Many Lives, Many Masters - an extract

In between each lifetime, the soul floats through darkness towards a bright energizing light, which replenishes and rejuvenates. Embalming, burial rituals or any procedure after death has no influence; the soul automatically passes on; no preparation is necessary. Just like walking through an open door. Souls then await instructions and guidance from the Master Spirits or guardians. They have a chance to reflect on the lessons learnt during the previous lifetime and can choose to be re-born, what they need to accomplish and what karmic debts need repaying. Groups of souls tend to reincarnate together again and again, working out their karma over the span of many lifetimes. We are frighteningly concerned with our own deaths, sometimes so much so that we forget the real purpose of our lives. The belief in reincarnation strengthened by past-life regression helps ease fear of death because our existence becomes known as infinite.




Our task is to learn, to become God-like through knowledge. We know so little. By knowledge we approach God and then we can rest. We come back to teach and help others. There are many gods, for God is in each of us. There are many souls in this dimension. There are many dimensions / planes. Each one is a level of higher consciousness. What level we go to depends on how far we have progressed / evolved. We must share our knowledge with other people. We all have abilities far beyond what we use. If you do not overcome your vices before dying, you carry them over with you to another life. Only we can rid ourselves of the bad habits that we accumulate when we are in a physical state. And only when you decide that you are strong enough to master the external problems, then you will no longer have them in your next life.



We must also learn not to just go to those people whose vibrations are the same as ours. This is important in helping people. We are given intuitive powers we should follow and try not to resist or we are more likely to meet danger. Some of us possess powers greater than others because they have been accrued from other lifetimes. Thus people are not all created equal but eventually we will reach a point where we will all be equal. People in commas can decide whether or not to return, depending on how much learning they have yet to accomplish in the physical state. If they feel they have nothing further to learn, they can go directly to the spiritual state. We have no right to abruptly halt peoples’ lives before they have lived out their karma. They will suffer greater retribution if we let them live. We are not to kill, no matter what the circumstances. Only God can punish.



We choose when we will come into our physical state and when we leave. We know when we have accomplished what we intended, when nothing more can come of a lifetime. We know when the time is up and can accept death. When you have had the time to rest and re-energise your soul, you are allowed to choose your re-entry back into the physical state. Everybody’s path is basically the same. We must all learn certain attitudes: charity, hope, faith and love. People of religious orders have come closer than any of us because they have taken vows of chastity and obedience. Not a reference to sexual abstinence but a purity of living. Not to overindulge, anything done to excess. They’ve given up so much without asking for anything in return.



Patience and timing; everything comes when it must come. A life cannot be rushed, cannot be worked on a schedule. Time is not as we see it but rather in lessons that are learned. It is a waste of energy when fear is present. It stifles people from fulfilling their goals. To be in physical state is abnormal. When you are in spiritual state, it is natural. There are different levels of learning and we must learn some of them in the flesh. We must feel pain. When you’re a spirit, you feel no pain. It is a period of renewal. The interaction between people in the spiritual form is different. When you are in the physical form, you can experience relationships. We go through so many stages when we’re here. We shed a baby body, go into a child’s, from child to an adult, an adult into old age. Why shouldn’t we go one step beyond and go on to a spiritual plane?



We continue to grow; we go through different stages of development: renewal, learning and decision. Our body is just a vehicle; it is our soul and spirit that last forever. Learning in the spiritual state is much faster, far accelerated from that in the physical state. There are seven planes in all, each one consisting of many levels, which we must pass through during the interim; one of them is the plane of recollection, where you are allowed to see the life that has just passed. Those of the higher levels, the sages or masters, are allowed to see history. They can go back and teach us by learning about the past. Another is the plane of transition, where it is determined what you will take into the next life, a dominant trait that you must overcome or your burdens will become greater still. There is also the plane of awareness. We must repeat things if we do not learn. We must understand fully or we are not allowed to pass on to another dimension, another life.



