Destiny | Thus Spake Babaji, online Q&A #85

Destiny |  Thus Spake Babaji, online Q&A #85

Self-realized meditation master Shiva Rudra Balayogi (Babaji) gives insights into the wide subject of destiny.

0:06 Is destiny the result of our actions?
18:17 Should we think that we have no destiny or that we must create a positive destiny?
20:57 If in each incarnation our mind loses potency, how can we overcome the results of a previous more powerful mind?
26:16 How can make sure we have the right motivation and attitude?
32:04 Was it Babaji's destiny to meet His Guru?
___
Website: http://www.srby.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shivarudrabalayogi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SRBYmission
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shivarudrabalayogi/

Register your free place for the live online meditation and Q&A with Babaji: https://www.shivarudrabalayogi.org/en/online-satsang

Website: http://www.srby.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shivarudrabalayogi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SRBYmission
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shivarudrabalayogi/

Transcript

Destiny Thus Spake Babaji, online Q&A #85

19 March 2022, Worldwide Participants

Questioner:

Is destiny the result of our actions, or is it more than just the result of our actions, please?

Babaji:

I would like to elaborately point-by-point whatever I have observed, would like to narrate here. Everybody, please pay attention. 

First thing, when we try to talk and understand about destiny, it's a very, very wide subject, and it may not be conclusively possible to understand everything. However, by observing the mind, consciousness, mind’s thinking, its visualizations, this is what we got to know.

As I have told earlier also, during every incarnation, if the sadhana in the previous life - sadhana means here your efforts to achieve more single-pointedness of the consciousness, or the mind - both are same, in different stages only. If there are thoughts it is mind, no thoughts it is consciousness. That's what I mean. If that sadhana was not enough or not there, the next incarnation that consciousness loses its potency, it becomes weak. Weak means - we can be remaining single-pointed and more focused. That's what makes a difference of a person who might act like a genius and another may not be. Ability to use the brains, apply the brains with fully focused consciousness. So it may get split, next incarnation. 

So like that in one incarnation, in one of the births, if the person's potency was 100%, then after several births if that got diluted - whatever that person had visualized or resolved in the life during when his mind was 100% potency, by the time it had come to the ten percent potency, whatever is happening in that life is the destiny for that person. Whatever he would have visualized or resolved with his 100% potency would become destiny for his ten percent potency - single-pointedness, concentration. 

So ability to concentrate. When the mind becomes concentrated. Just like anything that is concentrated; if the water is concentrated, if we go against that water, that same water which sustains our lives can become dangerous to us. 

In the same way our own mind; when we use it, if we don't have control over our own mind, if that mind’s power increases to 100,000 potency - its concentration, its focus - then if it resolves, if it visualizes, that can go against our needs or our expectations sometimes. Like, in one incarnation even though we might be innocent, we suffer. We get involved suddenly into some calamities, some dangerous situations. 

But then we can wonder, 'What action did I do? I am innocent, I did not do anything.' Many people ask like that these questions; 'What did these masses do?' They got massacred in a war, or anywhere, in a terrorism. Like these types of things that keep happening, in a tsunami, so many innocents would have come. But technologically, scientifically, actually, it is the mind, consciousness which visualizes and undergoes such things. 

Now as you were asking in your question about actions, direct result of actions. An action through a body when it happens, it's more likely that such an action was induced by the visualization of the mind only, consciousness only. So now, the same consciousness would absorb an imprint of the actions that the body does. Either it feels guilty or it feels that doership ego, wanting to take credit. So like that it imagines about itself, the 'I' imagination goes as a personality, as a thing. So all these, so many things are involved. So due to this, that consciousness absorbs an imprint of the results of such actions, guilty feeling, or a credit feeling. These becomes destiny in the next life can be becoming in that life itself also, or in another life also it can become a destiny.

