Dear All,
We asked Mohanji questions about “The Tradition” on 12 July 2011. When Mohanji was talking about the tradition, it was as if the tradition was speaking through him. He was expressing The Tradition explicitly. His voice was different and he looked profound. Energy was intense. These words on the Tradition are coming directly from the source. They have been transcribed and presented here as it is without change in grammar or without making any corrections.
Love and regards,
BTW Team
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Mohanji, what is a tradition? What tradition do you follow?
Tradition is like an eternal river. It continues to flow. There is no beginning there is no end. All the differentiation such as physical form, ideas, and knowledge - everything conglomerates into one. So the tradition is eternal. It began before the time began or when the time began. It will continue till the time ends. At each point in time, somebody will come up to express the path, the tradition. So, if you look at any Master, or name any Master, they are part of one tradition, irrespective of cast, creed, country, culture, community or philosophy. The substratum is love from which everything evolved. All differentiations are momentary and temporary like waves of the sea. It keeps shifting and changing.
So, if you ask me how to enter or go in the tradition. It is very simple.
In our tradition,
one main aspect is PURITY; the purity, in every thought, word and action.
And second is FAITH; the absolute faith.
Not just faith for the sake of it. One should have absolute faith in your ‘self’ i.e your soul and through the soul to the infinite entity and its representations. We are all representations of one infinite entity. If one follows these two aspects of tradition, FAITH and PURITY in every thought, word and action; you are already in the tradition.
Purity in thought, word and action is nothing but selflessness.
You are not doing anything selfish. All your steps are unselfish in every way. One does not need any initiation or guidance to be in the tradition.
You also do not need any knowledge.
Masters will come to you. If you follow any Masters or you are in search of any Master, that is not real; because you are searching in terms of what you want and not what you need. You do not exactly know what you need. You know that you need a Master. You search for one and you find him out. Then you realize, this is not the one I am looking for. Then you need a detour. Like this, most of the people are going round and round. In our tradition, if you just follow certain principles, Masters come to you. It could be in any form. One will get appropriate Master at appropriate time, for an appropriate purpose. When you were in 3rd class, you could only take that teacher and not the 4th class teacher! The 10th standard teacher also cannot come and attend to you in the 3rd std. Likewise, at each point in time, as you evolve, such a Master will come. This is a beauty of our tradition. So, the tradition is basically the eternal flow of the river. It continues to flow.
If you happen to live in the path of PURITY, if you happen to have a lot of FAITH, or if you consciously cultivate these, and if you make the substratum or the operating tool as non-violence, in thoughts, words and actions,
you are home.
You are in the river. River takes you further.
You are sitting in a boat and you are not navigating. The flow and pace of the river takes you till the ocean. The ocean is infinity. The infinite Parabramha is the ocean. One can call Father or Allah, but one will reach there. There is no-where to go. It is right in front of you. You do not have to search for a Guru, he comes to you. He or She, there is no gender. Guru happens. Even if you are not on the earth, it is similar. You are not going in search of anything. You are ‘being’ something. And, the appropriate Guru has to happen to you. This is why, when Guru happens to you, there are no conflicts. If you search for a Guru, there is always a conflict. Because you are never sure of who is your Guru.
This is why in our tradition, no Guru ever binds any disciple to himself. If I bind you to myself, I am also bound.
My mobility is blocked, not only yours. Which Guru wants to be bound? Nobody!
In the path of liberation, which is our path, nobody binds you to anybody. Nobody puts any fear into anybody’s mind.
This is because it is completely non ethical. If I put you in fear, I bind you through fear. Fear is like a rope. But, if I liberate you or make you fearless, you might be on your own and that is exactly what I want.
You have to travel your path. The travelling is happening through you. Getting stagnated in the travel is anti-liberation. If I bind you to certain rituals, sadhanas and practices or mantras, these are all like boats in the river. It only helps you to cross the river. Then you have to walk again. You do not need to carry the boat when you go to the other side. You have to leave the boat. The sadhana will take you from one place to the other, mantras can take you to a certain level, but, you need to shade everything at some point in time. This is the non-conformity that I always talk about. You are not bound by anything; you are a free flowing river. You enjoy the every aspect of it. At every point, there is a new experience. Cherish those experiences. Do not say that-I did not read those experiences in somebody else’s book and I will not own it. This is absolute nonsense because your experience is unique to you. This is the path of our tradition. Stay liberated. Be liberated. Allow people to be liberated and continue with the flow of river.
