Om Namah Shambhave, 

Lots of love and blessings to all of you. 

This way of meeting with all of you is very nice. I wait every Sunday that I get to meet you so for me this moment of coming for Satsang and meeting all of you is a moment of great happiness. 

Let’s not take much time and begin Q & A session. Whoever has any question in mind, please ask. 

Ranjit: What’s the difference between Yoga and Meditation? 

Babaji: The difference that is between Yoga and Meditation that I will tell you. 

There are three things: Yoga, Sadhana, and Meditation (Dhyana). Yoga is that which is connected to our body. Sadhana is when we worship any form of God, i.e. the form of God whom we love, with whom we are connected. Whatever is proved for them through the remembrance of the name of that form of God, that is Sadhana. Meditation is the act of removing focus from everything else to bring the focus on one’s inner self, i.e. detaching from everything else, worshipping of only inner self, watching within, coming from within to outside. In correct terms we can say that the focus of the conscience on the soul is called Meditation. 

Now what happens is this. We have to sit in meditation. To sit in meditation means to sit for a long period of time. There is no time limit for that. As long as you can sit, you should do. To bring that capacity of sitting, to prepare the body for meditation, you need Yoga. Yoga helps you to increase the energy of the body, make body flexible, and keep body free from every disease. Meditation helps in bringing energy and peace to your inner soul. With Yoga you can keep your body healthy but for the purification of soul (soul is pure because soul is God), for the identification of soul, for the peace of your inner soul, and for focus meditation is required. Yoga develops moral energy and happiness within you that you also gain from meditation, but what is most important between these two things is how you conduct them. If you get guidance of a good Guru then doing both Yoga and Meditation is possible for you. 

If I speak in simple terms, then Yoga is the purification of your body and Meditation works towards your inner soul. Yoga works on body, Meditation works on your inner soul. 

Lisa: Is it Guru Sri Sathya Sai behind you and Neem Karoli Baba in the photo to your right? Tell us Babaji are these holy men your Guru? Did you meet them in person or spirit? You are very youthful, so I am wondering. Tell us also who are closest to your heart and mind. 

Babaji: It’s a very beautiful question. See, Sathya Sai Baba is my Guru. Yes, this is absolutely true and I have met Him through my soul and several times physically in His Ashram in Puttaparthi. And through Him, whatever guidance has been there in my life, whatever He taught me, it was through that education that every day I feel Him near me, with me. Today whatever I have received in life, whatever I have seen, and whatever I will see, the foundation for all that is only Sathya Sai Baba. When Guru enters your life, when Guru gives you the education for spiritual path, with that education the Guru also gives you several experiences. Guru teaches us to move out and see a number of divine powers, divine avatars that are present in this world, and see how through their powers, through their miracles they are changing lives of people. In this spiritual journey, the more education you get, the more experiences you get, the more you get to know and observe, the less it is, because here there is no limit to knowing. 

After Swami’s arrival in my life if I ever saw for any other Guru then the first one was Haidakhan Babaji whom I got to know in the year 2009. After Him I got to know about Neem Karoli Babaji. And all of these energies, these avatars, they are one Shakti (power). Neem Karoli Baba is an energy whom we can say is the power of transformation. 

All the time, at every step of my life, I feel the blessings of all of Them in my life. They came in my life. I do not say that I searched for them; They searched me. They gave me blessings and gave me intellect to understand, to see that if I look at Haidakhan Babaji, or Sathya SaiBaba, or Neem Karoli Babaji, then all of these energies are one because when you see with a spiritual eye nothing stands different to you. 

I would like to explain this through an example. We make home. We look at the walls of the home. But if we look closely we need to see on what base these walls are standing. All of these walls stand on their foundation. We look at these walls but who looks at the foundation? We always talk about the beautiful walls. We never think on what these walls are standing. In my life whomever I met after Swami, whomever I got to know like Neem KaroliBabaji, Haidakhan Babaji or anyone else, this is like I am inside a home and these beings are like the walls which are protecting me. It does not matter how much I feel happy within thebeauty of these walls, my life’s foundation shall always be Swami. Because whoever I am today, the way I am standing like a wall, the way you can see, it is due to my foundation which is the reason for my strength, and that foundation is only one –Bhagawan Sri SathyaSai Baba. And when this foundation, these walls, and this Babaji come together then forms our Babaji Samaaj. 

Prema: What is the difference between Prana and Breath? 

Babaji: Prana Shakti exists in you as long as there exists breath within you. We call PranaShakti as Healing Power. And if breath exits from our body then Prana Shakti also gets extinguished. 