See in one life when you are born - all of you pay attention - so many things work to develop a destiny. Your birth to particular parents and to the surroundings in a family, and the nature of the people in that family. They might be spiritual, they might be noble, and they may not be noble, they might appear spiritual yet that they may not be noble. They might be greedy people and wanting to rob others, usurp other’s lands, other’s property, like this, so many things are there. So the child picks up, can be picking up such habits. Whatever it gets to watch, it absorbs imprints. So it may start thinking that to be the right thing to do. If a child is taught to tell lies, that child might pick up telling lies - innocently, not knowing that telling a lie is not good - it may think ‘telling a lie is necessary for us to live,' if that is taught. And that becomes it becomes habitual. 

So imagine the child's destiny how it worked. It was born to such parents. If it was not born to such parents, if it was born to other type of parents who are noble, who will teach the child only to tell the truth, and teach good habits, being spiritual, good education, good citizen of a country, good human being for this world, that type of thing. So the destiny of the child changes.

To an innocent child that is so dangerous, it can be turned into any mode. So this happens, so imagine the destiny that is working there. Unknown to the child - the child is innocent at that time, because its brain is still not yet developed, it's unable to think, so we can consider that to be innocent. 

So we don't know. We might ask why the child is innocent but why it is put to such bad habits, or suffering, or getting killed, or anything can happen. An illness can come. It might be puzzling for us, for so many people why it happened. But nobody knows. Since several lives that destiny might be continuing. A destiny it makes. Like Swamiji jokingly used to tell, 'You can select a wife, you can choose, or a wife can choose a husband, but the parents you are already born. You won't be choosing in this life, you are already born there.' So for that your karma, your actions in the previous lives, and the mental resolutions, is very important. 

So here, that's when I decided to teach, ‘If you are more positive in your mind, you can be shaping a better positive destiny for yourself - remember this point. If you are going to be negative in your mind, you can be shaping a negative destiny for yourself - beware. These two things are very important.’ 

Sometimes if you all have observed, mind tries to imagine such stories as if it is suffering, and people sympathizing, 'Oh poor boy, how much suffering he has to undergo, how much struggle he has to undergo. Everybody is becoming an enemy, and everybody is troubling the boy, and they are going to kill him,' this, that, so many things people talk. That sympathizing sometimes becomes enjoyable to the consciousness, it enjoys if everybody is sympathizing. Many a movie if you have seen, the hero is shown as suffering, a heroine is shown as suffering, and the audience sympathize, 'Oh poor, this is sad, why should this happen?' So they enjoy. So like that a person also enjoys in the mind. So that can be quite dangerous. 

The same thing can get shaped as a negative destiny in a next life, or in that life itself after some years, and a negativity might come. So though it might be innocent in that life - even when grown up also it might be noble, devotional, anything - but it might be undergoing lot of suffering, people wanting suffering. So this mental action is what is important. 

Of course if the mind is well cultured, well conditioned, if it is noble, it will induce you to do good actions only, automatically it is expected that bodily you won't do wrong actions. 

So you are in a Guru's Ashram, you won't, you will always be noble thinking, carefully, 'I am here only as a caretaker. This is my Guru's. So I have to facilitate people coming here and doing sadhana. Create peaceful atmosphere, and they should not be worried, they should not get panicked, there must not be any such situations.' So that's our duty, that is the service to the Master. 

Instead, if a person is thinking, 'Oh, I am staying in this room and now this room becomes me, I must not give up this room. If any of the Ashram people wants me to give up this room I will demand 10 million rupees' - that is the thinking of a person. Two different people thinking in two different ways. So what do you tell about the destiny? It's so peculiar. 

So it makes one parrot, which was being brought up by a sage. It always spoke, whenever anybody came it used to greet, the parrot, "Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram. You are welcome. Come and sit here." Whereas, at another place in a slaughterhouse, a parrot was being brought up. So all the time it got to hear wrong words only. "Hey," it used to talk, "You have come, cut your head, you have come, cut your head." Like that it used to talk. Parrot is the same. But it's the one parrot that is being brought up in a sage’s place, see its destiny. And another parrot being brought up in a slaughterhouse, see its destiny. 

