Q: How can one live one’s life without self-inflicted guilt and the guilt inflicted by others on us?
Gurudev: You are in the right place. Just know this, guilt is like the dust on our clothes, or on our skin. So what do you do? You wash it with a little soap and water. Knowledge is the soap, and meditation is the water. So with both meditation and knowledge, you can overcome it.
Q: We the French think that reason and logic is the ultimate tool of understanding. But in India, there are so many things that we cannot understand with our logic. How do you explain that?
Gurudev: That is what is called wonder. In wonderland there is no explanation. You wonder anything and go, 'Wow'. And when you go into wonder with deep faith, then comes great understanding. It gives you an insight of another dimension of existence.
There are many dimensions to existence, but these are totally logical. Something new appears to be wonder. When you go deep into it, it is perfectly normal.
So India is a large country and an ancient land. For thousands of years, research has been done here on consciousness, on meditation, on the Self, and on the world. Also, it is said, first to experience, then the belief will come. You can believe whatever you want to believe, but experience is what has been given priority in India.
Q: What was special about Sanjay that he could see what was going on in the war of Mahabharat? What was that divine vision?
Gurudev: There were no televisions in those days, the humans had to train their minds in such a way. We don’t know how much time he must have taken, meditating to enable him to see things. But it is possible. We all have this power.
If the heart is clean and the mind is silent, then if we sit and focus on something, it’s happenings keep occurring to us. It’s also called intuition, or intuitive awareness. How many of you have experienced this? (Many hands go up) It increases with meditation.
Q: When I do meditation in the ashram it is effortless but when I go home it is not the same. Is there any way I can cultivate the same aura at home?
Gurudev: Yes you can, in a particular place at home, or in a particular room. That is why people used to have a pooja (prayer) room in their home. In a corner, the north-east corner they would devote for the pooja room. Like that you can place any one corner in your room, and regularly sit there. Put one carpet or asana (mat) and sit there and meditate. You can do that.
Q: I have one question for you. I am very much aware that there is this enormous spiritual and practical power in women. But I am also aware that this power is very much hidden from us. How can the modern woman awaken this power in her?
Gurudev: First of all, let us understand that spirituality is not something that is out there, that is going to come into you. We are all made up of matter and spirit.
Our body is made up of carbohydrate, protein, amino acids, etc. Our spirit is made up of compassion, care, commitment, love and distortions of it, like anger. All these qualities. Nurturing the human values, the qualities in you, is spirituality. It is seeing life from a broader perspective, i.e., 'I am not just flesh and bones, but I am scintillating energy. I am a fountain of love. I am feelings. I am intelligence. I am thoughts'.
This identification with our consciousness is what spirituality is.
It doesn't take a long time for you to invoke the spirituality inside you. You simply have to see your life from a bigger perspective.
Look at this planet, it is huge; unfathomable. From billions of years it has been in existence. And what’s our life of 70-80 years in comparison to this? See your life from the context of space and time and you will see how tiny your life is. At the same time, go deep into it. Go deep into meditation and you will find, 'Wow, there is so much energy. I am this beautiful energy. My thought has power, my emotions have power, and I am a part of everybody!'.
This feeling that you are part of the entire living species is what exactly spirituality is. That connectedness with the entire universe brings you enormous strength.
