How to listen to our Inner Voice?

So many times we are faced with such situations where we cannot decide what we should do. We call up our friends, relatives, colleagues to find solution for us. We do not realize that we are the best judge of every event or problem in our life. No one knows me better than myself. My inner-self (which we also call as Higher Self is the Charioteer of my body) knows so much more than my conscious mind. My body is not just flesh and bones. It is much more. Every human on earth has four dimensions - Body, Mind, Emotions and the divine energy called Soul. Ideally, a Soul has to be in control of the first three. But in the modern busy world it is other way round. The result is imbalance all around us. None seems to be listening to the his/her own Soul. Our Soul has to be in the driver’s seat of our life but we have dumped it in some rear corner and have forgotten all about it.

Our soul is always in communication with us. It is always telling us what we should do for our own good. This voice is nothing else but voice of our own inner consciousness / Soul which is connected with the Universal Power/ Higher Spirit / God/ Infinity. God is not some separate individual sitting high above beyond solar system or galaxies. God is present around us in seen as well as unseen world.

God/ Sadguru / Jesus/ Saibaba (whatever name we use to refer to the Supreme Power) is operating from within us through our Soul. When we are in tune with our Soul, we can listen to the voice of this Supreme Divine Power within us. This voice is voice of truth. If we listen to it and follow its command we can experience eternal peace and joy.

Our soul is always talking to us, guiding us and telling us what we should be doing in given situation. Usually this voice is the first guidance we instantly notice whenever we are to take some important decision in life. It is our soul which first oversees our problem even before its onset. It puts thought in our mind to take necessary preventive action. We feel gentle whisper of this voice in our heart. This whisper tells us what we should do in the given circumstances. We often refer to it as our gut feeling. So many times we follow our gut feeling even though it may not seem right to us at that time but somehow we are drawn to do things which we never meant to do if we were using our mind. This is called following our heart which is always speaking language of love.

If we do not listen to this voice instantly, our mind takes over and starts analyzing the situation and offers us other attractive and easy alternatives. Thus we are prompted to do things which others are normally doing in given circumstances even when our heart knows it is not right thing to do. Listening to and following the command of our own Inner Voice means carrying out the Will of the God in the interest of all.

Therefore, some time of the day, we have to shut off the world and sit in silence to listen to this inner guidance. Some call it concentration, some call it meditation. But it is a fact that this stillness speaks. Most of us are afraid of sitting in silence because we are so terrified and just do not have courage to face ourselves.

This voice of truth is so soft and subtle that unless we are fine tuned to listen to it, our physical mind using its analytical faculties makes it completely inaudible and avoidable. When we work with decisions taken by our mind, our life goes topsy turvy and we wonder where we went wrong. We can always sense a feeling of uneasiness and emptiness whenever we have acted as per directions of our Mind and not Heart. Why??

Answer is - We ignored to listen and follow the voice of our inner consciousness. Our mind, body, and emotions are controlling our life. Our pure Soul is not on the seat of driver.

We have to understand that If Lord Krishna is the charioteer than no Arjuna of this world can ever go wrong.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi

How to learn from problems in life ????

Have you come across that point in life when things are not moving the way you want despite your best effort? Are you feeling cornered? You get along well with so many relations and people around you excepting a few whom you like to avoid. Sometimes, its a Catch-22 situation because you cannot avoid this person because he /she is a close relative or holds an influential position in your life e.g. boss , politician etc. How to move on in such a situation? How to get along with such relatives?

It is said that nobody crosses our path in this life without any spiritual connection or reason. All people that we meet, all situations that we come across in life are in accordance with laws of nature which are perfect, impartial and flawless. All obstacles and hurdles we face in our life are for our growth. It is a fact that biggest growth in our personality takes place when we cross over challenges of our life. When we are through those tense situations when we were feeling all helpless, we realize how much we have grown in our wisdom, character and personality. Knowledge cannot be learnt through book reading. Knowledge is best imbibed through experiencing what we have heard and read. A diamond gets its brilliance after being crushed, rubbed and polished. Prior to this, it was just an ordinary luster less stone. Similar is human being.

All the famous people around us have been through challenges. Spirituality goes beyond fame. In spiritual terms a successful person is not who is famous. A successful person is the one who has never given up. A true successful person is the one who has looked at hurdles in life as a passage and not as an obstacle. A positive person will not change route when faced with difficult situations. A wise person will not run away from a relative, friend or boss etc with whom he is not being able to get along with well. How does he manage this? It is here that spiritual wisdom helps. And how?

Steps towards learning our lesson - First step is acceptance and acknowledgement of the problem, situation or person.

Next step is to understand that the given obstacle will not change - I will have to change.