And sometimes, even if two people, three people are in the same ashram, they spend twenty years, thirty years, different people may depict different destiny of their thinking, their habits, their culture, condition. Just like one person when he sees a Divine’s idol made up of silver, for one a Divine appears, it is Divine, it is God. For another, only silver appears, "Oh, this is made up of silver, how wonderful, if I can simply quietly rob this and sell this I can make lot of money." So same place, it is the same temple place, same ashram place, but two people thinking two different ways. See the destiny, how it's working.

So like this, never ending this destiny can be. So by observing, these are some of the points through which we will have to be careful. That's what finally, conclusively, that's what I would alert everyone of you - learn these things. Your mind, its thinking, its visualizations, it's resolutions - are very, very important. It needs to be positive until you are able to make it totally silent. When it is totally silent, then it merges with the Divine. That's what happens, there is neither good nor bad, and it overcomes all destinies, finished.

Like a Yogi also now, to tell more about this destiny, we have stopped the future of our destiny, because there is no visualization and no desires are there, nothing else is there to achieve, just the quietness of the mind, consciousness, that is the Self Awareness. Once you become aware of the Self you will understand that you don't need anything else. Anything that has to sustain this body on its own as it comes it is acceptable, without any greed, brood, any such thing, without any negativity, positivity, you simply accept and live like a monk.

So that is what happened. But already in the previous life whatever would have been visualized or resolved, that many things go on in this life. Until this body is not dropped the destiny happens. Many people may wonder, 'Oh even the Yogi becomes ill,' some people ask. It has to happen, after all this is a body that has come due to destiny. This has appeared. 

So in this destiny - at least what we appreciate about our own destiny - the Divine's Grace. We were born to such noble parents who taught us bhakti, devotional path, truth of life, all these things, practical experience, these type of things were taught to us. And we came across such noble people in the society also. Men or women, we saw such noble and good people who looked at us as a brother, as a son, as a child, as a father, as a grandfather, like that. Good people come. So that also is a beautiful destiny when you can come across only noble and good people around you. 

So for the last twenty years we are working - that is also a destiny, you see. Slowly, slowly with so much of work, so many people came expecting so many things that I would produce a chain, I would give them this miracle, I would give them this power, curiosity, so many. And then they went away, 'Oh, this person doesn't have any powers at all.' 

Even amongst Swamiji's devotees some commented, 'He cannot make anybody dance so He has no power, Swamiji has not given Him powers.' We just kept quiet, no problem. No power is necessary. Knowledge, wisdom, the Truth that our Guru gave to us. That Truth that we experienced, and the visualizations and observations that we made, we’ve been teaching. 

So in these twenty years, like the proverbial word we say - though we might have had to see some thorns, but we are grateful to the Divine that we have seen so many beautiful roses. You see here today, more than 120 people sitting with all their enthusiasm and interest and out of reverence to Babaji to practice the meditation and listen to my answers, and the questions. They are all here. They are all learned people, thinking people, ready to accept the Truth. They have never…nobody has asked me to produce a chain, or a car, and give to them. They just want to know about the mind, consciousness, about the Self, about the destiny. 

Destiny is a very common thing which bothers many people. Suddenly we get to see such masses losing lives. And it is so sad. Why should they be losing, they were innocent. Irresponsibility of others also matters, human irresponsibility. So if we humans behave responsibly, we can create a better destiny for the whole world. Unnecessary sufferings are not necessary. Unnecessary killings are not necessary. Everybody can live. This earth has so much of resources, good enough for all species, all human beings, if only we know how to consider about each other.

So these are some of the points of destiny. Not hundred percent conclusive, much more might be there which has not been revealed by the nature, by the Divine. So whatever is revealed, that we have answered.

Questioner:

Thank you. There was a lot You covered there, Babaji.

