Sri Vasudeva:
My journey began when spiritual awakening began and not before. So I am very interested in what you have to say. Spiritual awakening and spiritual growth need to happen in a certain kind of atmosphere and with a certain kind of guidance. So I am looking forward to hearing your responses today.
Question:
For spiritual awakening and progress, a spark has to be lit otherwise there is no chance of making progress. And my responsibility is to prepare myself to be lit – making my desire stronger, making good choices, looking for good support. Is spiritual awakening happening during this preparation or after?
Sri Vasudeva:
Well first there must be a desire for spiritual growth and spiritual awakening. When you get involved in trying to be happy, to master yourself, to deal with the mind, there’s going to be a stumbling block if you identify with the body. If there is a deeper desire within you, you are going to meet blocks and when you do, you are going to ask the question, how can I go further? It is at that point that you need support and assistance. You need to become spiritually awakened. So the preparation in the beginning is to have the desire and to begin to practice the things you know and as you find you are not getting anywhere with your practices then certainly, you will begin to realize that spiritual awakening is necessary.
I am trying to help you to identify that point but I would say in your case, you would have had spiritual awakening already. In your case, the more important thing is how to continue the process and how to grow more. That’s where it will become important to you at this point. I was speaking to those who were involved for years and finding nothing – it simply means that spiritual awakening is necessary. All the preparation that you have been doing in the past, actually leads you to the guidance that you would need or to the grace that is necessary to go further or that will bring about spiritual awakening.
Question:
So every time I meet the blocks, I need help. Is it an ongoing process?
Sri Vasudeva:
Right, that is a higher level of spiritual awakening because you are going to find blocks at different levels and it requires spiritual growth. But initially I was speaking about the awakening that brings about an awareness that there is more to the body. That’s the initial spiritual awakening. If you find that you are not progressing on the spiritual path, you are following religion or you’re following some form of spiritual discipline and you’re not feeling energy and you’re only feeling the body, you’re not able to control the mind, then you need to become more spiritually awakened. And as you go to more spiritual levels of growth, you may find blocks there but it’s not like you need a new spiritual awakening. You may need further spiritual awakening or deeper spiritual growth.
Question:
That spark of light that is being touched in the spiritual awakening, what kind of spark is that?
Sri Vasudeva:
When I say ‘the spark of light,’ I mean you begin to feel some kind of power within you. Before, you know in theory that God is within me or there is some power within me but you don’t feel it. But when you begin to feel that there is some kind of power and you can touch it in the things you do, that’s when I say “the spark.”
Comment:
Describes spending an unexpected half an hour in the repetition of the mantra. I didn’t do what I set out to do but I achieved my goal.
Sri Vasudeva:
I like that very much. I like how you use your time. And you thought, “Let me repeat my mantra,” and you did so conscientiously, consciously. And you did half an hour quite well. So I am happy with the effort that you have made. It’s nice when you can stick to a mantra to show mental mastery.
Question:
If a church is led by sincere people, can it do the same as what you do?
Sri Vasudeva:
I cannot speak for churches but in my talk I spoke about individuals and groups. You can belong to a church or you can belong to a group and if the person is of higher awareness whether in a church or out of a church, that is the important thing. So if someone is operating in a higher consciousness and they are operating in a church, they are certainly going to influence all the followers in the church, which is a good thing. So you can find people of higher consciousness in all walks of life. Even if you go into a taxi, the taxi driver can carry an unusual state of consciousness – or a farmer or a doctor or a lawyer. It’s not related specifically to any profession or any church. You can find them anywhere. I respect people of all different walks of life. They can carry a higher state of consciousness.
Question:
So they can awaken it also?
Sri Vasudeva:
Absolutely and anybody who is in a higher state of consciousness can help you to be awakened. In a book by Swami Muktananda, he was saying how a man sitting on a garbage heap was able to enlighten him and another man who was eccentric wearing all kind of clothes, was able to give him expert advice on the path. And of course, the person he followed, hardly wore any clothes, only a loin cloth and he was able to inspire him so much. So you cannot judge them by how they dress or which church they belong to, you can find them anywhere. And they are a blessing wherever they are. So certainly, I am sure the churches where you have leaders in a higher consciousness, bring out a more powerful message and they help to transform people’s lives.
