My Chosen Path

From our e-book “We are Here to Celebrate”

babajiA famous saint, the late Yogi Ramaiah used to say that Babaji could raise up any number of souls to the level of saints, sages and siddhas, if they would but surrender to Him. The path that I chose to let go of my ego is that of surrender to Babaji. Ego exists based on time, that is, thoughts of the past and the future. By surrendering to the divine, I let go of the past because whatever happened to me in the past is necessary to bring me to my current spiritual development.

Nothing happens randomly. Events happen for one ultimate purpose; for our spiritual evolution. All of us contribute to the spiritual development of others in our own way. Even our enemies contribute to our spiritual development because they provide us with the opportunity to understand how anger and forgiveness arise within us. They help us to understand ourselves.

I let go of my future because I know that Babaji has been guiding me all my life and I know that he will continue to guide my loved ones and I until the day we merge into God consciousness. By surrendering to the Divine, we let go of our worries about the future and our expectations of how the future should be. We often mistake ‘worrying’ for planning. We justify being absorbed in thinking about the future for the sake of planning. Planning is done objectively. If our thoughts of the future are highly charged with emotions, it is not planning! It is either worrying or craving.

Let thy will be done. Babaji knows what is best for me. I do not have an omnipresent mind. I cannot see the full implications of events. The law of karma is difficult to understand. I cannot tell if something that happens to me is good or bad. There are always a left and right side to everything – a good and a bad. We live in a world of duality. Everything positive must come with a negative aspect. Only Babaji knows what is best for me. Therefore, I surrender to HIS guidance. He is my Satguru and HIS only interest is my enlightenment. Therefore, I accept whatever that comes. I avoid setting standards and expectations. I know that later, I will see why things happened the way they did. Then, I will understand, and will thank Babaji for it. I am sure of that.

Amritanandamayi gives a very good reason why we should surrender to the Divine. We are like little children and life is always presenting us with a choice between a bowl of colourful candies and a bowl of gold. Very often, most of us will choose the bowl of candies because we have tasted the candies before and we enjoyed them. Who knows what this bowl of golden colour stones will taste like?

We often have to have something to look forward to; to feel ‘happy’.  But that feeling is ‘excitement’ not happiness. There is a big difference. Excitement disturbs our peace of mind but happiness brings us inner-peace. One is chasing after an imagined future happiness, and the other is joy and bliss in the present moment. We need to be aware to be able to know the difference.

The wise do not take delight in the seemingly positive events and do not suffer in seemingly negative events. We do not know what is positive and what is negative. Only time will tell. The only thing that we can be certainly positive of is enlightenment. That is our ultimate goal. Everything else is but fluctuations in consciousness. Do not identify with them. We observe their effects on our body and emotions, and let them go with pure awareness. Awareness is the condition for inner-peace and bliss. A lack of awareness is a necessary condition for mental suffering.

Let us enjoy the scenery that the Divine has created for us. See the bigger picture, the overall scenery instead of focusing on the small imperfect details. All the imperfect details merge together to form the overall beautiful picture. Just be still and enjoy.

Human life is very fragile. There are thousands of diseases that could kill us. Everyday we read about death from illness, accident and crime. We read about cruel personalities who could kill others without a second thought. However, there is a universal force that can protect us. It is called by many names – Cosmic consciousness, the Divine, GOD etc. The name does not matter. Babaji is one of the manifestations of this force. By surrendering to Babaji, we can be free of fear and worries. Even if unfortunate things happen to us, it would happen in a manner whereby we can advance spiritually.

By surrendering to Babaji, I am not afraid of being reincarnated thousands of times in the future as long as Babaji continues to protect and guide me. I want to be a perfect instrument of this universal force which manifests as Babaji. Babaji is my source of comfort amidst all these suffering. In the book the Voice of Babaji, Babaji made a promise to Neelakantan that he will guide and protect him and his loved ones in their current and future lives until they merge into God Consciousness. Although Babaji did not tell me the same thing but I know that his love for all his children is the same. Therefore I am comforted that we are all protected by the Divine.

Children are very good at surrender. When they are in the arms of their mother, they surrender completely to their mother’s protection. Whatever problem that arises, they know that their mother will solve them. We should surrender in a similar manner to our Divine Mother.SHE will care for us and protect us, if we allow her to. So, even with small problems, give them to the Divine. Divine Mother knows best. She loves us and will only allow beneficial things to happen to us even though they may seem bad at the moment. Leave it to Divine Mother.

If I think back at all the seemingly negative events that happened to me five years ago, I now see that they were necessary. I would not change a thing because I would not be where I am now if those events did not occur. If you look back at the events that happened to you in the past, it is very likely that you will make a similar conclusion.

When faced with a problem, we should remind ourselves that all things are impermanent. The night will give way to the day in due course. We accept our problems with equanimity and we know that ‘this too will pass’. We then use the suffering as a subject for contemplation and gain an understanding of this world of duality. We use it to train our minds, increase our ability to remain aware and be at peace.

I like to repeat my illustration here on how a Guru trains us. Let’s say we are driving a racing car and are about to crash against a side wall. In such a situation, we should always look towards where we want to steer to instead of the wall. Habitually, we will look towards the wall and inevitably, crash into it. The Guru will tell us that it is understandable but keep creating opportunities for us to train ourselves until we get rid of this habit of looking at the wall. When this habit is overcome, we will then have removed one layer of the habitual pattern that forms part of our ego. I see this happening in my own life. Every time, I am faced with a situation which test my karmic tendencies, thoughts often come into my awareness, telling me whether I have chosen wisely. Whether I acted based on my karmic tendency or I acted based on wisdom, a lesson will be thought.