So You say a Yogi has no destiny, that the karma, the destiny, has finished. Should somebody or the rest of us, should we aim to have the view that we have no destiny, or that we should create a positive destiny by our attitude and behavior? 

Babaji:

First important point - your efforts must be to achieve silence of the mind is important - then only you can overcome the destiny effects. Till then, try to be positive always - positive thinking. Read anything that gives you positive attitude, positive. 

Like in childhood, my Mother used to encourage, 'Don't read ghost stories, don't read these nonsense stories. Read the stories of such valiant people who have struggled, who have won, who have given their lives. And read the stories of such great sages, saints who did sadhana, who taught such wonderful things.' Like that we were encouraged. 

So I would encourage such things only. If you want to read, read such noble stories of valiant people, of spiritual, great things, teachings of Upanishads, sages like Adi Shankara, Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna, and so on. The great masters, Upanishads, like that, the Bhagavad Gita. All these teach beautiful things about karma, about actions, about results. So read them so that you feel inspired, so that you feel motivated all the time. Every moment is precious. 

You may have to work for your livelihood, you may have assumed such lifestyle that you may have to undertake such responsibilities. No problem. You do everything. But in the midst of that, practice in such a way that automatically in the mind the Divine name comes, the Guru's name comes, keeps coming, practice, practice, practice in such a way. Then when you practice thoroughly for long time, that thing becomes automatic. 

Otherwise if a person has practiced to use filthy, vulgar words, he becomes so automatically used to utter such vulgar words only. That is the practice, habits, acquired habits of the mind that I have been telling. So I would recommend that you be positive till then, but aim to achieve that silence of the mind. That is the greatest wonder of the world.

Questioner:

So, earlier You mentioned that in previous incarnations the mind would have a much greater potency and power, and what it imagined has then become our destiny for the present moment. In each incarnation our mind loses its power, loses potency. So how does our present mind which is weaker than previously overcome the results of the more powerful previous mind? 

Does that make sense? 

Babaji:

Spiritual sadhana. Every sadhana, every exercise taught in spirituality is for controlling the mind, making it more single-pointed, as single-pointed as possible, as silent as possible. If it becomes silent means it automatically is becoming single-pointed, is becoming concentrated. 

So during this time period, it is essential that your character, your culture, everything is important. Because, when you don't have even one dollar, there is no danger that you will do anything wrong with the money. But as you go on earning, and you start saving money, that becomes 10,000 pounds, 20,000 pounds, million dollars, millions and billions of dollars. When such a thing comes, if you are not a good charactered-person, if you are not noble, if you are greedy, then where will you spend? You will spend all those money for wrong things, and you become self-destructive. You start having alcohol, drugs, and this, that, so many things, and you start imagining, these are the things which is giving you happiness, and you become in such a way that you cannot die and you cannot live. Your brain gets destroyed slowly, slowly, with that intoxicating power. So that is important. 

In the same way, when mind is becoming concentrated through sadhana, you must not get attracted to any power.

That's what the story of angels and demons always told, the Puranas stories is told. How when you become greedy of a power, greedy of such status, such things, then you lose your character. You will go by hook or crook, 'I must have this,' then you start doing such a wrong thing, and lose all your power of meditation. 

Like always in the stories of legendary stories, the demons also have been shown as having enormous mental power and physical strength. So they could sit for long hours and long years, and do Tapas. But what says the story always in the end, as Divine coming in front of them, because they could invoke the Divine in a form, and in that form the Divine would come. But they would end up asking boons, 'Give me this power, so that nobody should kill me. I should be able to kill everything in the world. And I must be able to rule, I must be able to control.' 

But finally they all end up doing some mistakes, some foolish things. So because they would..the stories of Ravana, Hiranyaksha, all these things are shown. 'So I should not be killed on the ground, I should not be killed in the sky,' whatever he could think. Then the story tells in the incarnation of Narasimha, half-lion and half-human being God came, and kept him on the doorsteps, and killed him. Not with any weapon that he had asked a boon, with his nails, strong nails, he is pierced.

