Q     Maharaj Ji, sometimes we are asked questions like---I cannot understand why is a person initiated, when he still attends meetings of different societies, other than our own?

A     Sister, we shold not pay much attention to these things. I generally tell everyody at the time of initiation that I do not bind you to any particular thing. I do not want you to withdraw from any point, from any circle, any organisation, any society, as long as you remain on the principles of Sant Mat and you attend to your meditation. The meditation automatically withdraws them from all those things, eventually. When they no longer feel interested in them, they do not live in these things, then you do not have to tell them, for it comes from their own heart. It is much better not to tell them not to attend that meeting or to leave that organization. There is no use in telling them. When they feel the bliss of the elevation in their own heart, they will not feel at home in those places, they will feel that they do not fit into those things, then they themselves will discontinue those things and will alwys want to go to that side from where they are being stopped. So, there is no sense in hurting anybody by telling them, "Why do you attend that meeting, where is the sense in your going to that group?" and all that. But if you create an atmosphere full of love and devotion in your own group meetings, they would be so happy that they would not like to go anywhere else. In that way you automatically attract them towards that atmosphere.

Q     They are initiates who ask those questions, and then we have to answer them and know not what to tell them.

A     You tell them that we have no organisation, that we are not bound to any particular religion, we are free to go anywhere we feel like going. We are only concerned with devotion to the Lord, with our meditation. We are not bound to any particular thing and that we are not stopped from going anywhere. we go where we feel like going, and when we no longer feel we are a part of that activity, we ourselves will no longer wish to go there.

Q     Maharaj Ji, some initiates seem to hink we are supposed to be perfect in this group, so they just get the wrong impression. I consider, in Sant Mat, the practice for spiritual development is a personal responsibility. I am only responsible to myself. Is that correct? And it is up to me to realize that spiritual development. I have to see the best way that I can and act in the best manner that I can. I cannot tell anyone else whether they are on the right track or not. Is that correct?

A      Brother, there are two things. With some people we are so much attached, we are so much in love as we call it, so much interested in them that we cannot bear to have them go to a different direction so we try to persuade them affectionately. The idea behind the affection and love for them is not to show off that they are wrong and I am right, or why you do not do as I am doing -- that idea should not be there. We should be so much interested in them that we can take the liberty to tell them that perhaps they are wrong and that it will be more beneficial and helpful to them if they come to this side. But we should never force anybody and we shold not try to hurt anybody. If they want to go to any side, let them go anywhere.

The conviction, the love, must come from within themselves, for then only will it be solid like a rock; otherwise, it is merely built on sand. In the latter case, the decision would be due to your emotional influence, your atmosphere, and when your influence is not there, they would again go astray. That is no use. We simply should tell them the advantages over all, being ourselves on the path, and that it is for them to make up their own mind about what is best for them. We are mainly concerned with ourelves, but we have certain responsibilities in this world towards our friends and relations and others, so we try to guide them; but if they do not feel like being guided, we should not feel perturbed about it.


Q     Master, when we are working daily with our colleagues, and criticism comes and others join in against us, could we accept this strictly as due to us or should we ever attempt to hold our own? Or --- ?

A     Brother, if we think we will be able to solve the problems of the world, of the people around us, not one whole life time or even a hundred lives would be sufficient. We just have to rise above these things, these problems, and not be affected by them at all. What is to happen, let it happen around us. That is why the saints often give us the example of the lotus flower. Its roots are always in the water, but the flower itself is above the water. With the help of meditation and the Sound, we have to rise above these things. WE cannot solve the problems of the world. History records that so many saints and social reformers as well have come to this world, but it has not improved in any way. Rather, there is more evil, in spite of the best efforts of the saints and the reformers. But saints do not come for that purpose. No saint comes to reform this world. He just comes to collect his own sheep and take them back to the Lord, as Christ has also done in his time. He, too, said that he did not come to bring peace into this world. Saints always advise us to remain in the Will of the Lord, to submit ourselves to Him. That means that we should face both, the happy and unhappy situations, which are our good and our bad karmas --- boldly and cheerfully. We should neither be so much affected by the bad that we forget the Lord, nor should we be too elated over the good karmas that we forget the Lord and turn to the worldly pleasures. Whether god or bad, in both conditions we are always to remember the Lord,. So, the atmosphere around us will never change; it is we who have to change.