If I am able to move my hand then my Prana Shakti is completely within my hand. The way our body organs work, our nails grow, our hair grow, our beard grows, our body grows, thisprocedure is through Prana Shakti. Suppose Prana Shakti leaves your index finger then it will stop working. 

How exactly does this Prana Shakti work? Whenever you have a headache you put your palm on your head. If you get stomach ache then you put your palm on your stomach. If there is pain in your forehead it means that your Prana Shakti is not completely situated there but as soon as you touch your another palm that has Prana Shakti (that has healing energy) to your forehead then you feel relief, i.e. Prana Shakti is that energy of your body that as long as it runs in your body it keeps supporting other parts of the body. 

And how does this Prana Shakti work in your body? If there is breath in your body then only Prana Shakti works. If I say in simple terms, there exists an electric meter in your home which sends electricity to the entire home. That power set-up sends electricity to the entire home and every appliance works due to that, the fan works, the light works. If something goes wrong with the meter box then every appliance will stop. That meter box is your breath and the electricity that goes through the wire is Prana Shakti. Hence when we do meditation then we focus on that meter box because if the meter box works correctly only then the energy will rightly and on its own reach to the desired areas. So during meditation you have to nicely focus on your breath. When you properly focus on breath then the Prana Shakti will itself rise upwards, that Prana Shakti will keep on growing, and when Prana Shakti keep on growing then a positivity always remain within you. 

Rama Rao: When the WhatsApp group of Babaji Samaaj formed, then around 3-4 years back you had put pictures of the Ashram, that the Ashram will have a certain look, everyone will come here and do sankeertan, everyone will live together like a family. So my question is related to Ashram. I request you to tell us the status of the Ashram, when it will come into form and what work is going on. Second question is that in different Ashrams different kinds of activities happen, for example Nagara Sankeertan, Bhajan happen in Puttaparthi Ashram, so what all regular activities will take place in Babaji’s Ashram? My third question is, we consider you as our Guru so all the persons of Samaaj are your disciples, so as a disciple what is our duty for the Ashram? 

Babaji: First I’ll answer the first question about the status of the Ashram, the stage of its completion. See, first we have to see that why did the thought of Ashram come in my mind? When I began my spiritual journey, I had no thoughts of making Ashram. But as time passed, when number of people who visited me began to increase, then the thought of making Ashram came. The arrangements of a home are like a home but the arrangements of Ashram are completely opposite to those of home. We take birth in our homes but when we want education then we have to move out of the house to go to school. Why can’t we study at home? Because we can never be serious within home. As long as we do not have fear of our teachers within us, we do not take studies seriously. This has been going on for a long time. When Lord Ram came He also went to His Guru to Gurukul to obtain education. In same manner we all have to go to our Guru to obtain education to such a place where our Guru sits and teaches us that which we desire to learn from the Guru and for which we come to the Guru’s place. Similarly, when people started coming to me to learn something and said that, “Babaji, tell us something about meditation”, I did start something from my home itself. But I realized that teaching of such things from home becomes completely opposite and an environment and a place are needed for it where everything takes place in time. At home we get up, eat, and sleep at different times but that kind of discipline can’t come that is there in an ashram. We may say that to receive education we do not need a place; wherever we sit we can find knowledge. Similarly peace is everywhere, peace is in entire home, God is in home, but even for doing prayers in home we make a temple. Similarly to give knowledge to children Guru is everywhere, Guru is with you even at this point of time. But still, when Guru wants to teach you something, or you want to learn something from Guru then you have to come to Guru’s class and that Guru’s classroom is called ashram where we go to learn something. So when I received a little bit of understanding of such things, after that I began dreaming about Ashram. Its current status is that we have a small land to build Ashram which we purchased two years back. All of this became possible due to the support of all of you. Right now its boundary is being constructed. I don’t want to say openly but I’ll give a little hint - very soon we will have a Dhuni (Yajnashala: place for rituals done in front of a sacred fire), where we can sit and do meditation and sankeertan. It’s going to get completed very soon. You will know about it quite soon, keep a little patience. 

Second question, what activities will be performed? If someone asks what new activities will be conducted in Kangra’s Ashram, then see, what new can be there? There isn’t anything new. It is same as has been taking place in our ancient history. Guru comes, Guru has a place, Guru shines like light, Guru gives that light, and a few people (if not everyone) get attracted by that light and come to that place. When those students get attracted by light and reach Guru’s place, then Guru removes all the darkness within the student through teachings and tests. Guru teaches you yoga, chanting, penance, sadhana, karma yoga (yoga of action), how to connect with your inner self, how to practice love, all of these Guru teaches in the ashram. When you connect within yourself, when light is revealed through that connection, then through that light you are able to see that there are so many evil tendencies within you in the form of ego, inability to understand others and life, reacting to small incidents, i.e. in true terms when you do not have control on yourself only then you do such behaviour and when you have a control on yourself then you become happy and focused from within. Only ways change, but education remains same, and that education is of humanity. So in ashram we will do chanting, penance, yoga, sankeertan (group singing), pilgrimages, and such similar and several activities and another beautiful thing you will learn is how to live together like a family. These are very basic things that form part of every ashram’s activities but in right terms if you want to connect with Bhole Baba and that Energy then how can I describe that? That can only be experienced by you by coming to the ashram. If you want to experience Kailash while living here, then together we all have to make ashram. 