Next step is to identify which of my inner belief system is being disturbed. What aspect/ fear of my personality this person/hurdle is hitting at? Now I have to try to change my perception and look at the problem in an altogether different way. Example: instead of saying that my husband/wife is very difficult, we can say my husband/wife is very special. The moment I replace ‘difficult’ with ‘special’, I start to feel better mentally, emotionally and physically.

Next step would be to look at problem not as an obstacle but as a ‘way’ to personal and spiritual growth. I have to understand that this situation or this person has come into my life to teach me something which I lack. Truly, our so called enemies are our true spiritual friends. They constantly remind us of our wrong traits and fears which we have to get rid of. If a person ridicules me in front of others and I feel insulted it means I have very low opinion about myself. I have to work on increasing my self worth in my own eyes if I do not want this to happen again. Respect cannot be asked for, it is commanded by our own behaviour. Learn to respect yourself before anyone else.

Example : If person you are helping is not returning your help in your time of need again and again. It means that same is the problem within your personality. If you look inwards honestly you will realise that you also have the same tendency of not helping the people who help you the way they want. Change yourself inwardly and problem will be resolved automatically. Either that person will start to help or someone else will come to help you in his place.

Often we feel threatened by a situation or a person because it reminds us of our own similar weakness or fears which we do not want to acknowledge leave alone admit it. Universe knows our internal unresolved issues and time and again brings us face to face with our own reality until we learn our lesson and move on. If I am not getting alongwith my boss, it means I have inner fears regarding use of power which I have to let go. We get a mirror image of our own self in the person we believe we hate. Our normal reaction is to blame such person or situation as something coming in way of my joy, happiness, success and peace. So we either give up, change our path or avoid the person or situation altogether without realizing that real problem is not outside but inside us. This is the time to go inside us and find out which of my trait, character, habit or belief is being threatened. What is this person hitting out at? What is causing me hurt? Once it is identified, it is time to let go of it.

We have to understand that nobody has power to hurt us. It is us who are choosing to feel hurt ignoring the reality. It is us who are attracting such situations/ persons because we have to work on our own similar fears. Let them go away from life and Grow in your spirit.

The spiritual person knows his own true nature i.e, soul - which is light, love and peace -rest is all illusion. Wisdom means knowing that I am powerful and eternal soul – kid of the God and So are others. All of us are on different levels of understanding and have to learn different lessons with the help of others around us.

A spiritual person will not blame other person or the outside world but will remain steadfast and smiling even in tough situation because he knows he has to work on himself. Once that problem is over he has learnt his lesson and this situation will never repeat itself again.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi

Path of Four Yoga and views of Shirdi Saibaba

Yoga means ‘to join’. The ultimate union of our soul with the God is called Yoga. We all feel pain and a feeling of deep inner loneliness because we have separated from our Source. All Yoga aim at re-establishing our contact with our Source – the SELF. The union cannot be achieved as long as we are caught in the matrix of life and death due to our Karma. Union with the God/ Brahma / Supreme power implies that the soul has broken free of the cycle of birth and death. The soul will not have to take birth after birth to work out its karma. We call it by name of Nirvana/ Moksha/ Salvation. Every soul has to reach this level of perfection. It is said that at this stage soul gets enlightened and can recall all its past, present and future. The soul can create anything it wants. The soul becomes Spirit. It attains the state of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.

Some souls reach this state fast in few births only and some take hundreds of births and still wonder what’s the aim of getting human birth. Shirdi SaiBaba often said that we get human body as a result of our good karma so that we can work out for our own salvation/ moksha/ nirvana. Every human being has to take steps towards self realization and ultimately God realization – i.e., first to learn that he is soul and not body. Ultimately realize and let his soul merge with the Divine Holy Spirit (GOD).

We can come across someone (Guru / Guide) who will remind us of the purpose of taking human birth. However, the one, who has already achieved self realization & God realization and strives to help others to achieve the same is known as Sadguru (ascendant master or Perfect Master). Shirdi SaiBaba is one such Sadguru. He may not be physically visible to us anymore but his holy spirit is still guiding and helping many of his devotees towards self realization and God realization.

As per Hindu scriptures, there are mainly four routes to reach this ultimate destination – Karma Yoga (Work), Jnana Yoga(Knowledge), Raja Yoga (Power) and Bhakti Yoga(Devotion). Though during his lifetime, Shirdi Saibaba has thrown light on all forms of Yoga. As per ancient Hindu scriptures, consistent practice of either Love, Work, Knowledge or Psychic control help us achieve Yoga. These four routes that take us our ultimate destination called Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Raja Yoga respectively. In the final stages all these routes overlap each other and become same. SaiBaba was Yogasampanna (full of Yoga). He has given practical demonstration of all these Yogas by his conduct, action and preachings during his physical lifetime on earth.

