Sri Vasudeva:
I want to thank those who are sending questions and feedback. That allows me to see what you are grasping and it also guides me in crafting the talks so that they meet your needs. The Forty Days are continuing to be a wonderful magical period. It’s really a period full of grace. We are seeing many little miracles taking place which I’m sure are happening in your life as well and we’re really thankful for them. We had a wonderful one today. My parrot Garuda, who was lost some months ago, reappeared today, so it must be the miracle of the Forty Days. We are rehabilitating him again but it’s wonderful to have him - another miracle of the Forty Days.
THE SOURCE REMAINS UNTOUCHED
Question:
You said the Source creates everything and everything in the universe is a manifestation of the Source. Yet even though the Source does that, it remains untouched. So since the Source is also inside of us, does that mean in an ideal world, we should be untouched by everything we create?
Sri Vasudeva:
When you say, “We should be untouched,” are you referring to your physical body that you
know or to the Source that you have not yet realized?
Reply:
I think it’s the physical body.
Sri Vasudeva:
Well the physical body cannot know it. It means that the awareness has to expand until you can actually feel that there is something within you that seems to be untouched by all the things that are happening to you. And that’s a possibility. There will be a time when you will actually see all of life as though it’s a drama – a play that is happening and you’re watching it from a different space.
Question:
Is it the physical body that judges and thinks?
Sri Vasudeva:
You’re saying “the physical body” but it’s also your mental being - your limited mental being. You are aware of your thoughts and you are aware of your mental processing but it’s limited because your mind is not able to be aware or to allow the Source to come in, in fullness. So your mind is still working in a limited zone of ignorance and is unable to channel ideas from the Source as yet in fullness. It means that mind and heart are operating in a lower level (in limitation). So that’s who you are. You are the Source operating in a limited way. That’s why you will not be able to experience what I’m saying fully until you become much more aware.
When you ask, “Is it true I am the Source operating?” It is, but you are the Source operating in
limitation because you do not know yet that you are the full Source looking at everything.
LEARNING FROM THE CAUSAL BODY
Question:
What is it that we must seek to know from the causal body? Should we seek energy patterns so
we can change them or should we look for the consciousness in the causal body?
Sri Vasudeva:
The causal body is an information body. Experiences from the past are stored inside of you, in
the causal body. Your life here now, is influenced by all that is in the causal body. Sometimes when you’re sitting and you’re quietly contemplating, a lot of thoughts about different things arise. They are coming up from your causal body. But you do not want to be disturbed by your
causal body. If anything, you want to be lifted by the beautiful experiences that are stored in the causal body. That’s why the causal body is important. You can look at the negative things that come to destabilize you and to pull you from moving forward in your path. And you can look at the positive and uplifting things that will help you on the path. But be careful of those that are negative and pull you down. So when these are coming up, they are opportunities to learn how to deal with them differently.
Question:
If I give attention to something negative (like negative impulses from the causal body), will I make them stronger?
Sri Vasudeva:
You need to give attention to it, not to make it stronger but to learn how to deal with it. When it comes up, you can say, “I’m seeing this here now. What do I do with this? How do I treat this?
How did Sri Vasudeva say to deal with this? How did this book say to deal with this? What is my experience of dealing with this in the past?” And you begin to review different ways of dealing with it. So do not think that by contemplating it you’re making it stronger. In fact this contemplation you’re doing will make it weaker.
Question:
How do I improve my contemplation?
Sri Vasudeva:
It’s easy isn’t it? When something comes up inside of you that you do not like, what do you do?
You begin to think about how to deal with it. Then you need to really look at it carefully to see what it’s doing to you and what are the possibilities in dealing with it. For example if it’s a relationship with someone, then you need to look at the relationship carefully. “Why is this relationship causing me pain? Is it because of some weakness inside of me? Is it because of some quality of the person that is not good? Is it because I’m not dealing with it in the right way?” So you begin to look at it from different angles. And if you can see by observing and contemplating and processing, you begin to see different ways of treating it so that you can heal it. That’s why you give it attention.
Comment:
Sometimes a memory comes up and I push it away.
Sri Vasudeva:
You push away the things that you have already dealt with, that you’ve processed and analyzed, and you know that they’re not good for you. You know that sugar is not good for you. You’ve processed that many times and you’ve gone through all the chemical analysis so you
know it’s not good for you but there is a weakness for the sugar. So when it’s comes up, you say “I’m pushing you away. I know you’re not good for me” because you have concluded that already. So those are the things not to keep on contemplating because you know them. You know they are not good for you. You know the whole story about them.
