"Peace" - Ashtavakra Samhita, Chapter 18 | In Quest of Truth - Babaji Q&A, No. 271

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"Peace" - Ashtavakra Samhita, Chapter 18 | In Quest of Truth - Babaji Q&A, No. 271
Recorded on 12 April 2026 with US participants.

0:00 Intro
1:02 Chapter 18, Verse 1
1:46 Effulgence - to shine by it's own nature, not requiring any external force.
3:55 Once you become aware of the Self, all ignorance of imaginations simply disappears like a dream.
8:12 For a normal person, their attention is on the world and the imagination, not on the reality.
10:41 Verse 2
11:04 "We have total peace only when we mentally renounce."
15:22 Verse 3 
15:41 "When the mind is quiet, only then is real peace enjoyed."
18:50 So there's some blessing in the fact that there's a little misery in life?
21:10 How would Babaji define peace?
22:41 It's desires that tend to break the silence?
23:03 Aren't those desires looking for happiness and peace?
24:02 Verse 4
24:28 This universe is impermanent, therefore how can it give us a permanent happiness?
29:30 The ability to accept what happens in life.
30:08 What can we do to align our desires with the ultimate truth, with trying to acquire the ultimate truth.
30:42 Verse 5
30:58 "The Self is nothing but all-pervasive space itself. Thus it is the absolute."
33:56 But you're also saying even what's imagined is the ultimate truth too?
35:29 Verse 6
35:43 When one is able to overcome all imaginations of the mind, unhappiness is dispelled once and for all. 
37:35 Is it awareness that makes consciousness possible, or consciousness that makes awareness possible?
38:31 'I am' consciousness and the awareness in pure consciousness.
40:14 Verse 7
40:32 Is the world simply an imagination?
44:51 So we can become the truth and have that Pure Awareness, but we can't know the truth because that would reduce Truth to just an idea in the mind.
45:24 Since birth we have gone on absorbing impressions and beliefs until it is a firm reality.
46:59 Verse 8
47:17 "Do sadhana and know the truth for yourself."
49:22 Verse 9
50:18 "A Yogi realizes that 'I' is nothing but the ultimate truth of the Self"
50:50 So it's the pure awareness, or consciousness of existence from where the "I" arises?
52:33 In meditation, I have encountered two parts of watching; one is when we are trying to ignore thoughts and we just bring our attention to the centre (between our eyebrows), and second is, by just watching the thought, it dissolves itself. Is there a difference?
54:22 Is ignoring a thought possible?
54:45 When you first touched the feet of Shivabalayogi, your sense of 'I' disappeared. Can you remove the sense of 'I' from us if we touch your feet?
56:33 How to harness and sustain intention, and is it related to concentration and devotion?
57:54 Being quiet in life and the mind quietening when hearing Babaji talk.
59:49 Being bothered by the amount of garbage waste in the world - is there a spiritual solution to it?
1:01:27 How to be in awareness when doing something and not forget what I am doing?
1:02:35 Research talks of importance of connection with other people, is it ok not to have relations with other people?
1:04:27 Perspective on other lineages where meditation techniques are a lot more complicated, using chakras etc.

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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/