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Questions and Answers with Baba
by John S. Hislop
January 1968
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Q:
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We do not perceive life with absolute clarity, and yet we are acting all the time, and unclear
action makes for a confused life. We are unhappy about that confusion, and in an effort to remove
it we accumulate ideas of Truth, God, Reality. But those imaginings do not remove the confusion.
Life is still confused.
So, the question is, what is the big factor that prevents us from seeing the truth of life
clearly?
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Baba:
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You say that Truth, God, Reality are imagination. Why do you think they are imagination? They are
not. Time, work, reason and experience; these four in harmony together, that is truth. When the
four are found to be not in harmony, then you feel it is untruth.
An example: Yesterday you came to Bangalore and from there to Puttaparthi by car. Travel is work.
It took you four hours to come from Bangalore. That is time. You came to see Swami. That is the
reason. Having seen Him, you got happiness. This is the result.
On the other hand, last night you dreamed that you were in America and were shopping. In this, the
four factors were not involved. There was no work, there was no time expended, and where is the
result? This is untruth.
That experience was imagination, only mind work. This is the difference between truth and
imagination.
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Q:
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But truth, that is, in terms of work, time, reason and result_you look around the world and you
see those things in operation; and the world is in a mass. So, there must be more to it than
that?
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Baba:
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When you don't have absolute faith in the result, then doubt arises. An example: Now it is daylight
and the objects in the room are seen clearly, and there is no doubt in regard to them. At night
when it is fully dark and you have to grope around and do not see any of the objects, there is no
doubt about that situation. But at dusk, when it is half light and half dark, doubt can arise and
you may see a rope and imagine it to be a snake and have fear. Light is not full and vision is not
clear. Full light is wisdom, and full dark is ignorance.
Doubt arises when there is half dark and half-light. The half-light is wisdom, when there is
half-and-half, there is doubt. Now you are in the middle stage where you have this little bit of
wisdom and also some ignorance, where ignorance and wisdom are mixed. You are not fully
experienced. When you have proper experience, the doubt will vanish. Because you are not
experienced you are having this doubt.
A small example: While suffering from malaria, you have eaten a sweet but feel it has a bitter
taste. It was not that the sweet was bitter, but in experience it was bitter. It is not the fault
of the sweet. Ignorance is also a disease like malaria. And the cure for this disease of ignorance
is sadhana [spiritual practice].
Man has doubt only while he does not know the truth. Once you experience the truth, doubt will
vanish. Truth is one, and for all time truth is truth. Whatever changes, know that as untruth. Once
you were small and you grew bigger. That is also untruth. Where is the body of the ten-year old?
All has merged into the present body. First untruth; then, when we have the experience we know the
truth. Dark and light are not different; they are one only. A small example: Last night you ate
fruit. In the morning it becomes stool and you pass it out. It was fruit yesterday, but the bad and
the good are the same, only one. In one form, it was fruit, in the other form it was stool.
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Q:
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The mixture of light and darkness, of ignorance and wisdom which creates unhappiness, which
creates trouble_Swami says the mixture, which creates confusion, fades away with the right
experience. The question is, what is the basic factor that prevents us from having that right
experience?
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Baba:
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We don't have the intensity that is required. Even to study books how much is needed to come to the
stage when we can read difficult books. How many years, how many hours of toil we put into it. If
you have the same intensity in spiritual practice, you will surely know the truth. But we are not
as intense as we should be on the spiritual path. We do not apply and one-pointedness. Full
concentration is needed even in the world in walking, talking, reading. Without concentration you
cannot do anything. Even in little things of the world we use concentration.
But when we try to think of God, then we get restless, and the mind is unstable. Why do we do the
things of the world with full concentration? Why? Because we are fully interested in it. And with
God we have these doubts.
Whatever work you love deeply, you have full concentration. Whatever you don't love deeply, then
concentration is not full. A small example: You are driving a car. At the same time you are talking
to your passengers. The road becomes narrow and dangerous. You say, 'Please let us not talk now, I
must give full concentration to the driving.' Why do you say this? It is because you deeply love
your life and must concentrate deeply so as to avoid an accident.
Because you have this love for body, you concentrate on its safety. When you have deep love for
God, then concentration on Him will come automatically.
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A second visitor:
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Where is our responsibility? We are supposed to share, to help others.
