Birthday of UG – Talk with GG – 3

‘I thoroughly understand your problem. Now listen to me carefuly”, I said.

There are two things according to our Vedas – the path of Destiny and the path of Karma. What you have spoken until now belongs to the path of destiny. It says – ‘Everything has been pre-determined. You have no say in how it spans out, not even in your life’.

The second is the path of Karma. According to this, ‘What you do comes back to you. You experience the fruit of your actions. It may be in this life or in another’.

These two appear to be conflicting with each other. It appears that one principle counters the existence of the other.

Venkat interrupted me saying – “Even Jillellamudi Amma said the same – either believe that God is acting through you or that you are in charge of everything done’.

I continued – “Yes. She said this. Let me reveal what it means. When you believe that God is in control of everything and getting things done through you, you lose your ‘ego’. You believe you have no part to play. Your ‘ego’ stops you from acknowledging this. On the other hand, if you believe in free will and consider that ‘you are in charge of all actions’, then you are held responsible for your actions. You are the reason for the troubles that come across. In this context also, you have no reason to whine. You cannot blame anyone else for your state of being.

The first path takes away your sense of ego. The second erases your mental suffering. Ego is the root cause of suffering. Either way, your life proceeds without suffering. This was the reason behind Amma’s words. Everyone quotes her but no one is willing to put it into practise. People are fond of preaching others than implementing the teachings of the sages.

Another path, other than these two, also exists.

Creation is not pre-determined. There is no script writer for this. You write your own destiny every second. Random events happen. There is no cause or continuity for these events. The thought of the mind at that instant determines the fate of the event. Everything else is a tale woven by you. Everything in creation is a-casual. There is no rhyme or rhythm to creation. Also, there is no connectivity between concurrent events. You assume there is a connection. This has been explained by UG. But to assimilate this explanation is difficult. The accuracy of this statement, will be explained later.”

“For example, a person questioned UG about life after death. He replied – ‘Do you exist now’? The questioner replied ‘Yes. I do exist now’.

UG replied – ‘You do not exist. You only assume that you exist’.

How can this be interpreted?

Your existence is true with respect to you. But from UG’s point of view, you are not true. Your existence is not the truth. His perception differs with your point of view. It can be confusing.

In the past, a girl named ‘R’ was in constant touch with me. She talked high philosophical concepts. She commented everybody, but would wreak havoc if she was mentioned in my blog. She used to mail me saying – “Whatever you write on the blog would be read by my friends and relations. Why do you write about me? Delete them”.

I used to reply to her – “You speak high about the soul, the Supreme and other such stuff. Why are you so scared of worldly matters?”

She explained – “I have a family – husband and kids”

I asked “If you are so scared of familial ties, why do you need spirituality? Why should the world scare people who are full of such high philosophy?”

She had no answer to my questions.

She had a secret desire to prevail as a guru among crowds. But when I revealed her true nature in the blog, she couldn’t tolerate. She feared ridicule.

Many believe that spirituality is different from everyday life. I affirm that they both are the same. Even Jillellamudi Amma would say “What exists other than this life?”. I echo her words.

But if the past events have no rule or rhyme or past and future are not pre-determined, how could people like Sri Ram Sir predict the future so accurately? I am not concerned about how they predict the future. I will not endorse or certify their ability. There are many paths to give such predictions. One can resort to the siddhi of Karna Pisachi. Or, if the person is accomplished in spirituality, then also his predictions can be true. Or, one can resort to any process between these two extremities and know the future. It is not a great achievement to predict the future. In true spiritual path, it is pointless.

In the extreme case of highest spiritual realization, let me explain how the prediction process goes on:

Consider the universal-will as a big circle. Individual-will can be considered as a tiny circle within the big circle. The big circle has no past, present or future associated with it. The small circle has these attributes. Enlightenment attained by humans can be of two types. One that proceeds step by step and another that happens spontaneously. They are called gradual enlightenment and sudden enlightenment respectively. The second category of people suddenly move from the smaller circle to the bigger circle tangentially. What happens then? The past, present and future existing until then, combine into one plane suddenly. Though it may sound like a science fiction or time travel movie, it is true. Their time is not divided into three categories (past, present and future). Everything starts to move on simultaneously at this very instant. Their vision changes from unidimensional to multi-dimensional. So, the future – as perceived by others, is happening to them right at that instant. If that event is recorded in some form, and the event occurs in future, the spectator is in awe. It appears miraculous to him. But it is normal for the enlightened one. They do not find it astonishing. They do not feel ‘sensational’. I am not aware of the state of Sri Ram sir. I am not sure if he resorted to this technique during the prediction or some other way. I am not interested in knowing either”.