Question:
And that’s not suppressing it?
Sri Vasudeva:
No.
Question:
Quoting from Sri Sri Vasudeva’s earlier talk: “So when we speak about the Source becoming imperfect, it is able to sustain all of this creation whilst having its essence unchanged.” What do you mean when you say “the Source becoming imperfect”?
Sri Vasudeva:
Well if you are the Source and you have come into a physical body and the Source is now experiencing pain and negative thoughts in the physical body and all of these negative things that it created, some people ask, “Why did it choose to come into an imperfect situation? Why didn’t it choose to stay in bliss all the time – because it can create bliss only and not anything that is negative and painful?” It has created pain. It has created destruction in the universe. So I said even though it’s creating all of these, it still remains untainted. Even though it is experiencing
pain, a part of it is unchanged. Its essence is unchanged. So that’s what I meant.
Reply:
So the essence is not imperfect. That’s what you mean. Thank you.
CONFIDENTIAL FILES OF THE CAUSAL BODY
Question:
Is there a unique collective energy causal field in which are gathered all the past lives of all the beings as a huge library? And can we access it?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, there is a collective causal field with all the information about everybody and I’m sure it can be accessed if you really need and learn how to access this but I’m sure that the powers that be would not allow anybody to go into anybody’s file just like that. So I’m sure that all these files are held in confidential places and only accessible to those who need them for the right reasons. So I don’t think it’s just privy that anybody can go into these files of other people’s personal lives unless they are given permission. So this might be another complex issue that is outside the discussion of today. But certainly, I’m sure all information in the universe is accessible and can be accessed by those who have the grace to access them.
Question:
Why do I feel more energized and a part of natural environments?
Sri Vasudeva:
Natural environments have positive energy like the energy of trees and plants and nature - it’s uplifting. They’re more in harmony than environments where human beings are with destructive thinking in the mix of people. So natural environments are always uplifting because plant consciousness and basic animal consciousness are…they’re more peaceful, they’re freer. And even though we see animals at times, fighting or struggling, at other times they’re completely peaceful. And especially plants and plant life - they have wonderful consciousness with them. So in nature, their energy is always beautiful.
HYPNOSIS
Question:
Would hypnosis be faster than self-discovery of past lives?
Sri Vasudeva:
Well hypnosis is one of the major tools we use to get into the discovery of past lives. Hypnosis
is the process of going deeper inside that consciousness and retrieving information so I think that is what we use to go into the past lives - the main tool. Apart from that, some people may revisit their past lives in dreams or through experiences they have or maybe trance experiences they have which would be the same kind of experience that hypnotists would bring to you.
Comment:
The reason why I asked about hypnosis is because psychotherapy seemed limiting in helping me
change. I was told that I had consciously repressed memories in this life though I’m aware of the
limitation of clinical therapy.
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, hypnosis is a good therapy if you have a good therapist. They can take you back into early
childhood memories or into past lives – and by going back through those we are able to process
differently and to get rid of some of those things. So I think it’s wonderful when you can do that.
But what I’m also teaching, is the ability to look at your own lifetime, the context of your own life and what challenges you every day. And to try to use the tools that you have – the spiritual tools of the meditation, of the chanting, of the breathing, of the chakras so that you can open up the chakras more and you can become more powerful within your own being. The things of the past do not affect you anymore when you go deeper into spiritual awareness or when you go into a higher level of consciousness. So you can deal with a number of these things as apart from using hypnosis.
Question:
Everybody is talking about past lives. How about future lives, because time does not exist in the
Source?”
Sri Vasudeva:
We didn’t get into too many details about past lives. I was just saying that it’s useful but I wasalso saying that we don’t need to go deep into past lives. This life has enough information to
help us to penetrate inner spaces in us and future lives will really depend on what we’re doing in this life. I tell people how important this life is and how we already carry the burdens of the last life in this one and we need to look at those burdens rather than try to find out many more things about past lives.
And the truth is, if we were able to penetrate the chakras and go deeper in this lifetime then we can deal with all the burdens we have from past lives. So this lifetime has all the power to deal with the problems of many lifetimes and to create the platform for future lives if we need them. But the journey is to be free of all lifetimes ultimately.
Question:
Can you please explain what you were saying about tracking identities and going deeper?
Sri Vasudeva:
‘Tracking identities’ means becoming more aware of your subtle identities. That’s tracking the identity - trying to experience what they are within you. And that’s what going deeper is. Whilst you go within to experience your identities inside, you are going deeper. So it’s a process of experiencing, exploring, identifying those different identities within you. And that’s what I’ve been trying to guide you to do, not just in this forty days but throughout all the other days that we have been interacting. And that’s the process. The process of inner self-discovery is the tracking of self-identities in the inner space.
