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Q   We are asked to put in two and one-half hours of meditation daily. If in our trials we are not able to do so, I understand we do not fulfill our mission. Is that right?

A   You see, we have twenty-four hours in a day, so at least we should try to devote one-tenth of our time to the Lord's devotion. We should not feel guilty if we cannot devote the full two and one-half hours. In the beginning it is vry difficult to sit in meditation for even one hour at a stretch. We should start slowly and gradually, and try to increase the time to this extent. And if we miss sometime, we should not feel guilty about it. The object is that we should try to be regular and punctual. We should try to do. We should keep that aim in our view. Try for it. If we cannot do it in one sitting, we can divide it into two sitting or three sitting, but slowly and slowly we should try to bring it to only one sitting. However, that needs practice, and the time is increased by and by.

Q   Any time is good for meditation. Every time devoted to meditation is to your credit and you should make the best use of that time. But early morning hours have certain advantages for this purpose, which other times do not have. In such a big city, at least in the early morning, there is quiet and calmness in the streets. Your body is fresh and you have forgotten all that passed in the previous day. There is no disturbance in the house,  and you do not have a knock on your door from any guest or relative. You can very easily and quietly give that time in the morning to your meditation. If you try to devote that time in the evening, in the first place you are tired after the whole day's work and are likely to go to sleep during meditation. Also, at the same time, all that has happened with you throughout the whole day, will come before you like on a cinema screen. If you could attain concentration in the morning within one hour, perhaps, in the evening, you will need four hours to do it, because during the whole day your mind has been spinning around. But when we get up in the morning, we are refreshed, have forgotten the incidents of the past, and naturally have a tendency to concentrate. So, we find concentration much easier in the morning. But if one cannot find time in the morning, one may give time in the evening. Whatever time we can find for meditation is a good time.

Q   The time is best if the mind does not wander?  Is  that ---  ?

A    Naturally, the object of meditation is to concentrate the mind. So, if we start in the morning, it is easier to concentrate than in the evening. From that point of view only, the morning hours are selected. Otherwise, you can select according to your convenience.

Q   We are very impatient in this country. Everything is hard for us. We try to be kind. In business, people complain because they have no apprentices these days. They will not serve two weeks. They want to be journeymen. So, it is very hard to concentrate.

A    It is a life-long struggle.

Q   Is it harder here, do you think, for us than it would be in India, or --- ?

A    No. I do not  think so. I think, practically, human beings are the same everywhere. They have their own problems, you have your own problems. Probably you are tired, because you have too much; they are tired because they have too little. The problem is the same.

Q   Is there something we can do to help us, in other words, is there something we can do or should do when we actually get to bed and meditate?

A   You mean to say, to keep awake during meditation? Or --  ?

Q   No at night. In other words, to cure insomnia?(another interrupts).

Q   No , no. It has nothing to do with insomnia. I am talking about going to bed to go to sleep. Should we repeat the names or should we concentrate the attention here?

A   I follow your point. While going to bed if we, keeping our attention here (at the eye center), do the Simran, the first hing is there will not be any insomnia. You go to sleep at once. Second, you will have good dreams, and the third advantage is when you get up in the morning for meditation your thoughts will not be scattered; it will be easier to concentrate and to be in touch with the Sound. So, it is always best to do Simran while going to sleep.

Q   In meditation, for your image, we should not concentrate on a picture. What should we concentrate on?

A   By picture, you mean photo? No. We should never try to contemplate on the photo. We should contemplate, if we have seen the Master, on the form of the Master. Otherwise, we should just keep our attention here (between the eyebrows) in the darkness, and try to do the repetition of the five holy Names, the Simran.

Q   Sometimes in meditation I have a problem. Perhaps it is wrong, but my mind tries to go every place and I try to still it, so I put your photo, Your picture, image, to still my mind. Is that wrong?

A   We should never contemplate on a photo.

Q   I mean this; You have to keep your mind from wandering?

A   That is right, but not by contemplating on a photo. There is definitely an advantage i contemplating on the form of the Master if we have seen him, but if we have never seen him the next best thing is just to keep the attention here (between the eyebrows) and do the Simran, the repetition of the five holy Names.

Q   It is mentioned in our talks among satsangis sometimes that we do the work, and the grace comes. Sometimes there seems to be confusion between the grace and the effort. Is it not that we should always make the effort? If I put in the effort I will get the grace; the more effort the more grace?

