Aghoreshwar's message on Gurupurnima

In anticipation of the upcoming celebration of Guru Purnima on July 5th, we are reprinting a talk of Baba Aghoreshwar Bhagwan Ramji, delivered on Guru Purnima in 1971.

This auspicious celebration today is observed only by sincere and faithful disciples. As far as Gurus and teachers are concerned, every day is a day of celebration for them. They do not have any special day for observance. That is why I say that this day belongs to you - to only those of you who are dedicated and devoted. On this festival the divine virtues that are attained only through much hardship by divine beings will descend on you easily according to your faith and devotion.

On this occasion we are expressing the devotion and nobility that we feel within ourselves. Whenever that expression is sincere, divine attributes and virtues will definitely blossom in our hearts. If our expression is merely a show, or superficial, those attributes will not even come near us. All the activities born of our illusions are superficial. The artificiality of false pride not only keeps tormenting us but also those who come in contact with us. I request that you shed artificiality and false pride. Only after you lighten yourselves of this load will the currents of divine virtues flow within you.

The practice of accepting a Guru in your life has no restrictions of any kind. According to my understanding, you can establish this sacred relationship with even a chandal (untouchable) and investigate your soul. You must have heard that Meera, a great poetess of ancient times, was a disciple of Raidas (an untouchable). By bringing his ideals and teachings into her life, she became a saint. The religious texts talk about many things that are incomprehensible and impractical today. We are unable to bring those teachings into our day-to-day practice. It is for this reason we take refuge in a teacher.

A teacher or Guru can give short and simple teachings in detail, but you can understand it only if you have a clear heart. A heart laden with cunning or false pride can never grasp the teachings of a Guru.

The divinity appears within when there is cleanliness of heart. It touches the heart where it is arising and brings about a special kind of movement in the mind. It makes your own being as sacred as a place of pilgrimage. The impossible seems possible and the things that once were incomprehensible become clear. Such divine virtues arise within when the Guru is constantly established in your hearts, as your behavior today reflects. The awakening of these virtues does not mean that you should become inactive and run away from your responsibilities. The different limbs of your body should remain engaged in whatever action is required by the time, but your heart and mind are immersed in the divine. On this auspicious occasion I ask, even if you cannot give your trust to your society or nation, that at least you give it to your relatives and to your next of kin, to your children and grandchildren. Trust them and let them trust you. I see many people who are unable to trust their own family members, let alone to win their trust. For the fulfillment of any task, small or big, trust is needed. Many people are neither able to trust themselves, nor to trust their own actions. In such a situation, a strange kind of conflict, disturbance, and indecisiveness permeates their minds and keeps them entangled there. Their previous misdeeds follow them like shadows. My only advice in such a case is to look ahead, not to look behind. Looking back will only be painful and obstruct your path.

Setting afloat your past deeds in this Guru Ganga (Guru as the sacred river), start your life anew. Then you will find and experience the emergence of a new kind of strength and enthusiasm. You will be happy in yourselves and will be able to make others happy who come in contact with you. The bitterness from your heart will fall away.

When our minds become wicked, our lives become aimless and useless. It seems as if we are living for the sake of being alive, wandering about as if drugged, with neither the mind nor the body balanced. In such a situation we are unable to comprehend anything, nor to make others understand. In such a state we make the others who come in contact with us like ourselves. Such a meaningless life becomes a weight in itself.

Dear friends, wherever you live or whatever situation you are in, trust yourselves. Listen to that divine message and pay attention to those divine indications that arise within you telling you that certain acts are desirable and certain are undesirable. Listen to it and pay attention to it and then bring it about in your behavior. It is only then that you will remain happy and make those who happen to be in your surroundings happy as well. When we point a finger at another, three fingers are pointing towards us. The meaning of this is that when we point out the evil in others, three times that wickedness resides within ourselves - the shortcomings lie within ourselves.

All I can say is: Don't pay attention to the shortcomings of others. Looking for shortcomings in others is a weakness of the mind. Keep looking at yourselves repeatedly. In such a situation the force of divine virtues will awaken within you, and your faith in the teachings of your Guru and in God will strengthen. You will be able to live a happy and healthy life on this earth, and you will be able to give direction to your children and family members, which is urgently needed in this time and age.

As you keep your home and Ashram clean, with the hope that this place will uplift your spirit and will act as a shelter in the time of need for yourself and your children, keep your mind clean. Our life span on this earth is so short. In such a short span of time, why should we harbor bitterness? Whom should we criticize and to whom should we pray? In such a situation, why not just maintain a clean soul, which is eternal, pure, and blissful by nature. If we are able to maintain it in its true nature, we are able to experience liberation from the cycle of rebirth, which is very painful. If we have to take a rebirth, we will be born in a good land and among good people. O friends! Give up inauspicious deeds, which keep you in darkness, and let go of false pride, which keeps immersing you in unbearable sorrow. With so much love and reverence you have been patiently sitting here for a long time. Your dedication to being a good human being and bringing about a healthy society is praiseworthy. I bless you all on this auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima.