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Baba:
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'Self' is the base, or foundation. 'Help' is the wall. God is the roof or the top of the building.
Light is the owner.
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A Visitor:
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But she was asking, 'what is the limit'? Where is the limit of one's responsibility? How far
should one go?
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Baba:
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First you should look after yourself and not be a burden. That is the first thing. If you are not
able to help so many people, it doesn't matter. But if you don't do anything that is harmful, that
is real help. If you can't help a person, never mind. But don't harm anybody. To harm is bad. But
the very feeling you have that you can't help itself is very good. You must have physical strength,
spiritual strength, and mental strength; and only when you have the three, then can you really do
service. Food, head, and God. Food is for the body; and you want a good body so the brain can
function properly, so you can think. And why do you want this head and that intellect? To realize
that which is beyond this, and that is God.
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Visitor:
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But it hurts me to see people in need, beggars and innocent little children who are ill...
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Second visitor:
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Is it not egoistic to have everything for yourself?
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Translator:
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But Swami did not mean in that sense. What Swami said is that when you do not have the physical,
mental and spiritual strength, how can you really help another person?
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Baba:
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Sometimes when we are not balanced and have not got the proper truth, we will mislead so many other
people.
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Visitor:
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It is that you cannot give what you do not have.
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Second visitor:
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Nothing before straightening yourself.
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Q:
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Is it possible for Swami to give the lady Self-realization?
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Third visitor:
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Swami says it is possible. Since He gives the truth, cannot He also give the Self-realization to
the heart?
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Baba:
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When there is that feeling, that depth of feeling, Swami can give it. Oh, yes. She has such a depth
of feeling for the body. If she has the same intensity for God-realization, Swami can give it. Just
now.
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Q:
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So, that is what Swami means by, 'before you can help people'.
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Baba:
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The more intensity, the greater the result. If you are digging a well, the deeper you dig the
higher will be the wall formed by the mud you bring out. The depth is in the form of the height.
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Q:
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Swami says He cannot give to a dry heart. Why is the heart dry?
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Baba:
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Even that, God gives for our own good. When you don't have the hunger, why should he give you food?
When you have the hunger and receive food, it is useful; but if you don't have hunger and He gives
the food, you will have indigestion.
Sometimes, even if you have the hunger, God does not give food to you. Just to keep us in check and
control. Suppose you are in the hospital, they can't give you everything you might ask for. There
is a proper time and the proper way for your own sake. Even a spiritual experience, sometimes God
withholds it, because God does everything for man's good. He never does anything to harm man or
give him sorrow. But that faith you must have. First you must grapple with the fact that duty is
God, and start doing your duty.
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Q:
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What does 'surrender' to the Lord mean in such common things as shaving, going to the market,
walking and so on?
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Baba:
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Surrendering to the Lord is surrendering all thoughts and actions, not wishing for the fruits of
the action, not doing action, to gain its fruit but doing the action because it is one's duty. The
act is dedicated to the Lord and the results, therefore, are borne by the Lord.
Actions done, thus, fruits abandoned at the time of the action_such action is free of karma. Since
the ego this way, is not fed and cultivated, it disappears before long. For example: If one shaves,
which is classed as an uninspiring mundane task, the attitude is that one is preparing for the sake
of the Lord in the heart, and one is making the best of his appearance to honor the Lord, and not
for one's personal vanity and reward.
Also, in walking, offer the action to the Lord to maintain a body fit for the Lord to live in; and
that is the attitude for every single act of the day. Sweeping the house is dedicated to the Lord
so that He may have a fit dwelling. And cooking also is dedicated to Him so that the body may be
strong and vigorous for the benefit of the Lord. It is folly to seek the fruit of action. When one
dies, the only items taken with one are one's good and bad deeds. None of the power, the money, the
position, the prestige, the vigorous beauty of the body, the culture of the personality_these
things are all gone, and therefore a what folly to work for them.
Man is life with desire; life without desire is God. Mind is desire; when mind disappears, desire
disappears.
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Q:
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Is not praying to God the same as begging?
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Baba:
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To beg from an equal puts you down and him up. But to ask God, you rise to His level. You must ask
God. To ask God is perfectly all right. It is not begging.