Shirdi Saibaba has also given discourses on all these Yoga practices to his devotees as per their needs and qualifications. To be able to learn and master either of these Yogas to reach our final destination needs grace of God which further depends on qualification of the receiver. A student of class fourth cannot be given knowledge of class eighth. Baba would often say that people keep asking him for worldly comforts but do not ask HIM to give them what HE wanted them to give out of his full treasury.


Bhakti Yoga – This is path of pure extreme love and single minded devotion. Devotee (Bhakta) places his trust in his ascendant master and loves him unconditionally thinking him to be Brahma/ Universe. The Master looks to the qualifications and preparedness of the seeker, works on the mind, thoughts and feelings of the devotee and gently but surely guides him towards path of self realization.

Saibaba had placed such unconditional faith in his Guru and waited patiently for his blessings. He advised his devotees to do the same. Saibaba maintained that though Bhakti Yoga (Yoga of Love) is difficult but if one has a guide than this route becomes the most easiest path to follow. The only condition is that for treading this path the devotee has to surrender himself completely (sarvasva sharanagati) to his deity with firm belief that his perfect master will take him safely across the worldly ocean existence. SaiBaba often asked people to offer HIM two pice of Shradha and Saburi, if devotee wanted HIM to become their guide. Bookish knowledge is for intellectual learning. For spiritual learning a capable Sadguru is needed who is pure love incarnate, doesnot care for monetary benefit and is himself self realized. Shirdi SaiBaba was all this and more.

A Bhakti Yogi has to surrender himself to his Sadguru – his personal God. SaiBaba once told a devotee (who was following some other Guru) to hold on to his own ‘bolster’ and not leave his Guru. Baba advocated that we should have faith in our Sadguru, we should assimilate his teachings and follow them with patience without any doubt. So many times SaiBaba appeared as Ram, Krishana, Vithala etc to his devotees to confirm their faiths in their respective personal Gods. He sent Shama to Vani to fulfil his mother’s vow made to their family’s personal God.


Karma Yoga – A karma yogi has to perform all his activities with disinterest and offer them to God. A karma yogi is detached and does not yearn for worldly desires like wealth, progeny and fame. A karma yogi lives to serve the world. Shirdi SaiBaba gave a practical demonstration of being a perfect Karma Yogi during his lifetime. He had no family, desires or wants. He had pure love for humanity. He kept ‘Dhuni’ burning day & night. Every day he would go out for bhiksha (mendicancy) round(s). He did not store money. He did not care for expensive gifts offered to him by his devotees. He was dispassion incarnate and had no attachment with any thing of this world. He only cared for the welfare of his devotees in every possible way he could. So many times he took over his devotees’ pain /sufferings on to him for giving them relief. Many of his devotees got cured by his blessings.

Saibaba always looked after the welfare of his devotees. Rich and poor all were treated similarly and once they surrendered themselves to Baba, their problems became Baba’s problems. SaiBaba took human form for the sake of his devotees, to serve mankind, to sort out wide differences between Hindus and Muslims at that time.

The famous snake and frog story rendered by Baba is a perfect example of how karma performed with attached brings our downfall. Baba would often say we get what is ours and we lose what doesnot belong to us. Our karma determines what we deserve.
Saibaba advised us to practice self restraint, be loving, truthful, unselfish, develop good character, resist evil thoughts.

Jnana Yoga – A rich gentleman had visited Baba to get brahma gyana(secrets of universe). Baba gave him an extensive intellectual insight into Brahma and explained how and why it is difficult to understand this knowledge. So many things are to be surrendered for gaining knowledge of Brahma. This jnana can only be given to those who have attained certain qualifications to receive the same. Further it requires the grace of Guru/ God without which nothing can be made out the theory. Jnana Yogi has a very highly developed ‘vivek’ and can easily distinguish between Real and Unreal – Maya/ Illusion. Baba has explained about working of Maya to his devotees. Baba would often say that God pervades everything. Only God is real rest is illusion. Life would be easy if we can understand this. Baba advised his devotees to watch the show of their life as a bystander and detach themselves so that they do not feel pain. Baba’s most famous phrase ‘Sabka Malik Ek’ is symbolic of a Yogi who has realized universality of religion. A jnani knows that at the highest levels of all religions - all is one. Baba wanted the whole humanity to understand this.