So like this, these are what the moral values are, morality is that one; never go for such powers, do not get attracted and become greedy. Like our Swamiji said, 'Even if God comes in front of you, don't ask for anything that God can give you. That is all illusion. That will not be there permanently, it will appear and disappear. Ask for God only. You tell that I want You my Lord, take me to Your Lotus Feet. Let me merge in You. Purify me, make me eligible to merge with You.' That is the final, then you won't need any power. You don't need anything else. You have Supreme peace, you are Supremely contented, you are totally secure, nobody can do any harm, you are the Single Self that exists. 

So that is what is important. When you try to control the mind, make it silent, aim for that one. So thus you can control your destiny also. And you can get elevated towards Divine, your original place, abode.

Same questioner:

Thank You. So even if we make our mind more powerful, and we undergo deep meditation, still we could end up with the wrong motivation or the wrong attitude. How do we make sure that we always have that correct aim and attitude?

Babaji:

Need to have a firm conviction that this Universe is impermanent, and it is not going to give us permanent happiness at all.

See, everybody, either knowingly or unknowingly are looking for peace, happiness, enjoyment, whatever they want to do, if they can enjoy. If a person comes in front of a Yogi like us, sits, if they feel peaceful and enjoy, then only they will come, otherwise they don't like to come.

Enjoyment, happiness, is such an important thing. They will go to a mall-shopping mall, and they will go to market, they will go to cinema, they will go to war, and they will go to kill others, they will go to rob others. Anything. They derive some happiness temporarily, but though in a wrong way, out of ego. 

Some people derive such enjoyment by killing others. Imagine. This, we cannot imagine these things, this is unknown to us. But some people do that one. So that's what happens. But they will end up, their destiny will also be the same finally one day. 

So these are wrong things. That's what is very important, that we need to have a firm conviction that this world is impermanent and will not give us any permanent happiness. Our own body will die, no matter we might kill the whole world, but we will also die one day, we are not going to be on this earth forever, we haven't come for that. No matter. We see the history or legendary stories, so many emperors came to rule the world. So many came with strong armies, so many came to invade others, kill others. Finally they also got killed, they also died, nobody survived. 

So this conviction, this knowledge is very important. So then, that detachment comes, 'vairagya'. We must find that permanent which is indestructible, which is eternal. Only such a thing can give us eternal happiness. Then there is no harm, no insecurity at all, Total Peace always - without harming anybody else, any other thing - we can achieve our peace, our happiness. This is possible.

Even if we can remain what you call satisfied, contented, without harming anybody we can earn our livelihood, is possible. This is what humans have to learn. This will be very helpful in doing sadhana in the right sense, when you do Tapas. 

That's what I have told before also, between Swamiji and a certain disciple of Swamiji that happened. Swamiji innocently just went on watching when He was initiated into the Tapas by the Jangama Sage. And when He went on watching, He lost all desires. He became so purified. Even when the Divine manifested in the form He didn't have anything to ask, no boon is necessary. There were no desires, 'I don't have anything to ask'. Instead, He asked God, the form that had manifested, 'If there is anything I can do for You please tell me. As long as this body is there I will do it for You.' Such purification, such nobility came. He became a perfect Yogi. Such wonderful Yogi who come once in ages, very rarely.

Whereas one of His disciples wanted to marry Him and went on with the same idea to do Tapas. In the end also, asked for the same marriage and couldn't achieve Self Realization, couldn't achieve peace, contentment, nothing happened. That's what Swamiji used to tell. This a great lesson for anybody to learn. Another simply went and got married, even after few years of Tapas. 

So this vairagya is very important. That which looked after us. Like a mother this vairagya looked after us, during our Tapas, during our service to the Master for twenty years we were here in the Ashram, every time. And Swamiji Himself gave hints, always looked after us. So that way we felt secure.