It is a big family. Everybody comes together with a purpose. That is why we say,
ॐ सहना ववतु, सहनौ भुनक्तु, सहविर्यम् करवावहैI
तेजस्विना वधीतम् अस्तु, मा विदविशावहैI
ॐ शांति: शांति: शांति:II
Aum, Sahana Bhavathu, Sahanau Bhunaktu
Saha Veeryam Karavavahai
Thejaswina Vadhi Tamasthu Ma Vid Dwishavahai;
Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti
Shanti is in three levels, in the higher planes, in the terrestrial plane, and within us.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Is it necessary to name the tradition?
For the sake of intellect, you can name something. But where is your name when you are in deep sleep. In our everyday life, at a certain point in time, we do not know our identities. In the waking time we know. We are somebody else in the dream state. We are nullifying everything in deep sleep state. We go through these three states every day. You can name the tradition as Dattatreya tradition, Kriya Yoga tradition, Navanath tradition, any tradition you want; everything will blur at some point in time. You will not be sure that this is exactly the Dattatreya tradition. How would you know? When people name a tradition, they have to be careful. Are we like a brick on the wall? We are not. We are multidimensional. We have much more dimensions. When one says, I am this, be careful! There must be something extra. I am this as far as I know now. Tomorrow I may be better! I may have to dissolve what I said yesterday. My ideas might change. This is the non-conformity.
You do not have to put yourself in any frame. Do not allow yourself to be put into any frame. People like to put people in frames; so that they know, that this is the limit he will go to. But we are limitless. What do we do?
It always gives a kind of certainty and uncertainty. We do not even know our next thought. We do not know what we are going to think in the next moment. So there is an uncertainty about it. But there is also certainty about it. Change! I am sure, things will change. I am sure thoughts will happen. This is a certainty about it. Like that, let the river flow. Let’s not put the river into any bottle. We cannot put river into a bottle. We can put some drops of water in the bottle. That represents the river, but that is not the river. River is much more majestic. So, for your comfort and convenience sake, you can name it if you like. You can say, I belong to this tradition.
You can also tell people that
I follow this tradition. Like you say, I follow Mohanji!
What is Mohanji following?
I am following the Parabramha.
So ultimately where are you reaching?
You are reaching Parabramha and NOT Mohanji!
Me and my Father are one. You feel differentiation because we are sense oriented. You feel different than me, because you are not seeing the consciousness. The moment you start seeing and experiencing the consciousness, operating in the consciousness, how can there be differentiation. We are one. No gender, no time and no space. No age. Everything dissolves. One entity. Various expressions for the sake of purpose. There is a reason. The purpose is important. Expressions become purposeful. Relationships will become purpose-bound.
If relationship is rooted on a purpose, it can never dissipate. There will be no conflicts. Nowadays, relationships are based on expectations. That creates conflicts because my expectations and your reality might be different. And it should be different; because you are a karmic being and I am also a karmic being. We created our own unique constitution. Then, how can that be perfectly the same as others. It is not like we create hundred bricks from the mould. We are creating unique beings. Our own children will be different than us. Everyone is different. That is a beauty of existence.
Coming back to your question- should we name the tradition! Do we have to? Ask this fundamental question. If we name the tradition what purpose does it serve? Is it going to bind us further or liberate us further? If it is liberation, excellent! If it is binding, forget it! Our aim is liberation and not binding.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: So Bade Baba, Sai Baba, never followed any particular traditions? They also gave the message of liberation.
Absolutely. Did they, like Bhagavan Nityananda, ever say that I follow this tradition? Not that we know of!
Shirdi Baba never spoke about any tradition. He just lived it effortlessly and people followed Him.
Why did people go to Shirdi Baba? It is because they saw something in Him. He was extremely unassuming. There was no pomposity or pretensions. He was very natural and normal. He was living in a dilapidated mosque, but people saw something in Him. Those who had eyes to see, please stay. Those who could not see, went away from Him. This is the truth of life. Those who have eyes to see, they will see. Those who chose not to have eyes, they will not see, because they chose the blindness. If somebody has chosen blindness, let it be. It is not our duty or purpose to open their eyes forcefully. Even if you open eyes forcefully, they will not be benefited nor will we be benefited. There is a saying, “Do not try to teach a pig to sing! He will get bored with you”.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Sai Baba is said to be the fourth incarnation of Lord Dattatreya.