Question:
This participant was able to focus on the mantra for ten minutes and wanted to know if the next step was to try to focus on it for longer. Also wanted to know how someone would know when their desire for spiritual growth was strong enough to move them to the next step.
Sri Vasudeva:
The experience shows how much you are connecting to my energy and presence. And if you would like to practice for 15 minutes later today, by all means, do it. Practice for as long as you feel the power to. Like our friend earlier, he made half an hour in the mantra, even though he didn’t intend to. So for as long as you would like and how you feel guided at the moment. And let the energy guide you to the next step. You don’t have to think about it. You are already being guided, so let the process continue. It’s going to continue. So just be open to it and the next step will come. Keep focused on the step that you are in and the next step will come automatically.
Question:
If you are seeking enlightenment and you find yourself fluctuating what should you do about that? You get spurts of enthusiasm and then it subsides.
Sri Vasudeva:
I would say to associate with those who are more powerful. When you find yourself fluctuating and you find it difficult by yourself, associate with those who are strong, stay around strong people. That’s one of the best ways to stabilize your spiritual awakening and growth. Associate with those who are strong and stay with it and be committed to it.
Question:
Why are there so few examples of women who have reached enlightenment? Is it more difficult for a female especially a mother?
Sri Vasudeva:
I really believe that gender has nothing to do with this. Whatever is possible for the male is possible for the female. And what is possible for the female in terms of spirituality, is also possible for the male. And I do believe there are powerful examples of spiritual masters and leaders, who are female. But there is certainly no difference at all. We make the same journey, male or female in terms of spirituality. So that’s inspiration for you. You can achieve anything that you want to.
MANTRA
Question:
Sometimes I feel as if the mind does not want any mantra in meditation. And other times the energy seems to change the mantra into another. Is this normal and how does one deal with this?
Sri Vasudeva:
When you find that the mind doesn’t want the mantra, it means it has come to a state in that moment, in that place, to calmness where the mantra becomes unnecessary. The mind has become calm and it is being controlled in that moment. And when you get into an area of fluctuating energies and you need stability, you’ll find yourself wanting to repeat a mantra. Sometimes when you find that you are getting used to one mantra and it seems to be losing its energy for you, you may want to change to another. The mind can become habituated to one thing then take it for granted, then begin to multitask. So you change the mantra when you need to but it’s good when you stick to one mantra and be completely present to it. That shows a little more mastery – when you can stay with one mantra and be completely present to it.
And you can also come to a space by repeating the mantra, where you feel total silence inside and the mantra is just going on effortlessly and you are watching the whole experience. So there are many dimensions to repeating the mantra. You can repeat the mantra from a space of silence. You can feel the silence and the mantra is just moving on its own momentum. So if you feel calm and you don’t need the mantra, then hopefully, you are established in a space that you are enjoying and a space that is holding you in a higher awareness. Use the mantra as you need to and you can change it if you need to but it is nice when you create a discipline of being able to use the mantra, keeping it there and getting the full fruit of it. More can be said about this. In fact, if you continue to repeat the mantra, you will find that the mantra is giving you so much power inside and the power is multiplying and multiplying and multiplying. The mantra can actually take you to the deepest level of your being where you want to say it ceaselessly. Contemplate that.
Question:
When I was just three or four, I was christened in the Hindu tradition and given a mantra. I have been chanting and repeating that mantra since that age and now that mantra repeats itself. After I met you, I really tried to say “Om Guru” or “Om Namah Shivaya,” in meditation. I start off with “Om Guru,” but when I become aware of myself again, I find that neither “Om Guru” nor “Om NamahShivaya” is being repeated. It’s the original mantra that I am accustomed repeating and I sometimes tend to feel a little guilty and I’m wondering if I’m not connecting to the Guru’s energy.
Sri Vasudeva:
Ultimately, all mantras will carry the same power. Because you have been initiated in that mantra so long ago, it became a special mantra for you and it means that you actually created a bond with it and that’s why it is so special to you and there is nothing wrong with that. But ultimately, all mantras should carry the same power. When you are in the right place within, all mantras, whether it’s Om Namah Shivaya, Om Guru, or the original mantra, carry the same power.