LIFE IS A DRAMA
Question:
Guruji you were talking about this life as really a play. Could you explain that? And what kind
of goal does this play have? And where are we all heading to in this play?”
Sri Vasudeva:
Well a play is like a drama. When we create a drama, let’s say in terms of acting, then we know that whatever we are doing doesn’t change the essential character of the person. So let’s say I am playing a vagabond or a thug in a drama – even though I’m appearing evil and negative in the drama or the play, my essential being, Sri Vasudeva, is not being changed by this drama that I am playing. So all the roles that we play in life, father, mother, friend, king, teacher, doctor, lawyer - whatever it might be – all these are dramas because they don’t change the essential nature of the Self.
These are roles that we assume and these are roles that we’re going to have to leave behind when we leave this life. So when we come into this life, we take up different roles based on our choice, and we have to leave them and the Self remains the same Self inside – essentially the same Self.
Our ego may become transformed or influenced or shaped by these experiences but the Self which is beneath the ego is unchanged by the whole ego – it remains unchanged. So by the viewpoint of the Self, it’s all a drama. From the viewpoint of the ego that’s involved, it may not seem to be any drama. But from the viewpoint of the Self that is unchanged by the whole experience, it is a drama. Can you understand that?
Reply:
I understand it but it still leaves me with the question “Why?”
Sri Vasudeva:
Why what?
Reply:
… the Self has all those parts it played in all those lifetimes …
Sri Vasudeva:
You have all those parts you played in all the lifetimes. Just say, “I have.” The Self is really you speaking now through an ego.
Question:
What is the purpose of the drama?
Sri Vasudeva:
Well if the Self has become involved in the material dimension where it is ignorant now (it has imposed this onto itself) then the goal, as it seems, is to come back into that place of awareness. So, I am a created being and that which is inside of me is much higher than me – I cannot understand it, it’s far beyond my mind. All that I know is that I am here. If I asked a million questions about why I am here, I’m still going to be here. So there are some questions that I cannot begin to explain except to say, “This is what I find myself in.”
But what I’m discovering is that there is a part of me that is unchanged by all of this drama I am playing. What I’m discovering is that as I go inside of me, I’m finding more and more peace, more and more happiness. So it seems to me that this drama that we have on the outside is not really the place of happiness but it’s inside of me so I’m discovering certain things based on my experiences in life.
What I’m finding in this lifetime, what I’m discovering in this lifetime, is that when I get involved in certain things there is pain. And when I get involved in other things, I’m able to go into a deeper place. So I’m learning through trial and error, through experiences, to realize that there is something more powerful inside of me that I need to understand. And in beginning to understand that, I am thinking maybe this is the purpose of this journey.
But I’ll never fully understand all of this drama until I find that place inside, so I can ask a million questions in the ignorance but these questions will become answered completely when I find that space inside. And perhaps these questions will not even exist when I find that place inside.
Question:
That is what you experienced?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes.
Question:
Are the seven chakras the same as the Source?”
Sri Vasudeva:
No they’re not the Source. They’re what the Source created. So the Source is able to create all of these tools. It is able to create them but it is the power behind all of these.
‘AHA’ EXPERIENCES
Question:
Describes an experience when, during conversation with Sri Sri Vasudeva, she felt uplifted. How do you bring it back (the heightened awareness) because it seems to come and go when you least expect it and I know the idea is to live permanently in that space.
Sri Vasudeva:
Well it’s a matter of effort and grace. So you think of these circumstances when you were lifted,
like in our conversation: What was I speaking about? How receptive you were? What might have triggered it? And then you look again to see if you can simulate it and if it isn’t happening, continue to observe, don’t get frustrated, continue to observe. And when it does happen again, try to observe how it is taking place. But it is a repeatable experience. You just have to learn how to do it.And meditation can help you to get there. That’s why we make the effort in meditation. So I would think or I would ask the question “Are you making the right effort in the meditation to draw this experience into your being?”
Question:
So the more I can get into that space in meditation, the more it’s likely to happen outside?
Sri Vasudeva:
Absolutely. Meditation is the ground where you practice.
Student:
I find when I have these “aha” experiences I usually think it’s going to be easy to get again.
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, but don’t get caught up in these “aha” things because they’re only momentary. Study how you can keep the “aha” longer. Because we can be glorifying the “aha” moments when they’re gone and we need to begin to learn how to bring them consciously. So that’s what I’m trying to help you to do in these days – to consciously bring it before you or to lift yourself to experience it.