Well, Lord Dattatreya is not an entity per say. It is a representation of a much larger truth. If you look at Lord Dattatreya as an entity, and a being that will reincarnate in specific forms, I think we probably miss the truth.
Lord Dattatreya has appeared simultaneously in various locations. He has incarnated as various people at the same time. I would suggest, you look at Lord Dattatreya as the representation of the ultimate truth or Parabramha. Then it makes sense. He represents the truth because he is a conglomeration of Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva; the three aspects of our existence, the creation, preservation and the dissolution. When 3 becomes one, what happens. One is Parabramha. Three aspects are three representations of Parabramha. When 3 becomes 1, Lord Dattatreya represents the unity. So, he is the Parabramha. He represents the supreme Lord, beyond all forms. Remove the form which is acceptable by people, what do you see? Complete Parabramha; Perfect Parabramha; A powerful entity and the supreme entity Himself. I would not like to see Lord Dattatreya’s incarnation in chronological order. It does not gel with my understanding. I feel, Lord Dattatreya is an omnipresent being, living and expressing through various bodies. Some are very powerful incarnations such as Sai Baba. They are closer to that unique form of Lord Dattatreya. Some are at a different level. Some moved around in different societies for a different purpose. He is everywhere. I would like to look at it from a much larger scale than just a one to one incarnation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: What is Guru’s grace in the tradition?
Guru’s grace is natural. Once you are following the tradition of non-violence of thought, word and action, once your whole life is selfless, once you have firm faith, grace is byproduct. It flows. Gurus appear and grace appears. You do not have to go after it. Even if you go, you cannot get it.
You need to have eligibility to have Guru in life and get His grace.
If you create the ground, Guru’s grace flows. Guru has to happen. Eligibility is the criterion. Path is simple; FAITH, PURITY and NON-VIOLENCE.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Once I surrender, does tradition take care of me eternally.
Absolutely!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Guru says, you walk one step and I will take you 10 steps ahead.
That is what I say, you walk the path of faith and purity. Please understand clearly that you are not the walking path of any particular Guru. Gurus are coming to you. That is why I am insisting on having a particular image. In school, you never went in search of Guru. As you progressed, next standard Guru came to you. Maybe one teacher will take you to the highest. Maybe you will take one lifetime with one teacher. Do not think that every year you get a new teacher. You do not have to search. They come to you. In this path, Guru always appears.
Surrender is what?
Surrender is to the tradition. Please understand that very clearly. We are not surrendering to any particular human being. Sometimes that entity is a human being. Sometimes tradition represents through a human being. Tradition shows a person and we get attached to the person. In lifetimes, as the river flows you will see various scenarios. People come to your life and take you to the next level. It is a continuous process and over life times you go through this. Eventually you will evolve.
Patience and perseverance are very important. And Patience and perseverance will happen automatically, when surrender is complete.
Surrender gives you strength.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Is the tradition which you are following restricted to India or Hindu way of life?
NO way. If you follow the simple principles, you are in the tradition. If you follow faith, purity in thought, word and action, and non-violence, then where ever you are in the world does not matter, where were you born, who your parents are or your upbringing, nothing matters. You are in the tradition; it flows eternally. Time and space has no value.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Why then are Masters who are well known restricted to the Indian subcontinent?
There are a couple of reasons. Growth of certain plants needs a specific type of environment. Environment is important. Environment is conducive for such evolution to happen. When energy is released over meditation etc, it can induce more such effects on others. You may be pulled towards such place if you have the inclination where you can express yourself, or you can experience yourself, or you can experience what you strive for. Certain locations are conducive for material stuff, some locations are conducive for spiritual developments. That is why the lure of Himalaya’s happen. Why does Himalaya attract so many people? Ganga itself is representation of spirituality. Not only representation, you feel it there. Environment makes a big difference. Spirituality happens there.