Wisdom is achieved very slowly. This is because intellectual knowledge, easily acquired, must be transformed into ‘emotional’ or subconscious awareness. Theoretical knowledge is not enough to make the imprint permanent, behavioural practice is required. Happiness is rooted in simplicity; a state of being; an altered state of consciousness. It is sustained by act and deed; taking something nearly mystical and transforming it into everyday familiarity. Balance and harmony are neglected today, yet they are the foundations of wisdom. Humankind is guided by greed and ambition, steered by fear. In this way it will eventually destroy itself. But nature will survive, at least the plants. Humans are immortal and what we are doing now is learning our lessons. We are all going to the same place eventually; no one is greater than another.

You are a Masterpiece

A plum once said, just because a banana lover came by, I converted myself into a banana. Unfortunately, his taste changed after a few months and so I became an orange. When he said I was bitter I became an apple, but he went in search of grapes. Yielding to the opinions of so many people, I have changed so many times that I no more know who I am. How I wish I had remained a plum and waited for a plum lover.

Just because a group of people do not accept you as you are, there is no necessity for you to strip yourself of your originality. You need to think good of yourself, for the world takes you at your own estimate. Never stop down in order to gain recognition. Never let go of your true self to win a relationship. In the long run, you will regret that you traded your greatest glory - your uniqueness, for momentary validation. Even Gandhi was not accepted by many people. The group that does not accept you the way you are, is not your world.

There is a world for each one of you, where you shall reign as king / queen by just being yourself. Find that world... in fact, that world will find you.

What water can do, gasoline cannot and what copper can, gold cannot. The fragility of the ant enables it to move and the rigidity of the tree enables it to stay rooted. Everything and everybody has been designed with a proportion of uniqueness to serve a purpose that we can fulfill only by being our unique self. You as you alone can serve your purpose and I as I alone can serve my purpose. You are here to be you... just you.

There was a time in this world when a Krishna was required and he was sent; a time when a Christ was required and he was sent; a time when a Mahatma was required and he was sent; There came a time when you were required on this planet and hence you were sent. Let us be the best we can be. Don't miss yourself and let the world not miss you.

In the history of the universe, there has been nobody like you and to the infinite of time to come, there will be no one like you. Existence should have loved you so much that it broke the mould after making you, so that another of your kind will never get repeated. You are original. You are rare. You are unique. You are a wonder. You are a masterpiece... your Master's piece. Celebrate your Uniqueness.

Love dies with Ego

No matter how much I try to forget,
She comes back as a recurring dream,
a constant regret,to why I even began,
a relationshionship in this murky sand.
Its difficult to let go, when you know,
that sooner or later the thoughts of her will haunt you,
like you know, and no matter how much i try,
I got to admit, I am still in grit,
with the mistake she made, over a small bit.
Sitting here and reminiscing, the times we had together,
and then the fact that she has another,
crawls up my spine and burns the ether,
contemplating and anticipating,
what/when/where/why the hell she would do,
what she did coz she shuld have known better.
I am told I play the fool, saying i just act the cool,
ended up being just a tool, in this pool of mules.
Biting the dust, however I must,
move on with the mistrust, as it comes as second nature,
to a scorpion in its haven, so I must now be a maven,
as I have this cravin, and i cannot bear,
yet I have to share, this sensibility, the ability,
to stay away from emotions as they have no credibility,
they come and go as they please, ruin the appease,
the state of mind, that is constant and creased.
And now as the story ends, keep in mind, all my friends,
let not ego come in the way, as this one emotion just lets others astray,
and betray the people for whom u care, like they say,
with ego died love and the now rest are just afraid...

The Constant Struggle

Each fragment of your mind wants to become the most powerful one. There is constant inner politics. You cannot find bliss in this constant inner war.

The mind is a chooser – it always chooses something against something else. It creates opposition, it creates contradiction in life. It creates extremes, and through extremes there is a constant inner war, a civil war. Don't choose, remain choiceless.

If you repress sex you will be in a constant war, and you can never win. Failure is absolutely certain because the more you fight with sex, the more you give energy to it. The same is the case with anger, jealousy, greed. Fighting is not the way of wisdom; it is the fool's path. The stupid and the mediocre fight. The intelligent ones transform; they absorb.