“Persons like Vedavyas and Bharadwaj gave immense importance to unnecessary stuff like miracles, mysteries, other planes of existence, spirits, rebirth, sightings, worldly motives, Avadhutas, etc. They played a major role in projecting Sai Baba of Shirdi as God and diluted and damaged Hinduism immemsely. Similarly, they were in awe of the above incident about Sri Ram sir. Their disciples followed the same path. They were content with just the propaganda. This is not true spirituality.

Further, irrespective of you taking the creation as pre-determined or self-effort or random happening, the truth remains unchanged – you cannot live in anyway other than how you are living now. Even if you were to live differently, that path would continue and cannot be changed. Even if that path can be changed (according to you), you cannot explore all the paths available. It wouldn’t make a difference what path you choose. You have no option but to continue to live. The ultimate destiny would be death. You cannot live as anyone else but You. You have no choice in this.

Even if life is pre-determined, the script written by God/devil is hidden from you. You are not aware of what is in store for you. You cannot even alter your course of visiting the rest room, let alone anything else. Whatever be your perception of life, you can lead it only according to your experience and thought. Whether the thought belongs to you individually or a script written by God, you cannot act against it. For once, try not to think like yourself and think like someone else. It is beyond your capability. If you could, may be trying to think in a different way was also pre-determined. You can never know.

Irrespective of who is saying it – be it Sri Ram sir, or me or someone else, you only have two options. One, to resort to a true Guru and follow his footsteps in sadhana, progress and realize Self. If not, live your life as an ordinary human being until the end of your life. No one can go beyond these paths.

Therefore, do not think ‘I am unable to comprehend the fact that everything is pre-determined’. Whether you agree or disagree there will be no difference. Creation will not change its course of action for you. If possible, you have to align with the creation. Or continue your life until the end. It is as simple as that. There is no confusion.”

(To be continued…)

Birthday of UG – Talk with GG - 2

He had arrived earlier than expected. He was about the same age as my son. After the initial formalities, our conversation started.

I asked, “Where do you live?”

He replied: “Near Karkhana. I work in Defence as an auditor”.

Me: “Are you married?”

Him: “Yes. And I have a two-year-old daughter”

Me: “How did you develop this spiritual attitude at such a young age? From when did you observe these tendencies?”

Him: “Right from my childhood”

Although I was well aware how these thoughts would begin, I enquired: “How did it start?”

He said, “I had read the books of Swami Vivekananda when I was young. While practising pranayama techniques mentioned in the book ‘Raja Yoga’, few people warned me that such exercises should not be done without the supervision of a capable Guru, or they may turn adverse. So, I moved on to books by Osho. When I was almost done reading his works, I realized that he contradicted his own words at many places. There was confusion at many places. I doubted if he was speaking the truth. So, I researched among his critics and came across Jiddu Krishnamurthy. Jiddu commented “Why does he need so many Rolls Royce cars?” about Osho. Osho differed with Jiddu as well. I started reading Jiddu’s works. After a few years, I realized that Jiddu was no good. He quotes big terms like “choiceless awareness”, etc. but lacked content. One would not gain any knowledge even after reading all his works. In that sense, Osho had an edge over Jiddu. At least, his followers were allowed to follow “Tantric sex” and experience a little joy. They lived in a state of euphoria. But Jiddu turned out to be just vaccum. So, I researched once again on the critics of Jiddu and came across UG. UG claimed that Jiddu was a big cheater, a spirit medium and nothing more.

UG resorted to Ramana Maharshi when he was young, after long penance in the Himalayas. He went to Ramanashram expecting miracles and out of the world experiences but found nothing. He was very disappointed staying there. 

UG asked Ramana Maharshi, “Give me what you have”. 

Ramana Maharshi replied, “I can give you. But can you take it?” 

UG was angered at these words, “I have done years of sadhana. If not me, who else is eligible to receive it? Can’t he judge if I was eligible or not? Why is he asking me in return? What kind of a saint is he?” and retreated from the place. 

Before he could continue any further, I interrupted him, “As per the Gregorian calendar, today is the birthday of UG”. 

He was astonished. “Really? I was not aware of it.” 

I asked him to continue. 

“I had two questions right from the beginning. Ramana Maharshi always said ‘The heart is on the right side of the body’. How can this be true? This was one of my questions. Two years ago, I stayed in Arunachalam for eight months. I rented a room outside and meditated in the ashram. One of those days, while meditating, for a split second, I felt a current shock on the right side of my chest. I understood that the spiritual heart exists on the right of the body. My question has thus been answered.”