Raja Yoga – This Yoga requires practice of psychic control, control of inner unseen world. Visualisation of God /Universe within through meditation etc. Sai Baba is ‘antaryami’ Baba had full knowledge of inner and outer world of his devotees. He could read devotees inner most thoughts and desires. He could manifest himself at places other than Shirdi. He identified himself as one with other saints and even proved it to so many of his devotes through many such manifestations. He could control fire, rain and other natural phenomenon. Raja Yogi is required to do some physical yogic exercises to keep body fit and Saibaba excelled at such practices like Khanda Yoga and Dhauti. Like a Raja Yogi he had control over his food habits. His tongue knew no taste. He disapproved of fasting preached moderation in eating. Baba’s teaching regarding how he met his Guru who helped him in introvert his outgoing tendencies and making him feel bliss supreme is a perfect Raja Yoga practice. A Raja Yogi can control natural elements like Baba could control the raging fire or stop the storm. Baba knew deepest inner thoughts of all and often said that wherever his devotee may be, HE is always with him and knows every action and thought of his devotee. Though he would be seen mixing with all his visitors, he remained in state of ‘samadhi’ internally.


From all above it is clear that non-attachment is basis of all Yogas. Destination of all the Yogas is same –union with God. So at one point all these Yoga practices start overlapping each other. Shirdi SaiBaba was master of all these Yogas- A perfect living example – of how to put such divine knowledge to practice. He said he was there to help and guide but people are more interested in worldly desires. So many times he would fulfil an earnest devotees worldly desires first to bring him on the path of Yoga later.

Like Hemadpant says it is very difficult to comprehend life of great Sadgurus like Saibaba. We can just imagine their greatness using our limited intellectual bookish learning. One has to practice and experience such yogic practices but that can be possible if we come across someone who has himself united with his SELF. We are lucky, we found our Sadguru in Shirdi Saibaba. I pray to HIM to work on me internally and change and direct my thoughts in the right, positive direction. Saibaba help me choose my thoughts from the highest point of love.

Vandana Ritik

Heritage of Shirdi Sai
New Delhi

How to meditate ?

Meditation is process of experiencing God/Universe within us. Meditation is tuning into that continous inner guidance emanating from within. In meditation, first we connect to innerself which inturn connects us with the higher self. Meditation makes us realise that God is not a figure separate from us. It makes us realise the grandeur of God, omnipresence of God in each and every seen as well as unseen creation around us. Meditation fine tunes our mental eyes to feel and experience the unseen and unreachable magnificence of the Universe.

Regarding meditation there is nothing to learn about. Many people make it sound so technical and give elaborate ways and methods of doing it. I have read many books about methods to meditate, listened to many guided meditation CDs but I have realized that basically all we are supposed to do is to find a quiet place, sit in any comfortable position of our choice, close our eyes and try to still our mind and watch the blank screen in front of our closed eyes through our mental eyes. Our physical eyes are meant to see worldly things only. Therefore, we need not try to see or strain our physical eyes.

The ultimate purpose is to find inner tranquility – reach the state of nothingness, thoughtlessness, void. Initially, all sorts of thoughts flood our mind but if we continue to be in this state, after sometime the mind starts to still itself, the darkness in front of our closed eyes turns into brightness and our inner core (universal power) starts to communicate through thoughts, messages and visions (mental). In this state of stillness, even if one can feel warmth enveloping all around them for a second or two, the peace lasts for days altogether.

Make it a point to request God for protection from evil before initiating the meditation. This is done to prevent distracting thoughts from bothering you during meditation. You can start your meditation seeking reply to some question bothering you presently. You will get reply/guidance to the same either during meditation or in next one or two days. Universe will respond to your query in some way or the other.

I have understood that not each person can get benefits of meditation through a single method. Therefore, discover your own way to meditate- whatever gives you peace and joy. Try and you will find soon.

So either before getting out of bed in morning or going to sleep at night, if you can find 15-30 minutes to sit with yourself in solitude, it will do you world of good.

I think through out the day we are mostly doing things for everyone around us so why not find sometime for just ourselves? Meditation is diet for our soul which always stays connected to the divine universal power only we do not have time to listen to it as worldly noise is too loud. And we are too busy to find any time for meditation.

In short, Constant remembrance of God in mind, whether consciously or unconsciously, is Meditation. While Prayer means talking to God, Meditation means listening to God. When you have said your prayers don’t you want to listen to what God has to say to you? Don’t miss out on this divine bliss for once you have experienced, it becomes addiction. You want to go further and further. Don't worry, it doesnot take you away from your family and world. In fact, it enhances your relations and makes you a better equipped to handle your life issues. Meditate, feel blessed, feel complete and become addicted to it.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi

Feeling Angry ? You dislike yourself.