A   That is right. The more the effort, the more grace we receive. But only through His grace will we be able to put forth the effort. Without His grace, we will never even think about the Lord. Without His grace, we will never find ourselves on the path. Without His grace, we will never contact a Master. Without His grace we will never be able to devote time to meditation.  Everything comes through His grace. But we should not think that only when His grace comes will we give time to meditation. Everything comes through His grace. But we should not think that only when His grace comes will we give time to meditation. Our duty is to be sincere in our efforts to meditate. When He wants to give His grace to us, He will definitely do so. For instance, if we have a maid servant working in our house and she works honestly and sincerely, we are so pleased that we want to give her a bonus. So when we are working in the name of Lord, out of devotion to Him, He is not unmindful of what we are doing. He will definitely reward us for what we are doing. But supposing a beggar comes to your door and asks you to first assure him that you are going to give him alms, before he asks for it, nobody will bother about him. It is his duty to knock at the door, to beg, to ask. It is for the owner of the house to give or not to give. But when he really asks, he really gets. We cannot put the cart before the horse. So, we have to beg. We have to put in the effort. Then the Lord will shower His grace.

Q   Will a satsangi make it in four lifetimes, regardless? I hope?


A   Well, sister, why think at all of four lives? Why not in one life? (Laughter).

Q   Attachments?

A   Yes, our attachments bring us back again and again into this world. If we overcome that, we do not need another birth at all. Even if we have not made our way upwards and have not made much progress inside, if we are not attached to anything in this world, nothing can bring us back. We will then go to some region inside from where we can work our way up.

Q   Then I will not have to come back if I do not particularly want anything here? You have to want something here in order to come back?

A   That is right. Only the meditation will take us back to the Lord, but if we are detached from the world, we will at least be saved from taking another birth here. We will be put in some intervening stage from which we can work our way up to the last stage. But if we have very strong attachments here, even if we are regularly meditating and making some progress inside, we are bound to come back to clear those attachments  because, actually, it is attachment that brings us back. However, through meditation, slowly and gradually, we do get detached. And when we have no strong bonds left in the world, naturally we will get detached. And when we have no strong bonds left in the world, naturally there is nothing to pull us back.

Q   Do we know when we are not  attached?

A   It is very difficult to analyze when we are detached. Sometimes we feel we are, and at another time we feel we are absolutely attached. But slowly and slowly we come to a state when attachments do not bother us much. We are in them but we do not feel much concerned. You can say that you are attached when you start missing something, when you start wanting that thing, or missing a person, place or thing. That, in fact, is an attachment. On the contrary if you do not get it, and you do not bother about it, that is a sort of detachment. Detachment is achieved by meditation, because attachment to Shabd or Nam automatically detaches us from the world. The mind is fond of sensual pleasures, and unless it gets some better pleasures than the sensual pleasures, it does not leave the senses. So,when we withdraw our consciousness away from the lower centers, up to the thinking center (pointing between the eyebrows) and attach it to Shabd or Nam inside, then that attachment automatically detaches us from the world, from the senses and the pleasures of the senses. If we are thus detached, there is nothing to bring us back into this world. Why then think about four births?

Q    Master, when we know that this is the right path and we have the faith and yet there is no love in our heart, how shall we go about it?

A    Sister, if you are attending to your meditation, love will come automatically. You do not have to work for love. It comes when it comes. Even in wordly love, you know, if you analyze yourself, you do not work for it. God gives this gift, and it just comes.

Q    By the grace of the Master?

A    When God wants you to love Him, He will give you that love; but it comes by meditation, as instructed by the Living Master.

Q   Maharaj Ji, meeting the Lord in every sense other than Sant Mat infers a spiritual insight?

A   Why 'other than Sant Mat'? That too requires spiritual insight. Why not? How else can we see the Lord except through spiritual insight, through that inner eye, the single or third eye? That is spiritual insight, when we have opened that inner eye, and it is only with the inner eye that we can see the Lord. He cannot be seen with the physical eyes.

Q   Sir, is there an assurance of meeting the Lord and going Home in one life, or four lives?

A   Why limit ourselves? Why think about four lives? Why not try to do it in one life? We should do our best to achieve our destination in one lifetime. If e do not succeed in this life, the Lord will give us another life, and two or three more if necessary,but the assurance is there that when we are trying sincerely to meet Him, we will definitely meet Him, and every life will be better and more conducive to our spiritual progress than the previous one.