Q     Maharaj Ji, would you tell us, besides being on the diet, not taking alcohol and so forth, and besides not killing and the regular abstinences, what some other karmic actions would be that we could avoid in this life?

A     Nothing else. All other good qualities will come automatically with devotion to the Lord. If we make the Sant Mat principles a part of our life, then we abstain from meat, fish, fowl, and eggs or anything containing them, we do not take alcoholic drinks, we have a good moral character and we are devoting time regularly and punctually to the spiritual practice. When we do that, I personally feel and think that all other good qualities of a human being appear in us like cream on milk. You do not have to do anything else to get or develop those qualities, for they naturally will come in you. The nearer we are to the Lord, the more devotion we feel for the Lord, the more the good qualities automatically will come within us. We will become part and parcel of those qualities, without doing anything else.

Q     Do I understand from what has been said that we cannot actually reach happiness or heaven on this earth in our present form and that actually our soul has to reach a higher plane in some other form before we can really have happiness?

A     No, brother. What I am trying to explain is that as long as our attention is rooted in this world, we will never be able to get happiness. Even if we achieve all the comforts of the world we cannot be happy. We will be really happy only when the soul merges back into Him. As long as the soul is separated from the Lord, it can never be happy. We will get peace while in this world only when we are really devoted to the Lord within us. When we are working our way up, we are in tune with Him and we will also get happiness in this world. If we forget Him, this whole world becomes a place of agony and misery for us. That is what I am trying to explain. (Maharaj Ji gave the example of the child enjoying a fair as long as it was holding the fatehr's hand; but when it let go his father's hand and beame lost, it was miserable and bewildered in the very same fair.) We will only get happiness in His devotion. If we forget Him, we cannot get happiness from this world at all.

Q    In becoming attached to God, does that mean one is no longer attached, for instance, to one's husband or wife, or brother, or mother, or someone like that; I mean, does that exclude them?

A     Sister, there is a difference between attachment and duty. A wwife has a certain duty towards her husband. A husband has a certain responsibililty, a duty towards his wife. Yet there may not be any attachment . If there had been real attachment, there would not have been a single divorce in the States. This attachment that couples have is just a self-deception. They feel that they are attached, and when a situation arises, they feel that tehy hate each other. Where does that attachment go then? Those attachments are simply karmic relations of give and take. Certain responsibilities have to be fulfilled, and we have to play a certain role accordingly, whether as a husband, a wife, a child or some other relationship. We try to feel we are attached and yet within our heart we know we are not. If that attachment hd been so strong we would not have forgotten our own mother and sister and father, and we would not have fallen in love with another person. We are feeling so attached to parents, but on finding another attachment or with the lapse of time, we forget them. Where has that attachment gone?

Attachment really means forgetting the whole world, except the object of attachment. But we are shifting every day from place to place, from person to person so we really are not attached. We are to live in this world as a matter of duty, taking full responsibility as a wife or a husband, as a father or a son, as a citizen, and so on, and yet not be attached to them nor be affected by them. For example: when a married daughter goes to her parents, and yet she is attached to her husband living thousands of miles away from her. Her mind is not where she is. It is somewhere else. We are to live in this world like that. We have to be in the world, doing all our duties, yet our heart should be where it will enjoy the taste of the honey and fly away with dry wings. If it jumps into the bowl of honey, neither can it taste the honey nor will it be able to extricate itself; it will die.

If we keep our attention, our mind, our heart in the Lord, we will enjoy this whoel world. If we forget Him, this whole world will become miserable for us, for them we are in love with the things that He has given us and have forgotten the Giver. We are not grateful to the Giver, but are drowning ourelves in what He is giving us. We can only enjoy what He gives us if we are grateful to the One who gives. Instead, we are attaching ourselves to what He gives and are trying to deach ourselves from Him. So, we have to attach ourselves to Hi, and to nothing else. By doing so, we enjoy this at will, unscathed, as long as it does not leave the security of the edge of the bowl and get stuck in the honey.

Q     This person I referred to showed so much power...?

A     Brother, I cannot say anything about any personality, but can only tell you that saints always preach humility. Knowing everything, they will never show that they know anything. They will always preach and practice humility, meekness, submission to His Will. There is no ego in the saints; but I am nobody to comment on anybody.