Things would have been wonderful for us had everything happened just the way we wanted. But that does not happen. When things do not happen as per our desire, we feel out of control which we just cannot accept and in turn get angry. The biggest grace of God comes to us when things do not happen the way we want them to happen. Whatever happens is good for us whether we like it or not. We have to understand that if things happened as per our desire than the world will go out of balance. The universal law is perfect, impartial, flawless and eternal for each one of us. The universe takes constant note and keeps account of our every action, thought and intention. Therefore, nothing happens by chance. As per Hindu sacred book The Bhagavad Gita, our life is hundred percent preordained. We are mere puppets in God’s grand scheme of things. It is wisely said that Man proposes and God disposes. A wise man has to still do his karma as long as he is alive. Whether we are reacting or not reacting to an event in our life, we are generating karma in both the cases. It is our duty to act wisely(as per our own inner guidance) in any given situation and not bother about the subsequent result. That's called being unattached with the outcome of action (Karma Yoga).

All our life we are trying to correct others but do not try to correct ourselves, not accepting the fact that this is the only thing we can do something about. Rest is not in our hands. In universe, always two opposing factors are operating at any give time. Every time we face a hurdle in life, there are two options. We have been given free will to be able to exercise enough discrimination to make the right choice to enhance growth of our soul otherwise our soul will grow as per our preplanned blueprint of our current lifetime and it will take ages and many lifetimes to learn and master so many important and positive lessons of life.

We get angry when things do not happen as per our desire, people do not respond to us the way we had perceived, someone insults us etc. At that time we feel things are not working rightly. We always end up blaming others for wrong happenings in our life and all around us. Thing is that most of the time we spend our time analyzing in our mind the reasons for various events in our life and around us. Our analyzing is limited by amount of knowledge we have acquired so far. Therefore, for a given single situation, we come across different view-points simply because everyone does not have same level of knowledge and its understanding.

This blame game does not sort out the situation permanently. We have to realize that we are angry because our desires are not being met. We are not angry at people, events or world around us. We are upset because we are not stable within. In a state of anger, we just cannot think and act wisely. Every happening generates volumes of thoughts which in turn create feelings, and emotions within us, which if left unchecked, create havoc within us and ultimately our life. Our response to any situation is outcome of those inner conflicts. If we become aware of this process, we can make our inner observant self smart enough to over power this self generated conflict otherwise we will feel negative, talk negative, expect negative and make our environment negative. Our human senses are sufficiently sensitive to catch such negativity in atmosphere. Have we not tried to avoid talking to a certain person, going to a particular place etc? Even though we may not be aware of the reasons but our senses do smell negativity and try to keep us away from that – physically as well as mentally.

When we are angry at others, we are actually angry at ourselves. When some one uses foul language with us, it is our choice whether to feel insulted, get angry & stoop down our own level and return the remark with our own foul language OR just smile, laugh away, sympathize with person with such bad manners and walk away leaving negative person and his negativity behind us once and for all.

Next time, when we feel angry, we will take a pause, observe our current thoughts, try recalling our earlier experiences, our present / future expectations. We get angry because our thoughts are not in sync, our expectations are not being met, our desires are unfulfilled. It’s our choice if we want to feel hurt and miserable and cause pain to our self. We are angry at our self. Lets not give powers to others to disturb our peace of mind at their whims and fancies. The reins of our peace of mind should always be in our own hands. It is our choice. If we want to feel peaceful, we cannot take insults and strife seriously. We should react when its absolutely necessary and we just cannot do without it. However, we should react sparingly because both - giver and receiver of angry reaction - lose their peace of mind.

We should understand that we are angry because of our own selfish reasons. So instead of getting angry why not be assertive to get our point across. Wise people have advised that when we are really getting angry, we should try to keep quiet or walk away for some time. Later when we are feeling calm and are in total control, assess the situation that caused us anger. Was it really worth invoking our anger and disturbing our peace of mind? If someone has been unfair, unjust and stupid with you, you cannot be the same with them. If you want to be same, then go ahead, nothing’s stopping you. But will it ensure that the situation will not come up again. Many people get angry at same thing again and again. Situation keeps repeating itself and so does their anger. This happens because one does not try to find our the basic, real and hidden root cause behind the anger.

If someone irritates you too much then be sure you also have the same trait in yourself only you are not admitting it to yourself. A situation making us angry gives us an opportunity to evaluate ourselves. That situation is nothing but a mirror reflecting our own image to us. If someone is not paying attention to you despite your best effort it indicates you are not paying attention to yourself, you feel you are lacking in something and you will feel good only when someone else says so. This indicates our own lack of confidence. It is not fault of the other person we are getting angry at.

So far as anger management is concerned, our first step would be to become aware immediately that we are starting to feel angry. Once we are aware, half the battle is won. You know losing temper is not healthy and helpful in any case so now make efforts to keep speech in check (difficult part), take yourself away from that place, and isolate yourself from that situation. Let some time pass. Suppressed anger creates more problems than solutions. When feeling peaceful, think about the event again and possible peaceful options to deal with it and act accordingly. Also try to understand that everything just cannot be under our control. We can control our anger and deal with it positively. We cannot control other people and their reactions. The more we try to do that the more frustrated, angry and miserable we will be.