Student:
For more than just a moment.
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, for more than just a moment.
BAD DREAMS
Question:
I have a question about dreams. Ever since I’ve been here, in this ashram, in this energy I’ve felt
really good, really positive especially with the Siva chants in the nighttime. I feel really good. And when I go to bed, when I walk to the dorm, I feel really good and I’m really excited, I’m feeling all this energy. But for the last four or five days I’ve been having really bad dreams like bad things happen. Is that because of the cleansing I’m doing?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes because of the cleansing process, yes.
Question:
So eventually they’ll disappear?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, eventually they’ll disappear.
Comment:
These days I feel a cleaning out of my causal body, making me more aware of my joyful being. Thanks for being my lifeline in this lifetime to hold on to go deeper in this journey.”
Sri Vasudeva:
Thank you, and keep the cleaning going. We need a lot of cleaning in this lifetime and everywhere too so we can bring more light. So keep it up. I’m very happy with that.
Question:
What does it mean when someone says that I have to search my mind and memory to remember
my birthright?
Sri Vasudeva:
Well your birthright is to become a realized being, to become enlightened and I don’t know how you have to search your mind unless you mean looking deeper within yourself to see what are the things you need to do in this lifetime, the things that you came to learn in this lifetime. Maybe by searching your inner being you can find out the things that you came to learn – the relationships that you have challenges with, the things that challenge you, the weaknesses that you have within you. If you are able to see these, then you’ll see some of the things that you came to learn in this lifetime. So by searching your inner being you can discover some of the things you came to learn in this lifetime (if you mean that). But of course the birthright in every lifetime is to become free.
Question:
Our roles do not change the Self but does the Self influence the roles we play?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes definitely. That’s a good point. Our roles do not change the Self but the Self can influence.
But contact with the Self is what is important because if you can’t contact the deeper Self, then the roles would not be influenced as it should or as you would want to have it. So the contact is what is important – finding that Self inside. That’s what I would say.
THE DIMENSIONLESS SOURCE
Student:
I was wondering if you can tell anything about the size of the Source?
Sri Vasudeva:
The Source in its essential nature is dimensionless. This means it as no size - it’s beyond size. We cannot put “size”. It created “size” but it’s far beyond.
Student:
You said that the universe has two elements and one is consciousness and the other is the energy
that it brings. What do you mean when you say ‘universe’?
Sri Vasudeva:
If you look outside, all that you see is the universe. The universe is everything that we can grasp
with our senses, that’s around us – planets, stars, earth. We are living in a universe and it’s a created universe because everything in the material world is created.
Student:
But doesn’t the universe have dimensions?
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, but I’m also saying that though our universe may have a dimension (though we’re finding none to it), whatever created us doesn’t exist in time. This universe has been created, so it exists
in time. All the material things we know are created, they live for a certain amount of time and then they’re gone. So we can expect the same of this universe. But whatever has created this universe, will continue to create more. We are finding that creation is a continuous process so it must be coming from a Source that is far beyond time and has no dimension and is creating everything infinitely. That’s why we are saying that whatever the Source is, we’ll never know it – actually none of us will never know it because once we merge into the Source we’ll not know, we become it, so we’ll not know it. So none of us can ever say what it will be because once we
merge into the Source there will be nobody to say what it is.
So all we can say now is “this is what we feel that it is.” And we feel that it cannot be described. We cannot put a size to it. We cannot put a time to it because if we put a size to it then we limit it and if we put a time to it then we limit it. That’s what we feel.
GUIDANCE
Student:
If someone is not in contact with the Source, is there still guidance available? Are we guided unconsciously or are we just doing our own thing?
Sri Vasudeva:
Well there are all forms of guidance. Guidance is when somebody helps us on the way to sort out things or to show us the path that we want to go along. Guidance is when someone is showing us, instructing us, leading us. That’s guidance. And there are all forms of guidance. There is guidance to achieve anything that we want to achieve or to become anything that we want to become – there is guidance in our world. You want to become a professor? There’s guidance to do that. You want to become a musician? There’s guidance for that. You want to become an artist? There is guidance for that. You want to become a scientist or a priest? There is guidance for that. And if you want to become enlightened or self-realized, there is guidance for that. So all you need to do is to decide what you want and look for the appropriate guidance. But the guidance is necessary.
And in some of the guidance, the ego is built up so the person becomes learned - persons of intellect. Others are more involved in artistic things and they work within intuition, with inner sense.
