorily so that I was obliged
to get upand
note them d
own on a sheet of paper,
when only I could
go to sleep. The answ
ersw
ere then attempted
based on the know
ledge
gleaned from
my ow
n Guru, other saints and
Scriptures. Actually m
any of these questionshad
been repeated so often to m
e during m
yd
ays of wand
ering over many places.
Ideally,
a perfect
answer
to any
spiritualquestion can only be in perfect silence. A
bout
1.VoÛoÕ
àoU[mV{Z [naàý
{Z g{d`m$&C[X{ú`pÝV V{ kmZ§ kmoZZñVÎdXoe
©Z•&&(B.Gita 4-34)
2.Zm[¥ï>• H$ñ`oM
X² ]«y`mV²3.
o^ÚV{ öX`J«pÝW• oN>Ú
ÝV{ gd©g§e`m•
jr`ÝV{ M
mñ` H$_m©oU Vpñ_Z² Ñï>{ [amda{
(Mundakopanishad II - 8)
Lord
Dakshinam
urthy who is the pioneer of
the tradition of G
urus, it is told:
Jwam{ñVw _m¡Z§ ì`m»`mZ§ oeî`mñVw oN>Þg§e
`m•$&(Xoj
Um_yoV© ñVm{Ì_²)
‘The
Guru
explained
in the
eloquence of
silence and all the d
oubts of his disciples w
ereset at rest.’ In ord
er to reach that stage ofund
erstanding in silence, it is essential in
earlier stages
that one
should
get som
eguid
ance through verbal comm
unication. The
answers have been m
ade precise, com
pactand
self-sufficient to the extent possible. It ishoped
that the book will not only be of use to
many
a fresh
seeker but
also to
many
advanced
seekers too whose basic know
ledge
about God
and H
is relationship with m
anrem
ains incomplete.S
wam
i Sh
antan
and
a Pu
ri
vi