It is man's freedom to choose. We can live an integrated life, we can become an organic unity – that's the whole purpose of meditation. Or we can remain a crowd – many minds, many fragments, no unity. When there are many minds there is conflict, discord, a constant civil war. When you are at war within yourself you are at war with existence too; as within, so without.

Deep down you are one person, pretending on the surface to be somebody else. There is a constant conflict between the real and the false. The false is appreciated by society, valued, respected, and the real is condemned. You have to learn ways to be two persons; you have to be constantly on guard. That creates hypocrisy, and you cannot forgive yourself; you feel guilty.

I don't want the peace of the cemetery. All the graves are silent – no fight, no struggle, no quarrel. I want the peace of a garden in the early morning when birds are singing, flowers are opening, the sun is rising. There is music in it; it is not without sound. There are sounds, but the sounds and the silences together create peace.

Rejection is suppressive; it is cutting your intrinsic parts. It leaves you bleeding; it leaves you half-alive; it leaves you lukewarm. It takes all your energy away from you, and it creates a conflict and inner war.

My understanding about peacefulness is that it is not a question of being peaceful with anybody. The basic question is being at peace with yourself. Out of that, peace arises for everybody.

Where is the devil? It is some condemned part of you. You cannot cut it out because it is so deeply a part of you that there is no possibility of separating it from your self. You can go on fighting, but you will never win. You cannot fight against the devil, you can only play with him. That's what I am teaching you here: be playful, non-serious.

Man has been conditioned always to be in conflict: the body is fighting with the mind, the mind is fighting with the body. The whole past of humanity has been a constant conditioning to make man a split personality; and it has succeeded.

Peace is not a political strategy. Two parties peaceful in themselves cannot create any hostility. There is no question of being peaceful with somebody. The basic question is being peaceful.

Society is violent, politics is violent, nations are violent. The state is violent, the church is violent, because they are political games. Even religion is political. Every religion is trying to defeat other religions. There is a constant struggle going on, a cold war. How long can you go on fighting a cold war? Sooner or later it becomes heated, then a hot war erupts.

Society needs soldiers, violent people, murderous people; and a blissful person cannot be that. He would rather die himself than kill anybody. He would be ready to die willingly because he has tasted something of immortality, so he does not care about death. But he will not destroy anything.

Man has been going through three kinds of wars. One is with nature, another is with other people, and the third is with himself. The first war has become science: the war with nature. The second war has become politics: the war with other people. And the third war, unfortunately, has become religion: the war with yourself.

On Belonging

last summer I met two new friends, and we spent many afternoons enjoying the views from a large deck that overlooked the mountains that surrounded the valley. They were from Germany and had met and fallen in love while staying at an ashram in India. The Guru was famous and was attracting young people from all over the world. Of course I knew of him, but never met him or had any interest in his ashram or teaching.

The guru is now dead but his ashram is bigger than ever and still attracting people who come to experience and practise his teachings. Both of my friends had Indian names that were given to them by their guru . Still, after all these years they continued to use their spiritual names as if they had some special power or meaning for them. I ask them what did they do after their guru died and did they feel still part of his following?

They both looked at each other to see some sign as to which one would answer my question. He said they travelled around India visiting a number of teachers but never settled on one, because after knowing their guru it was hard to take anyone very seriously. They still felt they had a close relationship with their teacher. He was still very much alive in their thoughts and most of their friends were still members, holding on to the teachings and running a centre that taught the guru’s teachings.

I wonder why we feel the need for someone to guide us and why we never see the importance of being free from believing in some form of authority other than our own understanding. We belong to the family, to property and beliefs that shape our thoughts and feelings. We all live in the past and feel unable to change anything including our desires, wants and fears that make up what we call our life. Oh yes, we know that, he answered, that is why we need some help to change our condition. We are lost and need help in finding our way. Yes, but why do you feel you need to be shown the way home, as it were. Are you so sure you need help and what is it you want to know? That’s why we are here to know the answer or to be realised, enlightened, they said.

