These quotes have been taken from Satsangs (discourses) given by our teacher Professor Ojaswi Sharma. He himself was never interested in writing anything but his students felt the need to preserve his wisdom. They taped his talks, transcribed them and sorted out into several Topics. Because the full discourses were very long, shorter passages were chosen on each Topic and presented here.
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In the flowing current of destiny, you have to make decisions from moment to moment. This is spiritual training. To be attentive all the time is to be a true spiritual seeker.
A situation may arise where, for example, through dishonesty a large amount of money could be acquired. Probably the first reaction may be: "Oh yes, take it." But a true seeker would say: "No, it is not right." This shows that the spiritual journey has started.
Self-realisation is not borrowed. It cannot be given. It is not a gift. It has to be acquired. Yes, there is no doubt that it is very important to have a guide who can explain problems at every step, but you have to walk on the path yourself.
In the ordinary pattern of life there is a sequence of action and reaction - a situation comes and then a reaction to it. But the one who has decided to be a spiritual seeker, starts changing his attitude of his own accord without a situation (having to arise.)
We are in a period of transition. Everything is shifting and changing. But, even though everything is changing, yet in this changing pattern of existence there is something without change. The wise ones are those who try to realise that which never changes even in the midst of change.
As soon as a seeker starts sitting for meditation, he faces the problem of the emergence of many thoughts and memories. Previously, the seeker was chasing after a man or woman, but now, in meditation, that same man or woman is found playing inside! The seeker exclaims: "What is this? So many thoughts and forms inside! The chaos found inside is unimaginable. Outside in the normal state at least there was some system. Inside there is no such system, just hundreds and thousands of thoughts and memories mixed together! Sometimes the thought of a horse comes to him; then the thought of a donkey; and after that arises the memory of a musician playing a violin. What does it mean? What is all this happening! Disgusted, one asks: "Am I mad? Many times you will say: "I have gone mad."Sometimes people visit me and say: "As soon as we started meditation, problems of inner chaos started. Are we becoming mad?" Then I tell them: "You were always mad! This is only the beginning of the awareness of madness. Until you started meditation you were not aware that you were mad. Now you have started meditation and, by stopping yourself from running outside, you are becoming aware of your madness. If you continue, this madness will gradually decrease, and some day you will become a sane person!"
The first step on the spiritual path is to try to cut off from the external world as much as possible, and turn towards the inner world. However, nobody in the world can cut off totally from the external world. For that, the seeker on the spiritual path has to understand the difference between necessity and desire. For the fulfillment of necessity one has to go to the external world, and one should watch whether something is really a necessity or it is only a desire. Therefore, the life of a spiritual seeker should be disciplined and self- controlled. Many of life's pursuits in which ordinary people indulge, have no place in the life of the spiritual seeker.
Eventually the seeker realises that he is the observer, and all those things are the observed phenomena. But the observer is different from the observed phenomenon. He is superior to it. In this way, after due practice and time, differing according to the stage of the seekers, their background, their sincerity, and their commitment for self-realisation from inside, waves of peace and harmony start coming to the seeker.
It does not depend so much on the guide or the guru, as upon seeker. The important thing in the whole spiritual journey is not to find the true guru but to become a true disciple.
Listening to a teacher or reading books have their own significance, but the real value is in practising in life, not listening.
As existence, God is there in everybody equally. But the degree of realisation is according to your thirst.
The essence of all satsang everywhere throughout the world is that while you are under the influence of physical desires and pleasures, you are distant from spirituality. The more you give up desires and pleasures, the more you go inside yourself, and worship God, and pray to God for your transformation, the more you are on the path.
When there are good saints, it is very important to listen to them again and again, even to see them, and to be with them. It influences everybody. They have an aura of spirituality around them. The very atmosphere is charged in their presence, which makes an impression on the seeker consciously or unconsciously.
There is a difference between a student and a disciple. A student only learns by mind: a disciple follows the discipline. A student only lives in the world of words, away from experience. By following the discipline of the master, a disciple has the experience.
There are two categories of spiritual books. The first category are those books which give you more information and add to your knowledge. The second category is those books which make you wise. There is a difference between having knowledge and becoming wise. It often happens that good seekers get lost in reading books and finding information because the books are very interesting. However, they do not directly help in the person's spiritual evolution.
When a seeker reaches the right state, the Divine sends someone in human form to that person. In this way the true path of spirituality can never vanish from the Earth. If it did, it would be the end of humanity itself. If all the books and all the scriptures were destroyed or thrown into the sea, this path would still remain. The description of this path comes at a late stage in books but even before that it arises in the hearts of men. It is a natural process of human development. At one stage everyone wants to be peaceful and happy and then the seeking starts by itself. As before the birth of the child there is milk in the breast of the mother, so, before the seeking starts, someone appears to show the path. There is nothing to be worried about. Just be happy and enjoy yourselves!
There are two basic misconceptions with regard to the body. These are at opposite ends of the scale and are carried even by people who are on the spiritual path. Some people regard the body as the main end in life and are, therefore, much too concerned with and attached to the body. On the other hand there are those who do not care at all about the body, thinking that since it is perishable they do not have to look after it. However, the true spiritual seeker does not make either of these two mistakes. He takes care of his body but he does not have any attachment to it. He takes care of the body because he realises that it is the instrument for service and work, and that the manifestation of the spirit takes place through body. As long as the body is there, he makes use of it. When the time comes that it has become old and is of no more use, he is ready to give it up willingly in the same way as he changes his clothes.