It also depends on our sensitiveness. If you are not sensitive, you may feel nothing at a pilgrimage place. You will be looking only for restaurants. If you are chanting mantras in a particular room, people do get attracted towards the room and do feel the energy there. Mantra when chanted properly always provokes energy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: In spite of the tradition, which endorses simplicity, in a land like India, over the centuries, we are seeing a lot of transformation in form that people are getting attracted towards materialism, competition, selfishness, marketing of spirituality, making different packages, does this fit into the tradition?
It does not fit into the tradition. These are all signs of the times. How do you know who is Mohanji? You look at the figure and say this is Mohanji. Your attention is attracted to what falls in front of the eyes. Similarly, what senses can understand is easily sold. If I say something like consciousness, it is not a product. You need to work hard to understand consciousness. But when I say cake or an ice cream, you can immediately understand because you can see it in front of your eyes. Your senses will work and mind will know. Marketing is for the conscious mind and not for the subconscious mind. You can market only that thing which can be understood by the conscious mind, what you can see and what is tangible. That is why lot of sadhanas and spiritual practices are packaged. People buy it because there is something tangible. You pay a price, you get something in return.
When I say, walk this path of PURITY, there are no guarantees and results depend on you etc!; this is confusing for people; because they ask where is the tangibility.
Sense oriented persons will fall for tangible, physical things. This is filling the gap, you are not progressing. One can continue this as long as you want to fill the gap. People do not like space in the mind. One tries to fill it up with something. Instead of going to the pub, you go for spiritual practices. You feel better off that, you involved in this act, which could be termed as better, than getting drunk. But, actually are you better off? You are actually swapping one habit for the other. Overall you feel you have progressed, but in reality, you have added another habit into your system. People who sell this do not have a problem because this is what they actually want. You are habituated with something and they extract money further.
Most of the commodities also have short shelf life; e.g. mobile phones. New models are brought to the market. They want you to throw the old and buy the new. No one wants you to use the same for the next ten years. The same goes for spiritual practice packages also. Bottom line is money. So, when I say follow a path of non-doing or beingness, express your purity in every thought, word and action; it is non-tangible for people. I am saying something to which you may not get easily connected with. You may have to practice a lot to reach there. Who wants it? But what if this guarantees growth!? This also guarantees self-sufficiencies!. This will guarantee liberation.
I am not saying you follow me. I am saying if you follow these simple principles such as purity and non-violence in every thought, word and action, and have firm faith in whichever Guru you are going to, or whichever god you like, have unchanging firm faith, and whatever happens, you should not change path – which means consistency, automatically you will see yourself progressing.
You will not be interested in things around you, you will not be interested in knowing that people appreciate you or criticize you, you may not be interested in stuff which you see in the market. Overall, there are more benefits, but who buys this. Society accepts only tangible things. In our things, people ask for scientific proof. You want Gurus to be guinea pigs to prove scientifically, and by the time you prove, Guru is in a picture on the wall!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: What is the role of religious rituals with regards to the tradition?
These are all comforts. I did my pooja in the morning, I feel good. It is a feeling. I brushed my teeth in the morning, without brushing I do not feel comfortable. Likewise, we add habit to our system. Are you applying yourself in the pooja? Is pooja taking you to the next level of awareness? This question needs to be asked. You should ask this question for each ritual that you do. Why are we doing pooja? We feel, God needs to be happy. God does not need our poojas. Through pooja, we trying to reach closer to the consciousness that God represents! By using mantras and rituals, if you are reaching the level, this is excellent. This is what is supposed to happen. Is it exactly happening that way? People say, “because my grandfather was doing this, my father followed, I am also doing the same thing. I do not know the meaning of mantra or rituals”. This will never help.
While you are doing pooja, Mind is travelling elsewhere. How can we progress if mind is not with the mantras? If mind is with ice cream, you will relish it. If mind is with mantras, they will purify you. Mantra will go to your spine and every nadi. Casual chanting of mantras and doing rituals will have no benefit. No benefit. Only a part of mind says, ‘oh, I did this today’. You feel uncomfortable without doing pooja, meditation or ritual. This problem will be solved if you do it with mind in it. Apart from that, spiritual growth? I doubt. Any ritual or it also could be meditation. That is why I said, everything should be a boat to cross the river. Do not carry the boat on your head. When you reach the next river; another boat will be available when you have to cross another river, if you have firm faith and conviction. Have faith. That faith should be there. This will keep us liberated.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Tradition promotes simplicity in life, non-violence in thought, word and action, and unconditional love, all this requires no paraphernalia or any aid. Then what is a role of wealth. How does tradition view wealth creation? There is so much money mindedness.
