A. Master said that if you practice the techniques, you shall have safety forever. You will have safety for yourself, plus there will be safety for all your dear ones and all those entrusted to you by God. That’s a powerful promise. Guruji is an avatar - his state of consciousness is beyond human comprehension, and an avatar’s word cannot be falsified.
So we should hold him to it. We must do our part, but it is true. Ask him to help you. Ask Guru to show you how this works if you don’t believe.
It doesn’t mean nothing seemingly bad will happen. The Guru’s work is to bring to us all the experiences we need to reach liberation. When they come, we must say, as Master said,
“Whatever conditions confront me, I know that they represent the next step in my unfoldment. I will welcome all tests because I know that within me is the intelligence to understand, and the power to overcome.”
The heart is the seat of feeling. The heart will cry, it will bleed, but the mind should never get overwhelmed. We must keep the mind from getting sucked into the feelings of the heart.
In the Lessons Master gives a technique to use if you are feeling fearful: (Note: In this Satsanga, Sister did not give details of the technique, but it is listed below)
Put your hand over your heart, next to the skin. Rub from left to right and repeat,
“Heavenly Father, I am free. Tune out this fear from my heart radio.” Do this for five minutes. It works. Then at night, before sleep say, “The Heavenly Father is with me; I am protected.” Then chant “Om” three times and you will feel His wonderful protection.
Master said, “Just as you tune out static on an ordinary radio, so if you continuously rub the heart from left to right and continuously concentrate on the thought that you want to tune out fear from your heart, it will go; and the joy of God will be perceived.”
“One time when I was young,” Sister said, “I went out on the roof of our house with my dad to fix the roof. He pointed and said, ‘See the rafters? Only walk on the rafters and you will be safe. Otherwise you might put your foot through the roof’.”
“Then just yesterday,” Sister continued, “I was watching a house being roofed, and I thought, ‘If we hold to the teachings – and that’s our spiritual structure - we can walk across the roof of delusion. Those rafters will keep us from falling into deep holes.’”
Gyanamata said, “The fight has to be waged again and again against our only real enemy, the self. Take firm hold of the Guru’s robe, and let nothing unclench your fingers.”
Master said, “Ask the help of the Guru again and again. Obey this order to the limit.”
This is the key: we have to ask. Asking for the Guru’s help breaks down the ego and makes a channel through which God can speak to us.
In his poem, “When I Am Only a Dream” Master tells us, “Unknown I will walk by your side, and guard you with invisible arms…” Memorize these truths so you can use them to help you.
Transmute fear by putting something else in its place; put thanksgiving in its place.
Master said, “Thanksgiving and praise open in your consciousness the way for spiritual growth and supply to come to you. Spirit pushes Itself out into visible manifestation as soon as a channel is opened through which It can flow.”
Gyanamata said, “The greatest thing of the life of the disciple is to be able to look in the face of the guru and say: "I will accept anything. Treat me in any way that seems best to you in order that in the end I may be what you are.”
Q. I live in a big city, and often receive invitations from my spiritual friends to go with them when a holy person is visiting the area. Is this okay to do? My friends are of the opinion that “more is better”. If I don’t go, am I missing a blessing?
A. Firstly, you already have more and better!! We have a Guru who has the ability to turn us into what he is, if we follow his teachings. There is no greater blessing. We don’t want to close any windows or channels, or put up any barriers for that blessing of the Guru to flow to us.
Remember the words of Sri Yukteswar: “To keep company with the Guru is to associate him with Sraddha, the heart’s love intensified, by keeping his appearance and attributes fully in mind, and by reflecting on the same and affectionately following his instructions, lamblike.”
God chooses the Guru. We’ve all lived millions of lives and we’ve finally got the Guru.
When will we get it?
Wouldn’t it be better just to utter the name of Babaji with reverence and attract an instant blessing? No travel, no lines – you don’t have to do anything!! (Laughter) Sister said she was driving by herself one night and she just kept on chanting, “Babaji … Babaji … Babaji,” and everything was fine. Chanting his name attracts an instant blessing and protection. Why are people going here and there? People want to have something that feels good for the moment.
Have gratitude - appreciate the great blessing you have already been given. One time Sister was in Encinitas hosting a group of senior citizens. They were not on the path, but were interested to know how the Encinitas hermitage and grounds came into being. After Sister had given them some general answers about the SRF teachings, one lady piped up,
“Honey, I’m 82 years old. I don’t have much time left and I want to know how to do this!”
(Laughter) Sister gave her the Lessons application.
There was a devotee who had a certain problem situation in life that kept coming up repeatedly, but she just couldn’t get it right. Finally after many failings, she remembered to follow Master’s instructions. Later she said that the blessing that came was so powerful that she had to hold onto the wall.
Look for the blessings of the Guru everywhere. One time Sister counted up all the promises that Master makes in the Autobiography - and there were hundreds! (Sister didn’t even count the promises in Master’s other writings.) The Guru will fulfill them all if we do our part. Hasn’t he provided you with blessings and gifts that only could have come from him? - things that no one else knew you desired? He wishes to give them to you.
It says in the Bible (Malachi 3:10) ”…prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
That is what the Guru gives us. Daya Ma said, “Just remember that God is just as close this moment as your thought allows Him to be.”
Gyanamata said, “The masters, the Good shepherds of this world, come down from their high places and give their lives to searching for disciples who are lost in the darkness. They find them in desolate and dangerous places, arouse them, lift them to a divine shoulder, and bear them with rejoicing to a safe place in the fold. They feed them with celestial food and give them living water to drink, of which, if a man eat and drink, he shall live forever. They give them power to become the sons of God. They give their own lives, to the last ounce of flesh and the last drop of blood, for the redemption of the sheep who know their voice.”
This is the consciousness we all want to develop. The Guru is someone who understands you completely and is helping you at every moment. He knows your thoughts, if you have asked him to do that. There’s no one else in this room but you and God and Guru. Everything is a manifestation of God to help you get back to God. He will come to you when he is called, and when he is needed.
At the very end of The Holy Science, Sri Yukteswar quotes the words of the great sage Shankara: “Life is always unsafe and unstable, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. The company of a divine personage, even for a moment, can save and redeem us.”