The fact is that once we are not able to control our anger, our mind stops thinking rationally & logically and we end up doing lot of things which were totally uncalled for and we regret it later. But by that time it is too late. An angry outburst is like an arrow out of the bow. Once it has hit its target at right intended spot, its all over. It takes much time and effort to reverse the damage and sometimes even that cannot be done. It takes years to build a relationship but one angry and unthoughtful outburst is sufficient to destroy it forever. Self discipline and self control is necessary to control the anger. If we cannot control ourselves, how can we think of controlling and changing others?

Therefore, we should regard people who offend us the most as our greatest teachers. For they give us opportunity to look within, work on our thoughts generating harmful emotions and feelings within us and make us better human beings. Forgive them, Bless them and Feel better.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi

Why do we Pray ???

In simple terms prayer means communicating with Guru/God. Prayer or Puja can be Direct or Indirect/ Actual or Mental. Offering of actual objects like kumkum, flowers, naivedya, fragrance, lighting diyas etc to an idol / murti/ picture /form etc constitutes pratyaksh puja. If same object(s) is offered mentally in imagination to God, this will constitute apratyaksh or manas puja. Constant remembrance of God / Name of God (Naam Jaap) is said to be the most effective prayer.

2. Prayer means conveying your thoughts, beliefs, fears, aspirations, needs to God. Most often, we pray to God for expressing our gratitude or to seek favour with a belief that HE is bestower of everything we need. We believe that God has a vast unimaginable and replenishable reservoir of unlimited divine powers and boons. We pray with awe. We pray in fear. We pray when we want some material object/ position/ service etc. We pray when we want things to go easy for us. We pray when we are sick. We also pray for forgiveness from God. We pray when we want thorns in our life to turn into colorful petals. Some people pray without any reason because praying becomes a habit with them. However, such people are very rare.

3. In actual, we pray when we realize that things are not in our control. When we bend down our head in prayer, we surrender our ego at the feet of Lord. At that moment we admit that we are nothing but helpless in front of his Supreme divine power. We admit that he is magnificent. We admit that Lord is our fortress where we are absolutely safe. When we agree to receive from someone it implies that we have surrendered our ego, it reflects our humility. This means that we have realized we are incapable of manifesting what we are seeking.

4. Pre-requisites for Prayer - Of course there is no dearth of people who are seen asking for favours from fellow human beings with a belief that they can fulfil their needs. However, instead of asking for favours from fellow beings, we must pray to God who gives to each and all. Great Saint of Shirdi, SaiBaba, often said ‘Sabka Malik Ek’(God is One) and his mantra to win over God was ‘Shraddha’(faith) and ‘Saburi’(patience) which will help us in crossing any hardship in our life. Faith and Trust in God comes automatically if we Love God in thoughts, words and action. Patience to wait for the outcome of my prayer to manifest takes away the sting of suffering. This we often lack so much. Most of the time faith and patience swing like pendulum depending upon our present life situations. Needless to mention most of our prayers are towards materialistic gains and less towards spiritual blessings. Another prerequisite for puja is purity of mind, heart, body and soul.

5. What should we pray for - When I sit down to pray often I am confused what should I ask for. SaiBaba said so many times that HIS treasury is full and people can take whatever they want but people ask for worldly things only whereas HE/God/Universe wants to give more.

6. So many times I have tried to imagine and feel what I would do if Lord appeared to me and asked me what my wish is?????? I would be totally speechless in front of HIM. I would have nothing to ask for. If I found the Lord than there would be nothing left to seek. For God is our final destination.

7. Bible says seek the Kingdom of God which is within you. I believe that if I seek the God himself, Kingdom will automatically follow but then there will be no need for Kingdom anymore. The thought itself is so awesome. I doubt if I am deserving enough to reach that stage. Only God knows what my qualifications are.

8. Sometimes, devotees don’t pray with humility but make demands. However, it is felt that we should refrain from making demands from God for it is considered as a demonic virtue.

9. Wise people say that God knows what is good for us and HE will bless us with the same, time and again, at the most right and appropriate moment.

10. Benefits of prayer - Over the years I have come to understand that I pray to reach that hidden and unseen sanctuary of peace and silence within me where the Supreme God resides. With my eyes closed or open, I utilize my prayer time to talk to God just as I would talk to a respectable elderly person. I convey my fears and insecurities, my needs and seek HIS guidance to turn my thoughts and actions towards a positive direction so that I can meet HIM as soon as possible. They say understanding ways of God is very complicated and incomprehensive. I feel that it is possible to understand God provided he showers his Grace onto us. For that we have to reach that highest pinnacle of humanness and be qualified. Power of prayers is so strang that with Grace of God everything becomes possible. It is said that even a single prayer can avert a War-like situation into peace. A mind in prayer is always surrounded by a pious aura and sends out positive vibrations in the Universe.