Wealth happens when you reach a certain level. What is wealth? Wealth is a conglomeration of energy. When you operate in that energy, wealth follows. This is because energy conglomerates into matter. When matter disintegrates, it creates raw energy. You see wealth flowing to various saints. Saints never had fear about wealth. Look at the history. I am not talking about those who are selling spirituality through various packages. Saints are unassuming, but wealth is flowing to them. How was that happening? It is natural. When your subtlety level increases, layer by layer, from physical gross to subtlest level of soul, if you narrow the gap, then all that aspect of that energy is yours. It is not separate from you. That is why, when Maha Vishnu is lying on Anantshayana, the snake, the infinity, Goddess Lakshmi is at His feet. When you attain the stature or subtlety of Lord Maha Vishnu, Lakshmi will be at your feet. But when one chases Goddess Lakshmi, She may come or may not come. Even if She comes, She will not stay.
Subtlety is the cause. If wealth is flowing to you, accept it, respect it and never misuse it. And never be dependent on it.
When you are CEO of a company, accept the perks that come from the company for the position. Do not say, oh no I cannot use it. Do accept with gratitude. Never take anything for granted This is because you earned it. Your stature earned it. When stature earns it, accept with happiness and never reject it. Rejection will create poverty consciousness in you.
If money is flowing, thank you very much.
If money is not flowing thank you very much.
Be always in gratitude.
If you are operating in dharmic mode, and money is flowing, there is a purpose as well; much larger purpose, mostly configured by higher entities for a purpose. This is because you are not using money for your benefit. Money is coming for a purpose, use it wisely.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Regarding the tangible aspect that human understands, when Master is physically present, people do come to him by eligibility factor or some are brought to Master by default, in such situation, why is there testing of devotees or annihilation of devotees who have come to the Master. When the Master leaves the body, his idol is created and photos are hung on the wall, we find, throngs of people come in, I do not understand if they are annihilated?
When Masters are alive, people usually approach with expectations for a selfish need. They come asking for something. Most people do not come for the higher purpose. They ask, if I can change my job, bless me so that can I get another car, can I get parking, can you bless me so that I have children, bless me to have money! This is how people come to a high stature person, for paltry reasons. If you look at their life, it may be big. But from a cosmic point of view, they are very small. People are asking for very temporary things. Oh! One can certainly ask these things to a tangible Guru!!
Everything should have eligibility.
When you are approaching something based on a herd instinct, like all cows follow one cow, one will not get much out of it.
You should go to any Guru with an attitude of surrender, full of gratitude and with an empty cup so that Guru can fill something into it.
We go to every Guru, touch everybody’s feet, expect that they remove every affliction of ours, is that possible. We created afflictions. How can Guru turn everything and say - it is gone. Some things you created because you wanted to enjoy. This Guru understands. This is your karmic agenda and Guru understands that. Not you.
Usually when Guru is existing in physical form, he is not well utilized. People are not using them to evolve higher. When Guru can give an ocean, why ask for a cup of water. Also, everybody comes with expectations. If Guru behaves in these and these ways, I respect him. If Guru does not behave in these ways, I do not want him. So we try to change Guru rather than change ourselves. What can we get with this attitude? Sometimes, Guru asks you to follow a strict codes of conduct, but he cannot give that evolution. There is choreographed face and activity, so that mind feels comfortable. Our mind wants things in specific predictable ways. Anything that is relatively unsure, mind does not like it. Mind wants everything tangible and sure. Those kinds of pictures will also go on the wall more. Mind says, “I like this man. He is consistent in his image”. In our path of non-conformity, one may not find consistency, except in teaching. Why do you have to be conforming to anything!
There are lots of flowers on the tree, but very few become fruits.
This is the purpose. Even if one becomes a fruit is enough. This has happened through history and time. There is nothing tragic about this time. We have been consistent in crucifying people who made sense. Now also we do the same. In that way we are very consistent. We would like to crucify them as early as possible. Then we put up their pictures on the wall and worship them. That is why I say, “We love the dead ones and not the living ones”.
Love,
M