It’s just like if you chant the sacred names, anyone of them carry an equal power ultimately. That’s how I feel. I can chant any one of the names and the same power that is coming from inside in chanting the name in the most powerful way. Ultimately all the mantras should have value. Each one you repeat should have some particular kind of value to it. But it is good to know that that mantra is still powerfully held within you.
Comment:
It is since 1995 that the Guru has crossed my path and I have crossed his path and at this moment in my life, I feel that my journey is more personal because I don’t think that the Guru can keep telling me to do the same thing over and over and I think it’s up to me now to make the final leg of my journey. Also a couple years ago, I came every single morning to the 40 day retreat and that was good. But I want to tell you that people who are watching you, and I have been watching from home for the last 10 days. And my experience at home has been equally uplifting.
So I watch you every morning, then I read the message and do some editing and it’s just as good as being with all of us here together.
Sri Vasudeva:
Thank you for sharing that. (Addressing those tuned in on the internet) I am really very thrilled that you can be out there and experience the intensity of the energy as it is here. And I’m getting reports from many people about your deep experiences during this period. Even though you are far away, you are following through the internet. It is exciting for me because I know the possibility - in the spiritual realm, in the energy dimension, space is never an issue or a disadvantage.
So I am extremely happy when you say you feel as if ‘I am right there with you.’ Suddenly the borders across the world disappear and we are a global family experiencing one dimension of energy. This is the power of the internet. So I am extremely happy that we are able to transport the visuals across the world and to connect energetically. So I know that wherever you are and you’re tuning and you are keeping the discipline, you are going to experience a lot of energy as we have it here. So don’t feel disadvantaged if you are far away physically because you are right here with us energetically.
Question:
These days I feel a strong energy in my feet in a tickling way. It feels like after a foot is sleeping and it is awakened. I wonder what to do. Let it be, let it happen or special attention to it?
Sri Vasudeva:
If you feel a lot of energy in your feet, that’s a good thing because it means the energy channels are open and the energy is coming through your feet. That means that everything your feet touch will be blessed – wherever you walk, whatever you do with your feet, it’s actually carrying energy. So it’s a good thing. Just let it be. It would be really nice when your entire body can feel that way – your hands, your voice, your look can feel the same way. So keep on working at it until everywhere can feel the same way as your feet. But that is fantastic.
Question:
Can someone meet you and still not experience deeper shifts? Is that the responsibility of the student? Is that spark just the start and does the student need to continuously be receptive to experience deeper shifts?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, someone can meet me and still not be touched to that degree consciously although I do believe that everybody who meets me is touched in some way. No immediate changes may come in people when they meet me – maybe not even for a long time. And it depends on the degree of receptivity. So we need to be receptive to be awakened by a powerful energy source around us. We need to be receptive and the more receptive we are, the faster it will happen and the more powerful will be the experience. I would say that is what happened to me in India. I didn’t even meet the teacher, I just met this group but my readiness was just so much. I was just so intensely desiring this higher state of consciousness that the group that was practicing the discipline, guided by the Guru, was able to help me to lift.
Once the spark is lit within a person, the responsibility is really with the person to continue to keep that spark alive and to be committed to discipline. The responsibilities of the student in the learning process is huge.
Question:
Does everyone have to have a guru to awaken this shift in them? What about those who are unaware of this?
Sri Vasudeva:
I don’t think that Guru is a man and I do believe that everybody needs a guru at some stage or another. There are rare souls who in this life may not need a physical guru. They may come evolved and just by the force of their own spiritual discipline, they may become completely awakened. But they would have had a guru, I would believe, in past lives before. The idea of ‘guru,’ for me is an expansive idea. So a book can become your guru when written by someone who is in a higher state of consciousness. That book can actually inspire you and awaken higher states of consciousness in you if you are receptive.