Q      Master, why is Sant Mat and the experiences of the initiate so esoteric, so secretive? Why cannot the initiate compare notes with another initiate? It is my understanding of Sant Mat that it is a science of the soul; and any scientist, to test the validity of his findings, would like to compare notes with somebody else.

A      Brother, there is always danger of ego coming in. When you share your internal experiences with anybody, you are inclined to give yourself airs, and you lose what you have. Also, when people know that you are spiritually advanced, they may try to take advantage of you, of yours powers. Then you may be tempted and thus lose what you had gained.

Q      But how is one to know he is experiencing reality? He might be experiencing a figment of his imagination? And it might be a false power that he thinks he has?

A      Imagination will last for a day, for two days, for three days. If the same thing happens to one, two or three people, one could say that it is imagination, but not when it happens to thousans. It can be imagination ony if it happens just with you or another two or three persons; however, when the same thing happens with everybody, it cannot be just imagination. Anyway, at the time of initiation, you are told how to differentiate between the false and the real.

Q    But how do we know that the same thing is happening with everybody until we compare notes?

A    We can read of these experiences in the writings of the saints. They have recorded their experiences, and you can find them in our literature. Then you can compare to see whether or not your individual experiences are the same. When the experiences of an Arabic saint, of one born in Persia, of one born in India, or of those born in other countries, all happen to be the same, that could not be just imagination. When those saints who never got a chance to meet each other, to exchange notes which were written at different times and in different languages, how would their experiences be te same if they were not genuine? When we cokpare our notes with them we know that our experiences are not just hallucinations or imagination.

Q     You say the saints have written these things down? In my small amount of reading I have not been able to come across...?

A     That is found in all the Sant Mat literature which we are placing before the public. You have just read one article, and by making a research you will find corroborations from at least sixty people on the same point.

Q      Well, let us say I see a house that is purple and it has sixteen windows in it. Will the writings tell me that what I am experiencing is not a figment of my imagination, that that house is at Trikuti level, or Sahansdal Kanwal level, and what you find by going to your left after you reach this point?

A      Once you are on the path, if you will use the test given to you at the time of initiation, you will always know whether it is your imagination or whether it is real. These misgiving arise because we neither face the reality nor even realize the tricks that imagination can play. When we are there, we now whether it is a reality or imagination. Definite signs are given to us. Defiinite tests are given to us for our use to determine all this. Here and there we may exchange notes with our fellow travelers too, but not about our inner experiences.

Q      Master, you were saying that we should keep our spiritual experiences to ourselves. In the event one encounters obstacles in meditation, should one not speak of that also? .... or keep that a secret?

A      Sister, the only one who can help you remove those obstacles is your Master. There is no use speaking to others about these things, for nobody else will be able to help you. If you speak to your Master, you will get guidance and help.

Q     When we have a feeling, or an experience, how do we know if it is spiritual or if it comes from God, or if it is a figment of our own mind, our imagination?

A     Brother, we have all sorts of experiences. WE have experiences of our imagination and we have spiritual experiences too. But, you can always differentiate whether you are having spiritual experiences or not. For example, when we are told that we are going to have such and such an experience through our meditation, we cannot call it hallucination. We cannot call it imagination because the same experience has been described by so many saints, in so many different countries and at so many different times. Consequently, when our experience is corroorated by the experiences of those people with whom we have never had the chacne even to meet or to know their language, or to go to their countries, we cannot say that that experience is just our imagination. When it is corroborated by so many saints, by so many other people, naturally, our experience is genuine and has to be the same.

For instance, when you read a guide book -  how to go from New York to London by sea, and what things you are going to see on your way -- when you are on the ship, you see those things. You cannot say it is mere imagination because you have been informed before-hand about what you are going to see on the way. You have read it in so many guide books from the travel agent, as to what you are going to see on the way. When your own experiences are being corroborated by the experiences of all those people who are traveled on theat path, who had the same things to see, the same things to do or to face, naturally, you will feel convinced that your own experience and what you see is reality. You are not dreaaming, you are not imagining. You are seeing what you are supposed to see, what you are told will be there. The same is the case with a spiritual experience.

Q     Maharaj Ji, if someone owes a bill and does not pay it, should you write it off or should you take legal steps to collect it? How would karma come into that?



A     We should not try to analyze these things in too much detail. We have to take a practical, objective view in life. If you thin he owes, you can fo to the law court. If it is in your karma to collect, you will get it, and if it is not in your karma to get it back, you will lose your case.