Are you sure that is what you want, or do you want to find another teacher, some new yoga to practice and lose yourself in some form of hope? You know that hope is born out of the desire to change yourself or change the world you live in. You are not happy all the time, your girlfriend gets on your nerves, and even when you are along you want some experience to fill the space within. We try to fill the emptiness in our lives - that is why we like to belong, if not to some religious practice or follow some guru or we try our luck in some other field, like making money, they are all the same. Inside we are dull and full of empty words and hopes of finding some relief from our misery. I am afraid we are just second-hand people who want to follow in the footsteps of another who we think can help us in our search.

We continue to fill our lives with all the different forms of sensation one after the other, we become addicted to music, movies, sex and all the other ways man has cultivated as ways to distract himself form his fear of being alone and unprotected. Of course, we adapt and get used to almost any condition and find that that brings us some form of comfort. Belonging to some belief, no matter what it is, only adds to the dullness of our mind. We are overburdened with thoughts and they destroy the natural state of our being, until we realise that we are after all just an animal, nothing more. We invented God, some supreme being who created the universe; or some intelligence that we imagine we can pray or communicate with to help us in some way, by letting us have more money, love, happiness or something else we might fancy.

We are brainwashed by culture and the laws that are enforced by the political structure we have created to protect our interests. We go round and round, never able to free ourselves from the wheel that we have created in our attempts to be free. We follow whoever offers a way to be off the wheel, but nothing ever happens; we are stuck and there is nothing we can do. That is the problem that we do not want to face, we escape into some religious answer, or some belief in the future dreams which are the products of our hopes. We are not able to see the folly of our condition so we continue to repeat the same words and play the same music that man has been playing down through the centuries.

My friends were silent - perhaps they saw the implications of what we were discussing. Slowly the mind gets trapped in its ways, and one can see what the problem is, what can we do, asked my friend? Is there anything one can do, he asked? Yes, I said you can begin with that name you call yourself, the old cherished ideas you have accepted as spiritual - and see that you have perhaps taken the wrong path. But is there a path, he asked? There is a path but you have to make your own way and not depend on another. You may fall but all that you can do is pick yourself up and continue. There is no one to help you or better yet, you do not need the help of another. They will only mislead you, take advantage of you and steal your money, and promise you that there is a path to follow, a goal to be realized in the future. You just have to have the guts to question everything in your life. Push all the books and sacred texts off the dusty self, throw them out, they are only the hopes of dreamers who want to be in some state described by others who think they are enlightened because of some experience they describe as bliss or the highest realization or oneness with the absolute.

Life is the only teacher and it pushes this way and that, you have to look very hard at what life is presenting to you. Life is your guru; you need not belong to anyone or any idea that promises a direct line to the truth. You are not separate from life; and trying to become selfless, to bridge the space between yourself and life that is not separate from you is your problem. We only aim at keeping the knowledge we have accumulated during our life and what has been passed down to us from our culture - and that is strangling our consciousness; full of fears and hopes we belong to some idea of a brighter future where we can live in contentment and that is our interest. That must go, then there is no problem of belonging, and everything else drops away without us doing anything.

Game of Sudoku mirrors life

Su means number and Doku means single. The game of Sudoku has many similarities to the game of life. The game consists of a 9x9 grid divided into nine 3x3 boxes in which a few numbers called "given" - the number of givens varies between 17 and 30 for a puzzle to be reasonably viable - are already in place.

In life, too, you start with a given set of vasanas and then work from then on. In Sudoku, you need to follow a set of rules to build up the grid, filling each row, column and box with numbers ranging from one to nine, so much like in life where you have to go your way without antagonising anyone else, maintaining peace and harmony in all relationships. Respect every number (everyone) and things would be just fine. While trial and error may or may not work, the correc technique is in eliminating the numbers that don't fit in a particular box. In other words, keep eliminating your faults for progress in life. The grid is the same every time, the numbers keep changing. The soul is the same in all, just the bodies are different.