A life of service has no fear

Speaking to a Sunday morning satsang at the Ashram, Baba Hariji said,

I would like to welcome you on this beautiful morning. Just take a moment to be with yourself and appreciate the warmth and brightness of this time of the day. May the vibrations of negativity and fear not find a place in your heart! There is no fear. How? I have no malice for others. Always wish others well. When I mean no harm to other people, fear cannot touch me. Having the interests of the other in my heart, if someone walks a mile for me, I walk two miles for them. If someone does a little good for me, I do twice as much for them. If I come with such an attitude in this world, no fear can touch me. And I'm able to experience that peace, that solitude. I am able to be with myself. Otherwise, no matter how hard I try to be with myself, those vibrations, those thoughts of fear will find me; anger, jealousy, and hatred will find me. I'll never be able to be alone.

In this time and age, the only way to find that solitude is to bring that feeling into my actions. If someone does a little harm to me, I always wish them well. I'm not coming from a place of revenge. Pray for them: May they come to their senses. I'm not willing to engage in that game. You never know why people do things that seem wrong. Whatever their motives, their situation, their condition may be, it may have nothing to do with me. I may be affected a little bit, but I have the choice to disengage myself from it.

Usually we judge a situation. We put ourselves in the middle of it, and begin to think a person acted this way because of us. But it's not the way it seems. We have to learn the art of disengaging ourselves. And once we are able to disengage ourselves from a situation, we are able to experience that solitude. Solitude is not only found in caves in the Himalayas. A yogi in this time and age has to learn to disengage and always be willing, be ready to walk two miles for the one who walks half a mile for him or her. For Kaliyuga, to be of service (seva) is the way, is the path.

Seva is not only working in soup kitchens or in leper colonies. The very definition of seva is selfless service. We take it a little further, putting the other's interest first. You can be doing seva right in your living room with your family, with your friends, wherever you happen to be, thinking of the other first. How can I make the person next to me feel better? Sometimes it takes very little. Somebody comes to you all caught up in that jungle of the mind. A very little act of kindness, a little gesture of appreciation, is all it takes. Just give them a glass of water, offer them a cup of tea, something. Itês all an act of seva.

To be willing to put myself out for the happiness of the other is seva. The mind will say, What am I going to get out of it? Why should I do this? Why is it me who always has to do it? That's the mind. What you don't realize is that you are always getting ten times more back. It may not be very apparent, but your deep self receives that blessing, the fruit of that action comes back to you and is received by your deep self. It always works like that. Whenever I'm able to cross the hurdle that mind puts in the way, Why? Why? Why? Why me?, I'm able to be at peace with that questioning, resentful mind. Then I'm ready to receive the blessing. It comes back many times.

A person who lives in this time and age with these sentiments is able to have that fearlessness, is able to have that solitude and taste that sweetness in life. I would like to encourage you to have a discipline, half an hour or an hour in your life every day. Set that time aside and pay a little more attention to your sadhana, your practice.

The simple practice that we have is doing a little pranayam, a little pranav, a little jap. Bowing to the guru, to the higher Self. Even visualizing that you are receiving the blessing, and then going about in the world. We go about in the world with a sense of richness, a sense of protection and fullness.

There are many people in the world out there who are hungry, like hungry ghosts. Some people have to be there with a sense of fullness: a sense that I am able to give, I am able to serve, I am able to make you feel good. This world needs more people with this sentiment. And we are able to be that. This is a very blessed land, a very blessed country, a very blessed place. Truly, everything is here, we just have to claim it, own it. Nothing is lacking.

We need friends, and there are many people willing to be friends. We just have to open our hearts a bit, find a little time to be of service. We can always make plenty of excuses for not finding that time. But if we really want to, it will be there.

In living a life of service, my own needs are very little. A little food, a little shelter over my head, and what else? The rest is just the icing on the cake. Set aside an hour a day no matter where you are®in the office, at home, anywhere, even driving. Give the person driving behind you a little space. Bring that kind of practice into your life. One hour of seva, say between three and four!

A tree doesn't eat its own fruit and a river doesn't drink its own water. It is for the welfare of the other that a good soul takes this body, this life. It's for the other.

The definition of seva is vast and life is a very pleasant journey. There are lots of ups and downs. Just keep walking, one step at a time. Keep breathing. Keep the raindrops rolling off your raincoat. Some may fall on your head and get your hair wet and make you feel a little cold, but you will come to a spot where you dry your hair and have a good cup of chai.

Meet the faces at the Ashram

Through this column we salute the special individuals at the Ashram.

Ellen Williams

Shortly after I moved to Sonoma, about seven years ago, I cut out an article from the local newspaper telling about yoga classes for just a donation. It gave me a good feeling. When Pam, my roommate moved in with me and we were discussing taking yoga, I remembered that article I had put in a drawer many months before. When we finally attended one of Babaji's yoga classes, we knew we had found more than an ordinary yoga class. Those yoga classes were exactly what I needed at that time, they gave me peace. Every time Babaji said "you don't have to go anywhere, you are already there" I would breathe a sigh of relief! I attended regularly. One morning, after I had been going to yoga classes for many months, Babaji mentioned that he had burned the shawl he was wearing in meditation that morning. It was like a little light went on in my head.

I'd been reading books about meditation and had meditated on my own but I had always felt I needed some guidance. It had somehow escaped me until that moment that this was the place where I could get that guidance. I started going to Sunday meditation then and I am still going. That and my daily practice help me to still my mind, a big job, and connect with my deeper self. I usually don't feel like I am connecting, I just trust that I am.

I also learn from Babaji's talks after meditation how I can lead my life with a higher sense of consciousness. I have received blessings in many different forms from Babaji and others in the Ashram community. I am very grateful for it all.