The human being who carries that guru power inside can also be the means of awakening. And the whole universe can become a guru. For example, when you are spiritually awakened, you begin to receive messages from everywhere and you begin to see as if the whole world is teaching you. That’s why I focus so much on spiritual awakening. When you become awakened inside, you begin to realize that the Guru is not a man but the Guru is a power in the universe that can guide you through a book, through dreams that can guide you from within and from the universe itself by so many of the instruments that the higher consciousness is able to manifest in. So that’s how I see Guru. I never think of Guru as a human being. I think of Guru as a divine power flowing through a human being coming to you in a moment of need and responding to your deeper desire for spiritual growth.
Once you become conscious and more awakened, the whole world can become the Guru and this is good for you to see. Then you have respect for everybody and you think that the universe can speak to you through that person. That’s what I’d love to see – when people can respect everybody and can learn from everybody and feel that the whole world has become the Guru. That’s how I feel. If I want to find out information, I ask questions and I see the universe responding to me through any and everybody, enlightening me in different areas. So the whole world becomes the Guru.
Question:
Can nature awaken you?
Sri Vasudeva:
Well if you are ripe and ready for awakening, nature certainly can awaken you. Nature has many energies that can lift you. Some people go to the forest and the forces of nature there can bring them into a space of calmness and therein comes the spiritual light from inside. When the mind becomes calm, the light from inside comes on. So certainly nature can bring about an awakening.
Question:
Multi-dimensional awareness appears to be opposite to one pointed awareness. Is the former useful for the outer world and the latter important to penetrate the inner world?
Sri Vasudeva:
Multidimensional awareness means that you are aware of different levels of your being at the same time. It means I am aware of my physical being. I am also aware of my energy being – energy through my words, through my eyes, energy of my thoughts, my emotions. And I am conscious of all of those energies at the same time. That’s multidimensional awareness. An awareness that there is a source inside of me that I am channeling all at the same time. One pointedness means that I am focused on one thing. So I can focus on one thing multidimensionally. Definitely we can do both. It is not opposite to one pointed awareness. The both can go together. And they are all important for the outer world. You understand the outer world better with multi dimensional awareness. And one pointed awareness is important for everything you do whether it is a worldly task or whether it is a spiritual task. It is able to help you to penetrate into anything that you are doing.
If you need to make a decision, you need to have penetrative power of analysis. If you are selecting something, you need to be able to have penetrating power to be able to see all the different sides that need to be seen in making a selection. And if you’re going deeper spiritually, you need to have penetrative power whenever you see blocks, wherever they are. You need to be able to deal with them with penetrative power. So I don’t see a difference between the world and spirituality. It’s all one. When you begin to touch the depth of your being, everything you do is better. So I see both as one – the spiritual and worldly work together. Once you develop skills in the spiritual, they enhance your worldly skills.
Comment:
Going to work is not nice these days because the energy is so nice we want to stay at home and follow the live broadcasts all the time.
Question:
Is there a difference between having the ‘spark of light’ lit within, and shaktipat?
Sri Vasudeva:
'Shakti’ means ‘energy’ and ‘pat’ means ‘movement – a downward movement or descent.’ So ‘shaktipat’ really means the movement of energy from someone higher to someone lower – from someone who has to give to someone who needs to get. We get the most powerful shaktipat from those who are fully enlightened, fully in the Source. When they come before us and we are ready, we feel a huge shift in the consciousness. But other people can give us small doses of it to inspire us. Not everyone can come to the masters who have it but it is important to know that there are stages on the journey and we can be helped by someone at a lower stage and we prepare ourselves more. When we come before a real master, the question is, are we ready? And if we are not, sometimes we are unable to take the full power of the master and we begin to feel impure and we begin to feel, “I can’t handle this. It’s too much for me.” So it’s good when we can work on the other levels with people who can help us there.
So the universe has other teachers who can prepare us until we are really ready for the master teachers. So all the teachers are important. It’s not necessary to think, “I need to have the strongest master now.” You need to think, “Am I ready for the strongest master?” Because you can meet the strongest master and not be ready and he will push us back to the others who will help us.
Question:
You spoke of losing the connection with the divine Source. When does that happen?