The second question was – “Is everything pre-destined in nature? For instance, a person named Mudaliar posed the same question to Ramana Maharshi. Maharshi replied with a firm “Yes”. Mudaliar moved a coffee cup a little further and asked if this small incident was pre-destined as well. Maharshi again replied with a ‘Yes’. I couldn’t comprehend this scenario at all.” 

He stiooed in between and asked, “Do you know Ekkirala Bharadwaja and Vedavyas?” 

I smiled and said, “Yes. I know them. Please continue.” 

He continued. Vedavyas tutored a boy for a while. One day, he asked the boy- ‘You can predict the future, right?’ 

The boy denied. Vedavyas asked him firmly, ‘Look, I know you have the ability. Speak the truth’. 

The boy agreed – ‘Yes. I can predict the future.’

Vedavyas further enquired – ‘How accurately can you predict?’

The boy asked for a paper, scribbled something on it and placed it inside a cover. He sealed the cover and requested it to be opened on a particular date. Vedavyas, being an IAS officer, went on a foreign trip. By the time he returned, it was past that date. He sat on the sofa and was about to rip the cover open when his pet dog bounced onto his lap. He opened the cover and started reading the paper. 

‘You would miss the date of opening this cover because of a foreign trip. After your return, while you are about to open the cover while sitting on the sofa, your pet dog would bounce on your lap’ – this was the content.

 I asked for the boy’s name. 

He replied – “His name is Sri Ram sir”. 

I had heard about him. 

He said – “He stays here in Hyderabad, in Madhapur”. 

I further said- “His disciple Aditya promotes him in whatsapp groups, right?” 

He confirmed: “Yes. Sri Ram sir has many followers but Aditya promotes him mostly”. 

I asked him if he follows Sri Ram sir. 

He replied negative: “No. I met them both a couple of times.” 

I asked, “His followers propagate Sri Ram sir as the incarnation of Lord Venkateswara?”

 He confirmed that a few do believe so. 

I asked: “I have a question as well. When Veda Vyas realized that Sri Ram sir had divination capability, why did he not accept him? Why couldn’t he announce the truth to the world? Moreover, Vedavyas proclaimed himself as Lord Venkateswara among his devotees. Why did he do so?” 

He replied – “I do not know. May be his ego was too high to accept the facts. But during the above incident, Ekkirala Bharadwaja, the younger brother, asked Sri Ram sir – ‘How far into the future can you see?’. 

Sri Ram sir replied – “I can give you the headlines for every newspaper for the next ten days right now. If you can give me enough supply of stationery, I can enlist every incident that will take place until all eternity”.

Bharadwaj was angered at this reply and said – “You are not a Brahmin. How can you hold such talent?”. “After listening to this incident, I understood that Bharadwaj had high spiritual ego”, said Venkat. 

I smirked and said “There is no spiritual here. Only ‘ego’ exists. In my opinion, the Ekkirala brothers damaged real spirituality in Andhra Pradesh very much. EK was slightly better amongst them.” 

Venkat further said – “You commented something else about Bharadwaja – ‘He did a mistake leaving Jillellamudi amma after staying with her for such a long time’. I liked this comment of yours as well.” 

I said, “I had explained why he left Jillellamudi.” 

Venkat continued – “From this incident with Sri Ram sir, I understood something – ‘Everything is predetermined in this universe. The first script of God is the last script’. Every incident in a person’s life has been set in stone and cannot be changed. Even Sri Ram sir agrees with this.” 

Me: “So, what? What value addition has Sri Ram sir done to this? All this has been mentioned in our scriptures long ago.”

 He continued- “I meant that even our thoughts are pre-determined according to this principle. It was hard for me to digest this fact. I went crazy thinking about this. If everything from daily activities to our thoughts and thought process has been pre-decided and scripted, then why do we exist? What does life mean? What does it mean to lead an individual life with free will? I was aghast with these thoughts.” 

This questions still linger in me. I approached you hoping to get an answer to this. 

Among the great saints and seers that we know of, I found Ramana Maharshi and UG to be slightly accurate. But everybody criticizes UG. He is short-tempered. He shouts and bad-mouths everyone. How can such a short-tempered person be a realized soul? Only you in your blog, mentioned him on a positive note. I guess you have written about eight posts on UG and discontinued in between. That is the reason I mailed you and wanted to meet you.” 

In the meantime, Murthy and his wife Sandhya came over and I introduced them to Venkat – “This is Murthy, Secretary of Panchawati Foundation, India and she’s Sandhya, his wife. Both are noble hearts born for a noble purpose.” 

Based on his words, I understood that he was an avid reader and an aspirant in search of a real spiritual path. I sympathized with him and wanted to explain him in detail.

 We all stayed silent for more than half an hour. 

I broke the silence and started explaining. 

(To be continued…)