And some want to not just develop an ego but to learn how to manage the ego and to channel the most powerful part of their being or to even know the most powerful part of their being. So in a way they’re trying to transform the ego so they can understand what is behind the ego. So this is the journey of self-realization and there is guidance for that as well.
So in some instances we build the ego in a certain way, in the professions or whatever else we are doing, and in some cases we try to transform the ego to be a servant or to be in surrender. So all different kinds of transformations are available for the ego and all kinds of guidance, depending on what we want to achieve.
Student:
Say that the goal would be self-realization in this case, guidance can of course come from outside and guidance can come from inside.
Sri Vasudeva:
A lot of guidance that can come from outside of you. There are many people in this world who’d like to tell you how to become self-realized and a lot will charge you money for that as well and give you pleasurable ways to think that you can become self-realized. There are a lot of things outside for guidance but you have to be circumspect. You have to be smart and to see if this is the guidance you want. So you have to look for the genuine teachers who are truly free. Only those who are free can set others free. So you have to have the ability to actually sift through these teachers and decide, “This is the one I want” because you will meet all kinds of teachers. So all kinds of guidance are available on the path so you have to have the sense of what you want and the commitment to follow that.
Comment:
Keeping a multi-dimensional awareness makes me feel bigger and more powerful and extremely
connected to all.
Comment:
What I liked very much was the part of the enlightened state where you said it’s not just the becoming, getting into a blissful state and centering into the essence of your being, but bringing it into the world and expressing it in everything that you do. For me that’s a goal to strive for.
Sri Vasudeva:
Yes, it’s not just about coming into a space but also bringing that inner space into everything we
do – which I think is what the Blue Star teaches: How to bring spirituality into every aspect of daily life.
Comment:
What stayed most with me was the idea that the Source being beyond duality and dimension or time, brings out of it Self, dimension, duality and time. For me that became very nice. Of course
I have heard it before but it was so strange – being the Self beyond time beyond everything and bringing everything into manifestation in duality in time and dimensions … how unique.
CHOOSING A TEACHER
Question:
What guides us to choose our teacher? Is it the Source that makes us choose?
Sri Vasudeva:
Well because we’re not able to be fully in the highest consciousness of the Source and we might
be in a lower consciousness, we select teachers from that consciousness. We are likely to choose what we think might be the best, right? But it doesn’t necessarily mean that they would be the best. But the purer we become inside, then the better we’ll be able to judge or to assess on the outside. So the more spiritual we become or the clearer in the inner space we become, the better we are able to make choices on the outside. And when we can’t then we need to be able to trust the judgment of other people “What do you think of this teacher? What did he do for you? Tell me a little bit about how this teacher helps you.” And then we become inspired by what people say when we don’t know fully or we cannot make a decision – we go by the experiences of others.
But there’ll come a time when we’ll say, “I like what I see in this teacher. I see some things there that I cannot fully understand but it all seems good and I can feel it – so I can feel that this teacher can help me.” So when that time comes then we know that we’re choosing right.
RECOGNIZING GRACE
Student:
I read where you said, “When you begin to experience a little more through right guidance and grace, you begin to feel another part of your existence.” But how can one recognize grace?
Sri Vasudeva:
But that’s what grace means. Grace means when you’re being helped, when you’re making an effort and you can actually feel that some response, some positive response, is coming and you’re lifted by it or it brings beautiful things to you.
Student:
So if I ask any question and for example and I get the answer, that’s grace?
Sri Vasudeva:
That’s grace, yes.
TELESCOPIC VISION
Comment:
I was wondering what it would be like to have telescopic vision.
Sri Vasudeva:
I think we’ve been given quite powerful enough senses to work with already. I don’t know whether we deserve more. I don’t know that you’d want your eyes to have that degree of vision
because that (laughing) size of eyes or complexity of eyes - I don’t know whether you’d want to maintain that. I’m just trying to justify my universe for creating this. I just think it’s a marvelous creation and it suits the purpose. And the ultimate purpose of this body is to realize the Self inside, the full potential. This is already a wonderful creation.
Question:
Does the kind of guide that comes into one’s life depend on what aspect of the being one wants to explore?
Sri Vasudeva:
I would say that and I would say many guides would come to you from different fields and you’re attracted to them based on what is inside of you. And so if you’re attracted to many different teachers and many different kinds of guides, that means you have many different things inside of you that you want to explore. So life brings anything that you want, based on where your desires are. And the choice is yours – to choose your goal, to choose your guide and to choose the process.
Closing comments
The main goal in life is to discover the inner Self and then all of life becomes a wonderful adventure of spirit in matter. Thank you very much.
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