Sri Vasudeva:
When the soul comes into a body, then very naturally, it is in darkness because the body brings it into a state of darkness so the connection with the Source is lost. So just coming into this physical body brings us into a state of ignorance. We forget who we really are. And as we grow up, we think we are the body so we have lost the awareness of the Source. If you have a disconnection in this life, it’s more than likely that you had it in your last life as well. If you had spiritual awakening in your last life, then it’s easy to become awakened in this life. Whatever we had in the last is certainly going to show up in this life.
Question:
So does this feeling of loneliness, of separateness come from another life?
Sri Vasudeva:
Absolutely.
Comment:
I notice if I look at myself in the mirror I think, “How did this happen?” And I know that my mother who is 90 years old, thinks the same thing. – still feels like a child. That part of us that doesn’t age is so apparent in those moments when we realize that we are not the body.
Sri Vasudeva:
It makes a huge difference when you are aware that you are not the body.
Question:
I recently severed my affiliation with my church because I wasn’t getting the things that I was looking for from that person, that group. I was curious about ….
Sri Vasudeva:
When you become more spiritually aware, you bring value to a congregation. So do you really have to move away from some of the things that you were born into or can you contribute more as you become more spiritually aware? Let’s say for example, you grew up reading the Bible and then you think, “But those people who are reading the Bible, I don’t really see much difference in them. They’re not changing.” The Bible is a powerful book. When you become more spiritually awakened, you would be surprised when you read that same Bible, you understand it differently. And when you are more spiritually awakened and you go to church – the kind of conversation you would have with people – they would be inspired by your presence there. And you may bring more value to the church by being inside of the church rather than outside of the church. That’s another way of looking at it.
I don’t like to burn bridges. I was born a Hindu and now my thoughts are beyond Hinduism but I love all the things in Hinduism and I wouldn’t reject going to a temple or sitting with people who are doing the practices, simply because I am a little more aware.
Comment:
You mentioned that the universe responds. You can walk by the television and hear a sentence that is significant for you. And the thing that came to mind was that the truth can be told by a liar and you don’t know where it’s coming from.
Sri Vasudeva:
Exactly, and I respect that. I will listen to every and anybody and I will sift it for what I need. It doesn’t matter who is the person who is bringing it – how credible they are. But for me the knowledge is important.
Question:
Before I met you, I had a dream where you came and sat by my side and I looked into your eyes. Is that Kundalini?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, certainly it is. You were responding to my energy.
Question:
Describes a past spiritual experience and not knowing what it was, ‘shut it down.’
Sri Vasudeva:
I do believe that when the student is ready the master will appear. So you were being reawakened from the past and when the need really arose and the time was right, that’s when we would have met.
Question:
I am curious if you know the connection between hot flashes and Kundalini.
Sri Vasudeva:
Well, of course, I am no expert on hot flashes but Kundalini will bring you energy experiences that are warm and I think that the medical doctor will be the best person to tell you. If the doctor can’t find a reason for the hot flashes, then it’s Kundalini. You need to check the doctor first and rule out a physical cause because the symptoms may be similar as Kundalini also brings about heat in the body.
Question:
I can see that some children have come, already awakened. Does it mean they will meet a guru in this life to help them manage the energies? Can the power of the universal guru be their guide unconsciously?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, but that has to be a very rare young person. Most persons need a guru. I needed a guru. I don’t think I could have done without that. But I took a lot of self responsibility. So though I had a guru, I didn’t need the guru to have a stick over me, or to enforce discipline on me. I was already self - disciplined. So we do need a teacher. Only on rare occasions will a person not need a teacher.
When young people are growing up and they are spiritually awakened, their awakened energies can be unbalanced. That’s why we hear about indigo children and young people not being satisfied with their school and ending up delinquent because they cannot be guided properly. I think it’s extremely important for us to help young people manage their energies. And if you find young people are coming to our groups, that’s a good sign because here, we can offer them a certain kind of guidance with respect to energy. But I would say that most of us in the world do need teachers. Teachers are very important in helping us deal with the energies we experience, to manage them and to be able to go deeper into our spiritual growth.
Question:
Should I control the spontaneous Kundalini body movements when I am in the temple?
Sri Vasudeva: Subtle movements that are not noticeable, you can allow but when movements become too much, you need to manage them when you are in a public setting. Otherwise it may cause too much attention and some people may become confused thinking that’s what they need to go through as well.
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