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Q:
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But I had thought since God knows each problem, that if it was appropriate to remedy the trouble
God would do so without being asked.
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Baba:
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Important answer! No. It is your duty to ask God. Words must be said, and the words must correspond
to the thought. The thoughts must be put into a true word. It is true enough that the Divine knows
all. But He requires that the true word be said. The mother may know that to maintain life, the
child requires food. But milk is given when the child asks for it.
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Q:
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It is not clear when one should ask God and when one should not. For example: There is a
headache that doctors seem unable to cure. I do not ask Swami to cure the headache; I do not pray
for a cure. However, in a letter, Swami wrote, 'How is your health? Do not worry about that. Your
God is always with you, in you, around you.'
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Baba:
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That is right. What Baba said is enough. For you, body identification is weakening. You have a
headache today, a stomach-pain tomorrow. Let it go. Don't worry about it. You are not the body.
Once Baba has told you not to worry, no need to ask Him about it. Don't identify.
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Q:
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Does Swami mean that for those persons still fully identified with the body, a continuous
headache might be a proper subject for prayer?
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Baba:
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Yes, but why bother Swami about a mere headache. You may tell others the same.
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Q:
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Then, it is really all right to ask God?
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Baba:
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When there is a real need, God should be asked to provide. A child asks parents for peppermint
candy, and the parents give. When older, it asks the parents for property, and it receives. It is
by right that the child asks, and it is by right that it receives. A child may ask a stranger for
peppermint once or twice and expect to receive. But even if he asks for it, he may not expect to
receive property from a stranger. But God is not bothered by a multitude of small requests, and He
will certainly give property [things of great value]. Therefore, one should always ask God to meet
needs. It is the individual's right to ask. There is no question of begging.
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Q:
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Swami said that in praying to God, the petitioner raised himself to the level of God. In order
to make such a prayer, in what state or condition should one first put oneself?
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Baba:
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It is not necessary to put oneself into any particular state of meditation.
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Q:
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Usually, the idea is that one should go to a quiet place and be in a quiet mood when he wishes
to pray.
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Baba:
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Whenever and wherever you put yourself in touch with God, that is the state of meditation. You may
feel that 1 p.m. in California is not a good time to call Me, for I may be asleep in India and that
I should not be disturbed. I know that you have felt like that once or twice. But, I am
omnipresent; I have no such limitations. I never sleep. At the middle of the night, I turn off the
light and rest in bed, because if the light is on, devotees will gather. I have no need of sleep.
But you need at least four hours of sleep.
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Q:
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If I am walking in the street, with people around, and my mind is engaged with things I must do,
is that a good time for prayer?
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Baba:
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At the beginning, one might need some special set of circumstances for clearing the mind for
concentration on God. But in a little time, if one finds that God is omnipresent and becomes aware
of Him, and one's thoughts are centered on God, then no matter where you are, it is the same and
prayers may be addressed to God and the prayer will reach Him.
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Q:
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Swami says that God is omnipresent. What meaning does Swami give the word, 'Omnipresent'?
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Baba:
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Omnipresent means everywhere at the same time, all the time.
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Q:
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If a person is not having any material or worldly needs, then what is the proper subject for
prayer?
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Baba:
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Peace of mind. One should pray to God for peace of mind.
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Q:
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I am surprised! I thought Swami said that peace of mind has to be secured by oneself, working on
his desires and getting rid of them? And now Swami says we can pray to Him for peace of mind!
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Baba:
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How can you be free of desires? Now, at this moment you are with Swami, and your are free of
desires. As soon as your wife has a pain, you have the desire that she should be well, and you pray
to Swami to cure her. At any time, a desire may come up and where is your peace of mind? Whereas,
if God answers your prayers for peace of mind, He must, by having granted that boon, automatically
fulfil your needs and desires. First you want a chain from Baba, next day you want something else,
a ring; both are made of gold. Why not ask for the gold and then all the desired objects are from
that gold.
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Q:
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When Swami says, 'peace of mind,' what is the meaning He gives to that phrase?
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Baba:
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There is some small confusion in terms, for there is no mind as such. Mind is a web of desires.
Peace of mind is no desire, and in that state there is no mind. Mind is destroyed, so to speak.
Peace of mind really means purity, complete purity of consciousness. All spiritual practices are
aimed at purification of the heart.
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