11. The Divine Universal Power- the Spirit is within soul hidden in our body. This means that we should not consider us separate from HIM. GOD listens to all our spoken and unspoken thoughts and words. So many times I wonder if I have that finesse that will enable God to reside in me!!!!!!

12. Prayers are very powerful - When we pray from depth of our heart, our wish is fulfilled. But our faith shakes when our prayer remains unanswered. We feel God is not looking at us. We either blame ourselves or God. It rarely occurs to us that if our prayer remained unfulfilled than it must be for our own benefit. Sometimes not having something is better than having that thing. If you look back in your life, you will find that most of the time the biggest grace of God came to you when things did not happen the way you wanted. When a bad time comes in our life, it awakens us to so many inner and outer realities of life. Struggling and finding a way out of our hardship is a blessing that God has bestowed on us by not fulfilling our wish because God loves us and wants us to develop our faith, patience, character. So many times we get what we want but that same blessing separates us from God further because once we get what we want, we forget to pray again till another adversity starts to loom its head in our life.

Therefore, if we are spiritually sound, we will not be affected if the prayer does not yield the desire result. Most of us feel that once our material desires are fulfilled and we retire from family obligations we will pray for spiritual grace. However, I feel that we should not wait till old age to ask for such an important blessing. All through our life along with our material needs we should pray to God for guiding us in the righteous direction. We should atone for our mistakes and pray to God to give us enough discrimination so that we do not make such mistakes again. Lot of people confess their sins to Lord and seek his pardon. How relieving that must be.

13. Faith or Trusting in God means that if wish is not fulfilled we should understand that it must be for our own good which we are unable to understand in given circumstances. We are children of God. HE would give us all that that we need and much more at the appropriate time provided we are qualified for receiving the same. A sincere and heartfelt prayer will take us to the final destination – to attain nirvana (liberation from cycle of birth & death) and become Godlike.

Vandana Ritik

Heritage of Shirdi Sai
New Delhi

Why are we born ????

What is the purpose of our life ? Is it just to spend our life studying, getting married, having children, grandchildren, turning old and then dying? Is this all we come to earth for – to learn, struggle, reproduce, make property, enjoy life and then go back? What about those who are born abnormal at birth time itself? What about those who do not lead a normal life? Who told us to live the way we do? Who programmed this kind of life style of self preservation in our psychic? Is that all we are supposed to do?

There has got to be some higher reason for our coming to this earth. God could not have sent us on earth to simply enjoy life and then go back. There appears to be some hidden, secret agenda behind every creation on earth and since we all are unique, the agenda is also uniquely different for each creation of God.

The biggest gift that God/Universe has given us is our faculty to ‘forget’. How complicated it would be if we remember each and every event of this life, past lives and afterlife? If we do not forget, we will not be able to get over our sorrows and our losses. Our soul remembers all. However, in human body we forget that we have any soul at all. The greatest treasures of the world have been found hidden in unimaginable, difficult and yet reachable places. Similarly, the Divine Power of Lord is hidden deep within our soul but we cannot reach it because we have forgotten all about it.

Have you noticed that we are never content with what we have? If our one desire is fulfilled another desires comes up and the cycle goes on. There comes a point in life of a human being when he sits down and thinks that though I have got everything I wanted still I want something ‘more’. In trying to find out what that ‘more’ is we end up fulfilling more material desires and still find something lacking. If we introspect more at this point we will find answer to our actual reason for coming to this earth – which is to know ourselves and to know our creator. To know that we are actually ‘soul’ wearing different ‘body garments’ and our soul is tiny spark of that Divine unseen Power that we call GOD/Brahma/Universe.

But in our normal day to day life we do not think on those lines. Mostly ‘soul’ and ‘body’ is discussed when some one dies. These theories are explained to comfort the relatives of the bereaved and people go back home hoping and believing that nothing of this sort will happen to them or their loved ones or that they will cross the bridge when storm comes. But then why do we have to wait to suffer ourselves to learn this biggest lesson of life? Why cannot we stop and try to understand this mystery in the beginning itself? We all wait to get retired to introspect on the issue thinking that we still have lot of time with us.

In our free time we perform some exoteric religious practices – like going to our place of worship on some specific day, bowing at altar morning and evening, keeping some fasts to please God. Do you think it really works? Are these not mere rituals if we do not perform these rituals with ‘intense feelings’? At esoteric level all major religions in the world speak of that single power controller, a divine unseen form of energy of bright light from which the life begins and in same the life ends. It is like we all have one destination to reach. Only the routes & methods followed to reach the destination are different depending upon what religion one follows or believes in.