So that's why the old saying, 'Never tell a lie to the Guru, to your doctor, and to your lawyer. [laughs] Then only the Guru can protect you, guide you towards the right sense. Some people develop... they think they have become very intelligent, and they tell some lies to the Guru, 'Oh, I had been there and I had to face this trouble, that's why I could not come for meditation.' The Guru says, 'Okay, no problem. Next time you try to come' - you lose that day.

Same Questioner:

Thank You, Babaji. So when you met Swamiji, would it be Your destiny that You were destined to meet your Guru?

Babaji:

Yeah. You see, circumstances happen in such a wonderful way.

After I was born in the town called Kolar, before that, after a few years later when I was eight or nine years old, Swamiji came all the way from Andhra Pradesh to Karnataka. He settled in Bangalore, establishing an ashram about 90 kilometers from the town of Kolar.

However, until I was sixteen years old, I never got to know about this. Though it was so close, and many a times we visited Bangalore City. We never got to meet any of Swamiji's devotees, we never got to see anybody who would tell me about Swamiji.

Finally, miraculously, at the age of sixteen when I was in a college in Mysore city.. Mysore is about 150 kilometers south of Bangalore, you know? Talking of destiny I'm explaining all this, how the circumstances got created.

There suddenly I got to hear a whisper in the ears, 'Shivabalayogi is your Guru and you will get everything from Him.' Probably the Destiny started working in that way.

And then I was guided to go to a certain temple of sage Raghavendra. There I happened to meet Swamiji's devotee. Actually, there a priest was narrating Lord Krishna's story. That was quite interesting, I sat and went on hearing. And at the end of the story after one hour, that priest took leave and he went away then this old man came. Because I was young he told, 'All the people here are seventy and above, senior and super senior citizens. So why are you here? Have you fought with your parents, and you want to trouble them, you have come here?' 

I said, ‘There is no such thing. Gentlemen, I'm looking for Shivabalayogi. Some strange thing happened to me, I don't know where He is, which is the place that He lives. What He is also I don't know much.’ He said ki, ‘Shivabalayogi? Who told you about this? Shivabalayogi is my Guru. Come, I will give you His Biography, you will know about Him. I will take you to Him also.’ 

So he gave Swamiji's biography. In the biography, more than reading the whole story which did not sit in my mind, simply seeing His photos attracted me, so I fell in love already before meeting Him. I fell in love. So the dream also came. Such wonderful things the mind works applying the brains, and such dreams came, and the mantra also came. And next day I went with him, Swamiji came to Mysore city. Imagine, so the ripe time when it was, the circumstances worked. 

And I saw Swamiji. I did not speak to Him. He did not speak to me. He did not tell any of my future, nothing. He wouldn't talk like that. His vision would be at the tip of the nose, quietly sitting and giving Darshan with a loin cloth. People would come, touch His feet and go away. 

I was just watching Him, watching Him, I had fallen in love to such an extent. I didn't even want to touch His feet, because if I had touched His feet I had to go out of that hall - I wanted to stay in the hall. Next to Swamiji's Mother I just stood and went on watching. 'Shivabala, Shivabala, Shivabalayogi, Shivabalayogi,' the mind was chanting that 'Om Shivaya Shivabalayogendraya Parabrahmanaya.' 

So the 'I' had gone. So I had just fallen in love. I couldn't tell anything else to my Mother. What is my aim? Why I want to go? ‘I want to go Swamiji’.

So that's how the destiny worked. 

Well it's a long story you all know, twenty years. Finally I came after three years, I was sent to Dehradun. Forty-eight years now, Dehradun. This is another destiny that I am here, so we are working. Swamiji, Swamiji, even today it's the same mind for my Guru. The same attachment is there. Same commitment for this work of the mission, work of the Ashram is there. Whether anybody comes or not, I sit down and we sing when we have to sing, we meditate when we have to meditate. Few chosen people come, sometimes join, and you all join, so many people, like this. So destiny goes on, and on, never ending story. [laughs]

37:16