In Sudoku, the arrangement of the given numbers is symmetrical. Even if you rotate the puzzle through 180 degrees the pattern of the filled-in squares remains the same. This is instructive in life, on how to maintain steadfast faith, poise and equanimity despite situations when everything turns topsy-turvy. Often at first glance when the givens are few, you are numbed into inaction. Realise, the puzzle is there to be solved, so just go ahead and do your duty. Solve a couple of easy ones and sooner or later the ego gets in the way and you are stuck in the next puzzle. Analyse your life, more often than not you'll clearly see how your ego has been the stumbling block.

While playing, you never think of the end (the result); you just keep working on the numbers and the final result (fruits of action) accrues on its own. Extremely difficult puzzles may take hours.
Similarly, to achieve desired results in life may take years. According to the law of karma, fruits of action in some cases might fructify after successive births!

Now and then you get attached to a particular number and are hell-bent on fitting it in, in any which way; it seems like big trouble. Just let go of your attachments and things will work out on their own. The game of Sudoku and the game of life are best played in a calm but focused state. Everything has to go in tandem in a Sudoku grid: the rows, columns and squares. Ditto in life. Your duties towards your family, teachers, society and country all go on simultaneously. Variations in Sudoku include the diagonal, the odd and the even, the extended, overlap, and even the monster. Life too presents complexities in the form of loss, illness, death and failure. Patience, faith and continuous struggle is the key to both.

There could be an underlying subtle difference between Sudoku and life. Make a mistake and you can erase it and begin all over again in Sudoku. Not so in life. You can learn a lesson, though, and avoid making the same mistake in future. Hone your skills. Excel. Realise the singularity for the One and only Truth. For that is the solution, the answer, that arises out of a steady mind.

It's a dream-like world that seems illusory

At the end of the Mahabharata war Arjuna came to meet his grandfather Bhishma who was lying on a bed of arrows that Arjuna had shot. Bhishma was waiting for an auspicious day to leave his mortal coils. Arjuna asked: "Pitamah, where do you expect me to bury your body after you leave this earthly abode?" Bhishma smilingly said, "Bury my body in a place where i was not buried before". Accordingly, Arjuna selected a place on the banks of the Yamuna river and performed suitable rituals.

As he lifted the axe to dig the ground he heard a voice, 'Shatam Bhishma' which meant that Bhishma was buried here over hundred times. This shall mean that everyone of us is born and has died countless times ever since birth and death started happening on this universe.

This is what is called sansar, a word that not only means engaging in worldly life, but also includes birth and death in this world ad infinitum. This sansar is a long unending disease for which the sure and best medicine is true inquiry.

Wise men have said that we are not bound by maya or illusion in reality, but we only have the false feeling that we are bound by illusion. This delusion can only be averted by proper inquiry.

Once a herd of hundred donkeys was being taken on a hill by the owner of the herd. On the way he had to rest at an inn. He was afraid of his donkeys escaping at night while he would be asleep. But he did not have sufficient length of rope to tie them all; he only had a small length of rope which was hardly sufficient to tie one donkey. So he planned in such a way that he pretended tying the small rope around legs of each of the donkeys. In actual fact he did not tie the rope to any in the herd. Next morning when he pushed each donkey it hardly moved thinking that it was tied by its master. Only when he pretended to untie them did they begin to move.

Similarly, we too are led to think that we are bound by so many of our karmas or past deeds and hence we are made to suffer. We also undertake purification rituals to get over them. But in reality it is realisation that is needed. This realisation cannot happen even by performing hundreds of such rituals.

The realisation that this sansar is only dreamlike and the truth is beyond it helps one initially pass through the hurdles of life. That is why it is also said, 'Avicharena kritobadhah, vicharena nivartate', which means that we are bound to karmas only because of non-inquiry and the solution to it cannot be rituals but right inquiry to get at the truth. What has come by non-inquiry can only go by right inquiry.

Inquiry allows realisation of the truth; realisation of dreamnature of sansar and true nature of Self (atman). One may defy this dream theory. But to say that this world is created hardly arouses right reasoning for there need to exist a witness to such creation and this witness had to precede Creation.
Another reasoning to support the dream nature is that any creation ought to have a stuff for creation and this stuff should have been created earlier.