And third question, what are the responsibilities of devotees? If told in one line, the most important responsibility of a devotee is seriousness, surrender. Don’t use your mind! You have some expectations from Babaji, that if you are sick, you have some pain, you are stuck somewhere, or you have some problem related to work or family or related to yourself, then you know that you have Babaji (not only Babaji, whomever you trust and whichever Guru you are connected with) whom you can tell, who can help you. You have a faith in your Guru that your Guru is there, your Guru will handle. This is a very beautiful experience of mine and Swami and someday I’ll write about that very nicely in “My journey with Sathya SaiBaba” about who is Guru and how Guru tests disciple. Simply, a disciple does not become a Guru just like that one day. When you truly accept yourself as a disciple of some Guru then your responsibilities increase a lot. You should be ready to obey every order of your Guru. 

My spiritual journey has been going on for the last twenty years. I have reduced satsangs, talking, going to devotees. When disciples forget their responsibilities, then Guru often has to remind them of their duties. There is a truth of life that if Babaji has some responsibilities towards everyone, then you should also have some responsibilities towards Guru because I solely do not form a Samaaj, we all together constitute Samaaj, we all together make it. We all fulfil home, car, every other desire but a place where we all can sit together, where we all can together receive that which we have to receive, we need to together work for it. 

We are going to give our home, car, every other thing to only few people of our family. Those people who were never with us in our happiness and misery or anywhere else or maybe were all the time with us, we would give it to them only. What they will do with it you do not know. We don’t even know that the castle of our dreams which we make with so much will, happiness, and expectations, our kids may sell it and go somewhere else. They won’t care about your expectations. I think together we should make such a kind of place where not only one family, but a number of families, individuals, and generations will be able to sit together, even if they come there after facing pain from their families, disturbances in their minds because of everything. We make this one place where the lamp of peace burns, where together they experience love, where they come to liberate themselves, where they have no bondage, why don’t we make such a place, why do we make only such things that have not given you true satisfaction and happiness till date but even today we need true happiness. 

We want peace but we don’t want to construct the place to burn the lamp of peace. Because we can’t purchase peace. We can’t purchase peace, we can only earn peace and we can only earn it when we surrender. And there is one duty of the disciple towards Guru that she/he should surrender something. This is not about money, she/he should surrender that which Guru wants from her/him, and through that sense of dedication everything within her/him gets surrendered. She/he thinks of fulfilling her/his dreams but she/he does not even think if that dream would be able to give her/him that peace. Don’t even think that, think what idea and what dream is Guru giving within you. Because the order that is given to you by Guru, that same order would one day make you meet with true peace. 

To make one meditation hall and an ashram with 10-15 rooms is not a huge task for 400 people of Babaji Samaaj. However, unless and until the noise in your mind does not go away, it’s impossible for ashram to come up. Because ashram is a big thing, it is a huge thought. You can find peace everywhere, you can learn meditation from anyone, this is your life’s choice, it is only you who decides for yourself where and how you learn it, but this only becomes possible when disciple of a Guru thinks that she/he actually wants to learn it. When that sense of work comes, then within a year even an ashram can build up and I am single-handedly not making this ashram. Right now we are talking through phone, ashram is that when we won’t be needing this phone. 

We make schools to receive good education. We make hospitals so that we remain healthy. We send kids to school so that they learn how to conduct themselves in society, communicate in English & Hindi, learn several subjects, learn how to earn money, learn everything. But we don’t want to make any such place where we can remain in peace, from where we can learn peace, humanity, and single-mindedness. In last line I want to say that why do I discuss about ashram and why you don’t because I know the ultimate end and truth of my life, but you do not know the mission of your life and what you have come here to do. You may not have come to make ashram but whatever you have come here to do, whatever you have come here to learn, or I can say whatever you have come here to do that you have not understood until now hence you do not discuss about such things and it is good what we have discussed today so we take it seriously. Think about what Babaji is trying to tell you. This will be a subject of joy. 

Om Namah Shambhave,

Sai Ram

Bless you everyone