What we study in academic books only tells us about how this physical world functions. Religious books tell us about how universe functions. But how do we coordinate between the earthly and universal functions is something we have to realize ourselves. Science has revealed that all matter is made up of energy and at its smallest visible (invisible to naked human eye) form it is not joined to anything. There is a space in between. None has been able to find out what is that energy made up of and what is that space made up of. We are fooled by what we see. There is so much which we do not know despite so much technological advancement. Even our human body is combination of biology(different organs) and chemistry(reactions of different hormones). What is it that is giving life to it? When a person dies, the body is still here but what is it that goes out?

Why cannot we try to understand, feel, realize and see that specific life giving part(soul) inside our body when we are alive? If we cannot fathom our own soul how can we understand the bigger spirit – GOD?

God gave us free will to break free from pursuing this law of self preservation at some point of time in our life to get to know ourselves. Some break free at early age, some in youth age, some in middle age but most of us want to break free in old age when our so called worldly responsibilities are over. But by this time, our body is not healthy enough, our energy is depleting and some of us may not be lucky enough to survive that long. What a waste of life we have made then? It is said that sometimes it takes many lifetimes to understand and to break free from pursuing Self preservation to tread on the path of Self realization and ultimately God realization.

We all are at different levels of soul development and tied up with individually unique prarabdh and karma. This cycle will not stop if we keep on living life only for ourselves and our kiths & kins. The moment we realize what we are made up of and why we are here, we are free from karmas. Karmas are created as long as we think ourselves to be different from God. The moment we realize that God in within each and everyone of us, the pain and pleasure can no longer control us. We start to feel love for each and everyone and are finally free. But then it is easier said than done.

As per ancient Hindu philosophy there are different levels of understanding. Theory, reading or listening is first part. If we remember the same and think consistently on something we have read or heard, we start to contemplate on the same till we practice it. Ultimately, we assimilate this knowledge and get another new layer of understanding from our own experience and we finally realize what we learnt or read. If we start to understand our knowledge about soul in this manner, a day will come when we will be able to see, feel, listen and talk to our own soul.

Meditation is another important tool to get to know oneself. The great Indian Saint Shirdi SaiBaba said that barring our name and body what is left is our soul - the feeling of consciousness - the feeling of being alive. This is our soul. It is our true self.

Our soul talks to us regularly, guides us and reminds us of our purpose of taking birth but we are so lost in outside world that we do not want to look inwards. We just cannot sit alone for long. We are enjoying materialistic world. Sitting all alone, doing nothing makes us shaky and mad. Many workaholics feel this is wastage of time. It is not. Lord Buddha got enlightened during that moment of nothingness – the void – the moment when we are absolutely free of any thought. Weak man would say, ‘I am not Buddha’. But then who is stopping us from becoming like Buddha? We ourselves are creating hurdles for us. If we say that something is difficult then it becomes our reality and thus realizing our own soul becomes absolutely impossible.

Our soul is linked to the divine Spirit. If we cannot listen to our own soul, we will not be able to listen to God’s voice which is constantly emanating through the universe because our own frequency is not tuned precisely to be able to listen to it. During meditation, people have heard lot of such messages, sounds, seen visions which are beyond comprehension of a physical human mind. This happens because during meditation our frequency fine tunes and catches up with the universal frequency and we are able catch the same as per our own capability. The more we meditate the more we are able to catch from the universe and this continues even when we are not meditating. Gradually, our intuitive sense becomes strong and we become aware of our own increasing ‘knowingness’. The universal knowledge is symbolic, secretive and subtle. In moments of solitude, so many secrets are revealed which are beyond recognition of our physical five senses. It is up to us to maintain and continue this internal spiritual communication with universe despite continuing to live in material world.

For listening to our own soul, we need not give up on our worldly duties. Lord Krishna has said that we can connect with our own creator while carrying on with our day to day activities provided we have faith in HIS existence and we are sincerely regular in our efforts. If we have to take ten steps towards God, we have to initiate the journey towards self realization by taking that all important first step. Then the Lord/Universe will take the rest of nine steps towards us because HE knows how difficult it is for a householder, living on earth, to break free from the law of self preservation and to tread towards acquiring self knowledge.

The crux is that Universe listens to our earnest requests and responds to our faithful efforts even though we may not realize it immediately. But we are rewarded with enormous ‘retirement benefits’ in afterlife. No effort made towards spiritual pursuit goes waste. Are we eager to take a journey inwards and tap at the overflowing reservoir of treasure full of universal/God knowledge hidden within our own beings ?

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi