05 Pitfalls Ebook

Pitfalls on the Path
Channeled by
Catherine Kapahi, Ph.D.
i
2013 Catherine Kapahi, Ph.D.
ISBN978-1-927762-01-1
All rights including the rights to translate or to

reproduce this book or parts thereof except for brief
quotations are reserved.
First Edition, 2013 300 Copies
Published by:
Kapahi Books
60 Walter Havill Drive, Unit 1208
Halifax, N.S., Canada B3N 0A9
Printed through:
Omkar Offset Printers
Bangalore, India
Cover Design:
Maja Wizor; [email protected]
ii
Channeled by
Kapahi Books
iii
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Dedicated at the Lotus Feet
of
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

The Eternal Witness
The Merciful Guru
and
The Divine Mother

and
Father of All
v
INTRODUCTION
I began channeling this book entitled, Pitfalls on the

Path, on my birthday, February 27, 2013. What a
lovely birthday gift from Lord Sathya Sai. I was thrilled
with this display of His Love and thoughtfulness. I
channeled the last three talks on April 12, 2013. The
entire book was channeled while I sat in my prayer
room in Halifax, Canada.
The previous book, Not Gone I Am Still Calling, began

on December 27, 2012, in Puttaparthi; another 27. The
digits of 27 add up to 9, known as Babas number of
completion. The number 9, the number of completion,
has been closely related to the Sathya Sai Avatar, as
He has come to help seekers realize liberation, and
raise themselves to the Divine level. The license plate
numbers on the cars Baba used are all a series of 9s.
Often when I and other devotees have taken flights
to visit Baba in India, our seat numbers on the flights
have been 9s or numbers the digits of which add up
to 9, such as 18 or 27. An unseen force has done this. It
is understood by many that the number 10 that comes
after 9 stands for 1, the One God, Sat Chit Ananda.
Sai Baba is helping His devotees in many ways to
finish the game of life on earth and to realize it was all
a dream projected by ones mind. So let us avoid all the
pitfalls and distractions on the Path, not waste time or
suffer any longer, as our Dear Lord advises in these 45
talks He has so graciously and lovingly gathered and
offered to His devotees.
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Forty-Five Essays
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
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It has just come to My notice that you My devotees

need something from Me. What is it? A big hug!
Please each and every one of you take a big hug from
Me and remember that I love you. Though you do
not know it, I am with you watching over you,
protecting you. It is My hope that you will realize
your Divinity, and know that you and I are one. My
dear devotee Catherine is prepared to channel yet
another book of My talks for you My dear devotees
that you may progress in spiritual life. Now what
will be the topic of this latest book? It will be a
psychological treatise describing the pitfalls to avoid
for a seeker of Truth.
Let us begin by discussing the most common ways

devotees fall from the spiritual path. Often they will
pray and ask again and again for something they
want very much. When it is not forthcoming, they
will lose faith in the Satguru and God for not
providing it. They think that if Satguru and God are
all-powerful, then why can they not provide what the
devotee is asking? The answer is not that simple.
Here are some of the possible reasons: It would not
be spiritually beneficial for the devotee to have it. It is
not karmicly available or due to the devotee. Having
the desire fulfilled would be detrimental in some way
for the devotee. It is not part of God's plan for the
devotee in this life. The devotee himself is
1
psychologically blocked and thus unable to receive.

The timing is not right. If the devotee has asked
sincerely, and is still unable to receive, she should
trust that it is not meant to happen at this time in the
manner in which she imagines it to happen. To lack
trust in God and fall off the spiritual path due to an
unfulfilled desire is a pitfall to be avoided. The best
thing is to surrender the desire to God, trusting He
knows best and knows why. You may ask for the
reason you are not receiving, and it will be
forthcoming. God is not a punishing God; however
there is a law set in place that you reap what you
sow, as Lord Jesus said long ago. This law of karma
holds true today as well. So rest assured you will
definitely get what you deserve. Even if you are not
thinking about it, it is certain to come your way.
Whether you consider it good or bad, it offers some
kind of a lesson to move you along the evolutionary
path. How you receive it, how you react, determines
how much or how well you have benefitted from the
lesson karma has sent your way.
So I am advising that you look at everything that

comes to you as an opportunity to prove or test your
self mastery on some level. If you react right away
with negativity, you have not responded as a master
would have. Something within you has been
triggered to cause you to react negatively. Seek and
find the trigger within yourself-a past hurt you have
not forgiven perhaps, or a strongly held belief,
judgment, or conditioning that has caused you to
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react negatively to an outside condition or

circumstance. Everything outside of you is neutral.
You with your psychological determine what
meaning to give to it, how to react or respond. If you
are pure and innocent within your mind and
consciousness, there may be no need for a response
or reaction. There is just peaceful acceptance of what
is.
For a devotee, the work is to purify oneself so that the

outside world is seen as neutral, not a reflection, or a
trigger for your negativity held within your
mind/consciousness. An example: You are walking
along the street on a warm sunny day enjoying
yourself. Suddenly a boy comes along on a bicycle
and swipes you nearly knocking you down. You
become very angry, feel abused, and victimized by
the rowdy, negligent, uncaring adolescent. Your
happiness and peace are disturbed. You feel sorry for
yourself, angrily asking, "Why me?", lashing out at
the person in your mind. This type of reaction may
come up in many people due to similar situations.
How should a devotee who is attempting to become
master of himself deal with this situation? First of all
see that he did not intend to hurt or abuse you. It was
probably due to his negligence or unsteadiness and
hurry that caused him to swipe you. Also understand
that he did not target you specifically, so do not take
it personally. It could have been someone else. Also it
happened to the physical form. You are not the form
but the Atma. Nothing can affect the Atma; it is
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unchanging and the witness. If you have offered

everything to God or Satguru, offer this incident too;
do not take it personally as an ego would. Also you
must look within yourself to see when you had
encountered some similar types of disrespect, abuse,
etc, in the past that you reacted to personally with
negative feelings and thoughts. Forgive them now
and forgive yourself for having taken them
personally. Keep on forgiving the past abuse,
disrespect, etc. until you can look back and see these
as neutral events with no emotional energy attached
to them. Send love to yourself and the ones who were
the abusers, knowing in truth that all are forms of
God, living in a body with mind, intellect and
emotions. Realize that all humans are imperfect and
make mistakes. And that it is harmful to hold
negative energy within yourself. In your mind go
back over the incident where you were knocked
about by the boy on the bike, and respond as a
Master would have, with neutrality, peace, love and
forgiveness. Feel the difference in your body, mind
and emotions as you compare your earlier negative
reaction, and your imagined response as a master. To
become a perfect master takes time and practice.
Even if you react negatively to a situation, but are
able to turn it around very quickly, and respond as a
master, this is very good progress. Spiritual masters
also show anger at times, but it is controlled and is
there for a specific reason. It is not an uncontrolled
reaction as that of most human beings; it is a planned
response to teach a lesson.
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It is My great pleasure to again speak to you, this

time about the ways to avoid getting caught in
psychological dilemmas that may pull you away
from faith and trust in God and Satguru. I wish to
talk about the need to have physical attention from
the Lord, the Satguru. Many devotees have craved
for this and still long for it. It is not at all important.
The inner relationship mind to mind, Atma to Atma,
is most important for all devotees' progress. Those
whom I have chosen to work closely with Me during
My advent on earth, have had much physical
proximity to Me. I have chosen them due to their
excellent karma, their abilities, and their great
devotion to God. They earned it through many past
lives and prayers. Though these ones have been close
to Me physically, they may not have progressed as
much spiritually as many would have thought. Their
progress has been hampered by body consciousness
and personality. It was difficult for them to go
beyond body consciousness while interacting with
My physical form and that of many others in such a
large organization as the Sri Sathya Sai Organization.
Though these individuals, nearly all men, often had
physical proximity to My form, I did not speak to
many of them often. You, My devotees, feel these
ones to be the most lucky ones. Not so. The devotees
who were able to go within and discover Atma for
themselves are luckier in that they have progressed
5
more, spiritually. They are at a higher level of

ascension than those who sat around Me daily.
I mention this to show you that it is detrimental for

your spiritual progress to continually long for contact
with My physical form through physical closeness,
talking and touching. You may think you have
gained a lot if you have these things, but it is not true.
It is a delusion. And this continual thirsting after My
physical form does not engender peace, pure love,
acceptance and patience. Often devotees had become
very depressed and disturbed mentally and
emotionally for lack of proximity to My physical
form. They often felt sad and angry, and unloved by
Me. Though for many, having these feelings come up
was a necessary process for them, because these
negative feelings were already in the subconscious
mind and needed to come up to be transcended.
These were often feelings about rejection, neglect,
abandonment, being unloved, and unlovable
experienced with humans in the past. In their outer
relationship with Me, I appeared to ignore devotees
for long periods of time. They believed I am God, the
embodiment of love. Negative feelings surfaced and
caused them much pain because they associated
themselves with these feelings and believed them to
be true. If a devotee remained in this pain for long
periods of time, as many of My devotees did and still
do, it has served, and still serves as an impediment to
progress. Why? Because I am love and you are
unable to experience this love due to your emotional
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encumbrances, and attachment to the physical form

as Truth.
Holding on to this negativity has stalled progress for

many. It is a trap based on delusion. My advice to
you who are still stuck, is to keep discriminating
between what is Truth and what is untruth in your
daily life minute to minute. Read and know about the
qualities of Atma. Meditate to find these qualities
within self. It will be difficult to meditate while
carrying negativity such as anger, hate, self-loathing,
resentment, inferiority complex, etc. You must read a
lot of self help books, develop self love, purify
yourself of all negativity; lead a moral, ethical life;
attach yourself to the formless God through bhajan,
meditation on a form of God and so on. As God is
love and peace, you must be these also to join with
God in oneness. Now that My physical form is gone,
it will be easier for most to contact Me where I am in
the heart, in the pure mind/consciousness. You no
longer need to rush to sit near where My form would
walk, hoping for a look, a word, or interview. Know
that I am always looking at you. Trust this and call on
Me sincerely with a pure earnest heart. Even when I
walked among you you could have done the same.
However, many of you were so burdened with a
heavy layer of mind and emotion that you would not
have been able to hear Me; your mind was not silent.
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Just because I know and see everything, does not

mean that I agree with or condone everything. Some
things go against Dharma and Truth. They are
mistakes that need to be corrected. Another pitfall
some devotees fall into is doing the wrong actions,
thinking wrong thoughts, speaking wrong words,
while thinking and believing they are perfectly okay.
For example, watching violent movies and television
thinking it won't affect them, that they are strong
enough to ward off any evil effects, is not correct.
Everything you experience through the senses and
mind does have an effect on your consciousness,
your vibration, either raising it or lowering it. I have
said this before. Any action performed repeatedly has
the danger of developing into a vasana, an addiction,
a habit which has repercussions. What are they? A
strong vasana will lead to another birth; not only
that, it will lead to new actions, thoughts or speech;
may lead to adopting new types of associations,
relationships, etc. which are impure and
burdensome. Everything you experience goes into
the subconscious mind. So if you wish your
conscious experience to be pure and good, see what
is good, hear what is good, think, speak and act in a
pure, clean manner.
Criticizing others goes against Dharma and Truth.

How? When you criticize another you are finding
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fault in them. You are associating your mind and

consciousness with the fault you see in the other. So
your consciousness is no longer pure; it is tainted. See
what is good, what is true in another. Leave the rest
to God. It is His drama and all are His puppets. You
are responsible for your own purity not that of
others. You are to love all and serve all; to see and
love God in yourself as your Self, and to see God in
others. So do not criticize, find and point out faults in
others. That is not your business. Your business is to
think of God, know God and become one with God.
You may believe you are a do-gooder finding and

pointing out faults in others. You are not, believe Me.
They will resent you for feeling superior to them, and
for feeling guilty and inferior themselves. It is the
best way to lose a friend. If you cannot tolerate being
around a person due to faults you see in him, then do
not keep his company. Your job is to love and accept
the being of every person. You may not approve of
some action, words or thoughts, but do not attack
and find fault. Also do not agree with what you
cannot accept, but do continue to love, seeing the
Truth of the person, knowing they are God in human
form even if they do not know it and are unable to
express it in all ways.
Another unhealthy practice is that of comparing

oneself with others, their grace and your grace, their
level of attainment and your level of attainment. This
is of absolutely no use to you. One will end up being
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superior and the other inferior in your mind, and you

have not transcended duality. Everyone is God. I
know that; you do not know that or you would not
compare. Only God knows where a person is in their
spiritual evolution. Only God who is that person and
every person, knows where, when and how to confer
grace. It is non of your business. Your business is
between you and your Creator; that is all. Listen for
inner guidance from the Creator of all beings; that is
all you need do. Leave others to their business and
God to His business.
You may think that because the Satguru Himself is

overseeing the spiritual progress of the devotee, that
the devotee won't make mistakes detrimental to her
progress. Not so. Devotees often make mistakes,
some relatively innocent and innocuous, and others
more serious. You see, devotees come to the path
with a great deal of baggage accumulated from this
life and past lives. What kind of baggage? Vasanas,
inborn tendencies for instance, such as stubbornness,
jealousy, bigotry to name a few, which affect, that is,
condition the way they think and behave. For
example, if a devotee is expected to love and serve
all, she may in her mind find resistance to this ideal if
she discriminates against black-skinned people, the
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Jewish religion or another group. Her stubbornness

along with negative discrimination against certain
groups and people, can make the path painful for
her. What should she do? Gain knowledge from
scriptures and teachings of enlightened ones that all
humans were created equal at the Soul/Atmic level,
that in God's eyes all are equal in Spirit and also
perfect. All is proceeding according to the plan of
evolution of consciousness in each being. Though
humans make mistakes all will eventually become
God realized. The color of one's skin, his nationality
and religion are all superficial and pertain to the
body/mind/ego level which is temporary and
fleeting. The devotee of God should learn these types
of teachings and be prepared to practice them in
daily life. The negative ego traits gathered in past
living, the negative vasanas that foster discrimination
based on race, religion, and nationality must be
banished from the mind and consciousness. In Truth
there is only one Spirit permeating and supporting all
of life. This is what the devotee of God must realize.
Another common mistake is to see and label some

people and things as superior and some as inferior.
There is no true basis for this conviction. As I have
said all are Spirit, all are equal in the eyes of God.
This should be the devotees' focus in order to see the
one God or Atma in all beings. If you do not believe
this Truth, your progress will be delayed. So how
should the devotee understand this? All physical
bodies are made up of the five great elements: earth,
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air, water, fire and ether. When the body dies the
elements are released. So every physical body has
this similarity; they are all composed of the five
elements created by God. Also, all bodies are
permeated by Divine energy and Divine
consciousness, another similarity among all living
creatures. So you can see that there are fundamental
similarities, likenesses inherent in all beings. They are
all permeated by Spirit/Atma which is consciousness
/energy, love, peace, and bliss, whether they are
aware of this or not. It is essential for a devotee to
realize this sameness or unity in all life. So where
does superiority and inferiority come in? The
ordinary unenlightened human mind/intellect
looking out through the five senses at the
phenomenal, material world of duality and
multiplicity would be able to make many
comparisons, and give them importance, perhaps
undue importance. Spirit sees all as one-the one body
of God. The mind uses all types of reasons to view
some things and people as superior and others as
inferior. Indeed there are plenty of variations in the
material world. It is the individual mind that
pronounces one thing as superior and another
inferior. Such thoughts and beliefs have no existential
Truth to them. They are not lasting in a world that
keeps changing, coming into existence and
dissolving. I advise My devotees to look at all duality
incorporated in the mind, and realize it is not Truth
or Atma, but is rather part of the dance, the play of
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consciousness/mind interacting with the world of

changing forms.
When the devotee cannot hear the voice of the

Satguru within in the spiritual heart, how is she to
know how to follow His commands, His guidance
from moment to moment? First of all she should
become very familiar with His Teachings. In My case
there are hundreds of volumes of My Teachings. The
purity of My Teachings has been vouchsafed by My
excellent translator, who was an expert in both the
Telegu and English languages. This is not the case for
many other spiritual leaders. For example Jesus'
Teachings that are laid out in the Bible have been
translated from the Aramaic language, into other
languages. Some of the words have been changed
from the original meaning. Also some explanations of
Jesus' words have been incorrect. Why does this
happen? Because none of those who have translated
or commented on Jesus' words have been at His level
of consciousness. Even Jesus' disciples were not at
His level of consciousness, awareness, or under-
standing. Even in My case My devotees often find it
difficult to understand exactly what I am trying to
convey to them. To make it easier for them I have
spoken for the most part in very simple terms, using
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simple examples, as did Lord Jesus, so seekers at

lower levels of awareness may grasp the meaning. So
how can a devotee who is at a lower, much lower
level of consciousness, know what I expect moment
to moment? The first things to practice in life are My
five values that I Teach. They are Truth,
Righteousness, Love, Peace and Non violence. If
these are practiced in thought, speech and action, you
will be able to advance a long way in spiritual
awareness. Love when practiced, is acceptance,
overlooking faults and mistakes, seeing the Divinity
in others, and forgiving. Being Love means living in
Love, living as Atma. What else does Love mean? It
means treating yourself and others with the utmost
kindness, respect, caring, helping where you can. I
am telling you these things so you will know how to
remain on the spiritual path to Self-realization, and
not stray away into unrighteousness, hate, anxiety,
stress and the like. If moment to moment you practice
the kind of love I have just spoken about, you will be
following God's direction for you. Even if others
scorn and criticize you, see this as grace, as an
opportunity to watch your reactions, to see if
negativity comes up in you. If it does, you will see
that you are still not pure enough. Look at it,
acknowledge its presence, and do not identify with
the feelings and emotions as yourself. Can you see
that they are not true, that they are imaginary
feelings superimposed on the Atma, the Self? It is
good if you can also try to understand why others are
scornful and critical. To seek to know what is going
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on with them is a way to develop your awareness,

your understanding. I am not suggesting that you ask
them what is going on with them. From your
intuition, your awareness, try to see. So when you
face criticism, etc. from another see it as an
opportunity to know your self better. Inwardly,
thank the one who was the catalyst to bring up the
impurities hiding within your consciousness, without
whom you may not have been able to see them.
Thankfulness toward them helps you to maintain a
positive attitude, rather than blaming or hating them.
God would wish you to choose Righteousness,

Dharmic action over unrighteous action. Righteous
action is action centered in Awareness of Atma being
the only Truth. Such action is the only type worthy of
being offered to God. And a devotee must offer all
actions to God. So you see, I have given you the
devotee much to be vigilant about from morning
until evening. You must watch all your thoughts,
words, and actions to be certain they are suffused
with Love and Righteousness; then offer them to
God.
What if they are not? Right away in your mind

acknowledge that you have made an error, and
correct it on the spot. Then there is no problem. This
awareness must be developed; without this
awareness, this discernment within yourself, you
cannot purify. So discern what is loving and what is
unloving, what is righteous action and what is
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unrighteous action. Your conscience will let you

know. That feeling in your heart, in your body, that
something is not right, a contraction, an anxiety that a
wrong thought, word or action has taken place
within your self that needs to be noticed and
attended to, is to be cultivated. In summary, I wish
you to pay attention with acute awareness, to
everything that goes on within your self to make
certain it is pleasing and pure, and in line with the
nature of Atma.
It is just a matter of time before you realize that you

are God. It is bound to happen sooner or later. In the
meantime there are certain conditions that need to be
present for this realization to happen. I have been
talking about the things to avoid and get rid of, in
order to provide the optimal conditions for Self
realization. What do I mean? I will give you an
example; sometimes a devotee becomes
psychologically trapped in a situation. She does not
know which way to move to regain freedom. What
should she do? Picture My form and call My name.
Then pray to Me explaining the situation briefly, and
ask My advice as to how you should proceed. It is
best if you journal with Me to begin with, writing
questions and My answers that you hear. Keep on
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journaling until all your doubts and questions are

answered. Read it over a few times to yourself to
ensure that you understand everything. Then take
action step by step to clarify your position, and free
yourself from what is binding you and disturbing
you. Do not think that you must remain in a place
where you feel stuck or trapped. Not at all. Your true
nature is freedom; freedom that is, while living
according to God's laws, mainly the five values I
teach. Try your best to understand why you feel
trapped. Is someone curtailing your freedom? Have
you given your power to someone? You are never to
give your power to another. They have their own
power. What power? Power to think, speak, act, will
power, power of discrimination, power to love,
respect and care for others, power to work, physical
powers, and most importantly the spiritual power to
be peaceful, non violent and truthful. These are
available to every human being unless, by some
unfortunate karma a person has become or been born
deficient in some aspect.
Whether you feel trapped physically, spiritually, or

psychologically, there is always a way out, a way to
learn and heal. Call on Me, on God for the answers,
as I have mentioned earlier. You will come to know
as you pursue the spiritual path that no person or
circumstance can take your spiritual power away,
unless you allow them to. You must practice being
very strong spiritually, through practicing the
Teachings of the Satguru. Physical and mental
17
strength are also required so you can protect yourself

and also be independent. When you are strong and
independent, you are available to help others, though
directing your love to the Divine in the others.
Freedom is your goal. When you feel trapped or
stuck, you must immediately seek Divine help to find
your way back to spiritual, psychological and
physical freedom again, as freedom is the nature of
the Divine. Of course, if for some reason you have
found your physical body imprisoned, it may take
some time to release it. However, this situation does
not happen often to devotees, ones who practice the
teachings sincerely. Even while the physical body is
in prison, one can be mentally and spiritually free,
and practice the Teachings of God for liberation.
It is My great pleasure to again speak to you about

the ways to smooth out the spiritual path for
yourself, and others with whom you may interact in
your daily life. It is not easy to go against the society
you are immersed in. If you do others will criticize
and judge you and try to make you wrong. Why?
Because you are an individual not one of the crowd.
The members of the crowd do not like too much
deviation from their ways. The crowd for you may be
your family, your church, or workplace, for example.
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If you wish to try to fit in with these groups of people

to the extent that you don't rock the boat too much
and create big waves, I suggest that you do not talk
to non devotees about your spirituality and especially
not about your relationship with God or the Satguru.
Let all of your relationship with God, and your
worship of God be done in private. No one need
know about it. In this way you won't unnecessarily
disturb others.
Of course you must practice the five great values I

teach, namely, Truth, Righteousness, Love, Peace and
Non violence. You can do this where ever you are,
without speaking about it, if others are not interested
to hear about Divine Teachings. Do not keep
company with those who are against these values. Be
very discriminating as to whom you keep close
company with. It is best if you keep to yourself,
maintaining a close relationship with Me, while also
seeing Me, directing your attention to Me in the
others you must interact with. After all I am the
Truth of all beings, the Truth, not the personality and
outer forms of people. I am telling you these things
so you will be able to live more peacefully and not
encounter unnecessarily ups and downs with certain
people in the society. Of course be courteous,
friendly, respectful and kind to people, but not in an
exaggerated way. Do not speak unnecessarily. Do not
join in the glib gossip about others. Try not to be a
party to it. Leave the company of those who speak ill
of others.
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Try not to disturb or upset others with your talk.

They have their path that they have chosen to follow.
All have free will and the influence of their karma to
live with, so every person's path is unique. You who
are seeking God-realization, and cultivating an
intimate relationship with God or Satguru, must
protect your energy, your thoughts, words and
actions so as to have them fit to be offered to the
Divine, and your self surrendered to the Atma. It
does not have to be a lonely path, though often it
seems that way at first. When you come to enjoy the
intimacy with the Satguru, the talk, the love and bliss
of Being as well as the Teachings, both reading and
practicing, it becomes a full time occupation, one you
love and cherish. All your thoughts flow toward the
Divine Satguru or God Who is the Beloved of your
heart. And He responds in many ways to show you
how much you are loved, how much you are His
Beloved too. You trust in Him as the Truth within
and beyond all forms which are ultimately
perishable. It is fine to keep the company of like-
minded persons, devotees, and talk about the
miracles, play and beauty of God, singing together,
even meditating together, as well as studying the
Teachings together if this is what you enjoy. There is
always an opportunity to love all and serve all, and
help ever and hurt never, keeping the Divine in mind
as the ever present Reality or Truth.
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As you know it is very difficult to judge how well

you are progressing on the spiritual path. You cannot
judge yourself how well you are doing. I suggest that
you do not try to judge yourself or others. Only God
knows how far a devotee has yet to go to reach the
goal. By judging, you may in your mind place
another person in a higher position or lower position
than yourself. This observation may be completely
wrong. When your goal is to see the one God in all,
you are circumventing your goal, your ideal when
you compare. If you do, when you admire some and
degrad others, you are distancing yourself again from
the One and remaining in duality. Only God sees all,
is omniscient in past, present and future; only He
knows the devotee through and through.
When you think you are not progressing well, that So

and So seems to be closer to Self-realization, you
degrade yourself and feel badly about yourself. Don't
do this; it does not serve any purpose. You must feel
that all are equal in God's eyes; that all are equally
loved by God, and one with Him in Truth. You may
ask that if this is so, why do other devotees seem to
have more grace than you do. Again you are
comparing with others. Do you know that I have an
exclusive relationship with all My devotees? It is
different with all of you. How could that be? Well,
you are all unique individuals, with unique ways of
expressing yourselves, unique ways of viewing
21
everything; unique past lives, karma, capacities and

so on. So naturally you would relate to Me in your
own unique way and I to you. Our conversations
would be unique. My grace for you, the dreams in
which I enter your sleeping consciousness are
designed just for you. I wish you to be aware of these
things, the unique ways that you and I relate to one
another. Knowing this you will be happier, and try to
make our relationship more and more intimate,
beautiful and full, with your efforts, prayers and
sadana. Comparing with others is of absolutely no
use. Remove the comparison mind. Concentrate on
pleasing Me, coming nearer to Me, and you will
receive My grace. When you surrender completely to
Me, My grace flows ceaselessly to you. Then you
have no other thought but the Lord, the Truth of the
universe, and you are fulfilled in every way.
It is My great pleasure to again be with you and

speak with you about the troubles to be aware of on
the path Divine. It is of utmost importance to develop
self confidence and self love. If you do not have these
in abundance, you may be easily pulled off the path.
How? When others deride, blame or criticize you,
you may react. You may believe in their words, their
intent, and thus shrink into your self in shame, or
22
burst out in anger and retaliation. Neither of these

reactions benefit a devotee of the Lord. Why should
you feel shame when you know who you are, the
unstainable, pure, unaffected Atma? You must
develop this confidence in the Atma, this love for the
Atma that resides within yourself and all around
everywhere. If you do not have confidence in
yourself as Atma, and love for yourself as Atma, you
will find it very difficult to remain equanimous and
loving at all times no matter what. Feelings of shame,
inadequacy and weakness indicate that you do not
identify yourself as Atma, a child of God, a part of
God, one with God. If God be for you who can be
against you. Having adopted this attitude, you have
confidence in God as your Higher Self, your true
Essence, and you rely and depend on this Truth and
this relationship as the most important source of
confidence and self love. Then whatever others say
and do need not affect you, and never diminish who
you truly are.
How does one acquire this strong self confidence

and self love? It cannot be acquired outside of
yourself from another. You have to have faith in God
first, that God exists and He is Love and Loving. Next
have faith that your Truth, your Existence, your Life
is God. That He is the nearest and dearest to you. So
first faith then experience.
23
Through faith, you turn your mind, your thoughts

and feelings toward God Who resides within you and
around you. You pray, and speak to God in the
silence of your heart. You trust that He hears and
knows everything. Then you get experience of Him.
You see how He looks after you, fulfills your needs
and good desires. You feel His love and His Being
within you. Gradually you come to develop
confidence in and love towards this Essential Being,
Existence that lives in and as you. Through spiritual
practices and practicing the Teachings of the Teacher
or Satguru, you become very strong and courageous
as a spiritual being, knowing what is Truth and what
is untruth, what is everlasting and what is transitory,
what is good and what is evil in the world of duality.
A time comes when you are so strong, that nothing
will pull you away from the internal state of Peace
which you have become as a devotee of God. Neither
the emotions of others or your own emotions trouble
you any longer. You see them for what they are,
passing energy patterns that you long ago believed
were truth. Now you witness them disinterestedly,
shine the Light of Love on them, and allow them to
dissolve and pass away. When you have abundant
self confidence and self love, you know that the Lord
is yours and you are His. Next time we will talk
about the roles of self sacrifice and self satisfaction
that lead to self love and self confidence.
24
10
My dear devotees, in order to avoid troubles in life it

is important to practice self sacrifice. What do I
mean? When you perform an action, offer the action
and the result of the action to God in your heart. Be
disinterested in the results. Why? If you have
performed the task, the work to the best of your
ability, you need not worry about the result. God will
accept it. Why is this self sacrifice important? Because
you were never the doer of the action. The divine
energy in you performs the actions. Knowing this
truth, before every action or work mentally offer the
work to God. As a result of this self sacrifice, your
ego sense as the doer and enjoyer of everything
becomes diminished and dissolved. The Atma in you,
the God in you is the true enjoyer and doer of the
experiences that come your way. You as body and
mind are as a dream in God's mind. One day the
dream will be seen as a dream, and you and God will
be one again. You are one now in God's mind, but
your dream self (ego) has allowed this truth to
become obscured. Self sacrifice will bring you back to
God, to a sublime partnership in which you exist
together as two and also as one. When you spend
your time in this way, offering all to the Lord, doing
for the Lord as His instrument, living in this
surrendered state wherein your will and God's Will
are one, you will feel great satisfaction. Why? You as
Atma will feel and know a oneness, an intimacy, an
25
eternal bond with the Lord, the Creator that is so

very loving and sweet. You will be satisfied knowing,
feeling that there is nothing more to be attained in
life. You become desireless, content and peaceful,
therefore satisfied. You live with God, as God and for
God.
11
So you can see that self sacrifice is essential to reach a

state of complete self satisfaction. The ego is no
longer troublesome, egging you on to fulfill desires,
run here and there in search of outer pleasures and
happiness. You are fully satisfied in the intimate
relationship with the Lord. You do the work that you
know the Lord wishes you to do with Him as the
inner motivator, the inspiration.
My dear devotees I wish to tell you about yet

another pitfall that may come up for you as you
pursue the path divine. It has to do with feeling
superior, that you are better than others who may or
may not be claiming to be spiritual aspirants. This
feeling is rampant among devotees. It is spiritual ego
and difficult to remove unless one incessantly shines
the light of awareness on it. How does it manifest?
How does it appear? Usually you have ideas in the
mind such as, "The goal of life is to be spiritual, to
26
realize God"; "And the way I have chosen to reach

this goal is the best way"; "My guru is the best, more
highly realized than your guru"; "My guru is living in
a body and yours is long dead, therefore I will make
faster progress". So many of these kinds of ideas
come up in the minds of devotees. They do not
realize that these ideas are usually incorrect, have no
relevance to one's spiritual path, are often judgmental
and keep one trapped in the ego that you are separate
from others.
All are on the spiritual path whether they realize it or

not, call it that or not. All are proceeding toward God
realization. Some take a slow route, some a fast route.
What you need to know is that the Atma in each
person, each being, is God Himself. The ideas about
separation from God are like a dream. A dream has
no reality. One day all will wake up from the dream
of worldly life, and realize their true divine nature as
God.
So why to compare with others that you are

spiritually superior? When you do you are still in the
dream. All are one; be alike to everyone, I tell you
time and again. But My words don't sink in. One day
they will and you will understand. In the meantime
please be aware that ideas of superiority and
inferiority belong to duality, and they are based on
the body/mind/ego. The Atma in all is the one
Atma, often covered in layers of delusion. Delusion is
false, part of the dream waking state. Awareness and
27
knowledge will drive this delusion away. So seek

awareness and knowledge (jnana) for Self realization,
and leave others to progress at their own rate. Drop
your opinions and judgments about this. Everyone,
yes everyone is evolving at their own rate and in
their own way. Variety is the name of the game. Be
grateful to God for all the Blessings He has given to
you. He is the doer and enjoyer and Paramatma
(Supreme Being). Your job is to merge with Him, and
be like Him, the all accepting, all compassionate
loving One and true doer, the All-That-Is. Such
satisfaction is naturally concomitant with the
confidence that the Lord is resident in your heart,
and you and He are one Atma.
12
As I have said, you must transcend duality to reach

the one God, the one Atma. How to do this? You
must remove the comparison mind. The ordinary
mind goes on comparing things all the time. You
must become aware of this, to see whether it is
beneficial or a hindrance. Of course if you are
purchasing an item in the market and there are
several brands, you need to compare to get the best
item for the best price. Why to waste money? After
you bring it to your home you usually forget about
the comparisons. You feel satisfied that you have
28
made a wise decision. So you have used the mind

correctly when you have compared prices, quality,
etc. But when you look at what someone else has, and
what you have, and make comparisons, this is not a
good use of the mind. Why? Because many negative
thoughts and feelings may come into the mind,
which cause you to lose your peace, happiness, self
confidence, self love or devotion. You may think that
another has more than you, more material things that
you wish you had, more beauty, a bigger house,
more money, etc. Then you may feel that you are
inferior, you do not have enough. God has not
favored you. You lose confidence, self love, and may
even blame God that He has not loved you enough. It
is the comparison mind that has fostered and brought
out these insecurities and desires. You may think and
feel that Baba gives more to some devotees and less
to others. You may feel undeserving of His grace, that
there must be something wrong with you. Even those
who have received a lot of grace in the form of
interviews, etc., may compare with another who
receives more talk and attention from Baba when I
walked among you all.
This comparison mind must be checked. It will bring

you down. Negative feelings and thoughts about self
and others will spring forth as a result of comparing
with others. The mind can be your ally or foe
depending on how you use it. When you catch your
mind comparing your lot with others, immediately
stop it. Then reason in the following way: I have
29
received what I have due to God's grace and my

karma. I have received what I deserve. Everything
that has ever happened is due to God's Will. He has
allowed it to happen. I will be happy with my lot in
this moment. I will see what is good in my life and
have gratitude. Every life is unique. It is the result of
karma accrued from past lives and this life. It is the
result of my own thoughts, words and actions, no
one else's and God's grace that I have earned,
received. Starting this moment I can concentrate on
my life and my relationship with God. These are
what I have control over. I am unique. I must not and
need not compare my lot with others, and feel
negative or superior. I choose to mind my own
business and not compare with others to my and
their detriment, creating more negative energy in the
world. This is not the role of a devotee. A devotee
must root out and dissolve negativity while at the
same time imbibing God's pure loving energy. Yes,
many differences are there in the world, but you need
not place your mind there. Keep your mind on God
to realize a higher state of Being, the Atma where all
are seen as aspects of the oneness of God.
13
It is with great pleasure that I come to address you

again, to tell you about what to avoid on your
30
journey to God realization. Please bear with Me as we

discuss yet another obstacle on the path to
wholeness. It has to do with too much concern about
what should not concern you. It has to do with taking
too much interest in others' business or life. Each
person on earth has his or her own life to live, their
own path to follow. You are to follow your path
using your God given intelligence, skills, capacities,
and inner guidance, etc. Especially for a devotee
seeking Self realization, much of the focus should be
inward seeking Atma, and discerning Truth from
untruth. For a devotee time is spent watching one's
own inner self, that is, one's thoughts, feelings,
speech, actions, etc., and discriminating which ones
are good and which are to be discarded and not
followed or acted upon. Self purification is important
for a devotee and his interest should be focused here.
The devotee should also concentrate on worship,
selfless service to those in need, dedicating actions to
the Divine, etc. I am here reminding you what a
devotee should do with her time.
What is the pitfall to be avoided? You must not

become overly involved in others' lives. Do not give
your advice or opinions, however well intended,
unless you have been asked for them. Do not meddle
in others' affairs. Every individual has a life to lead,
lessons to learn, a path with responsibilities,
challenges, learning curves, desires, temptations,
tests, etc. They have their own karma and you have
yours. That is not to say that part of your karma may
31
be to interact with certain people. It is okay. But as a

devotee seeking Self realization, your main focus
should be on God, yourself and your relationship
with God. Do not spend much time socializing,
gossiping, speaking about mundane worldly matters,
that non-devotees speak about. As I have told you, it
is beneficial for you to speak as little as possible; only
when it is necessary, helpful, etc. Yes, do help where
ever you can, where help is needed. But this need not
involve a lot of chatter, and involvement in others'
personal lives. Unless you are a guidance, spiritual or
therapeutic counselor, and both parties have agreed
to the counseling, remain quiet.
Why is this important? You waste time and energy

when you get involved personally and otherwise. No
one really benefits spiritually. Often the ego is
enhanced, that is, the sense of a separate self, as well
as doer-ship and enjoyer-ship. For a devotee, the
Atma is Truth and the goal to realize. The world of
physical forms is transitory and illusory. So please do
not take undue interest in other people's business.
Often differences of opinion, judgment and criticism
come up in the mind when one gets too involved in
the details of another's life story. Be friendly and
respectful to others knowing where to draw the line
and not become too involved in what does not
concern you. There is your business, other peoples'
business and God's business. Respect these
boundaries for peaceful, purposeful living.
32
14
My dear friends and devotees, I am here with you

again to speak about distractions on the path to Self
realization. I hope that you are finding these talks
useful and helpful on your path Divine. Today I will
talk about the need to watch your every thought,
word, and action throughout the day. Ask yourself
whether each one is a fit offering to the Divine. By fit
I mean, is it true, good, kind, pleasant, helpful or
useful. Of course everything you think, say, or do
reaches the Divine because the Divine is your Higher
Self. As a devotee aware of the importance of inner
and outer purity and goodness, and also aware of the
need to offer everything to the Divine, it behooves
you to ensure that your words, thoughts, feelings and
actions have the requisite purity. And if they are not
pure? What then? Hopefully the attentive devotee
will realize when thoughts, words, and actions have
been impure or negative. If they are thoughts, they
are easier to deal with than words or actions. Witness
the thoughts, disassociate yourself from them, noting
that this is not how you choose to think; forgive
yourself and move on. You may immediately
rephrase the impure thought into something more
acceptable and loving. For example, a thought may
come up about a fault you or someone else has,
whereby negative feelings associated with this
thought also come up. As you immediately become
aware of this negative thinking and feeling, see that
33
this serves no purpose. Correct your own fault and

move on. You cannot change others; it is up to them
to change. So do not dwell on others' faults. Think of
positive qualities in yourself and others; love yourself
and others.
If by chance you speak negative or inappropriate

words to another, immediately tell her you made a
mistake, you did not mean what you said, and say,
Please forgive me'. Hopefully this will heal any
division that may have come up. Forgive yourself
and move on. Acknowledge that everyone makes
mistakes; learn the lesson and do not repeat the same
mistake again. Try to speak what is pure, good, kind,
helpful, necessary and useful. Ask yourself if your
words improve upon the silence; if not, don't speak.
Now let us look at our actions. Are they kind,

helpful, positive, caring? If your thoughts and words
are positive, then your actions will be also, as actions
usually spring from thoughts and words. Your
thoughts, words, and actions should be in alignment
ideally; then you live an authentic life, saying what
you think, and doing what you say. It is very
important for devotees to have this inner and outer
purity, that is, unity of thoughts, words and actions.
There is no inner purity if these three are not in
alignment. You are deceiving yourself and others
when you think and believe one thing and counter it
by saying something opposite or different. You lose
your purity, your integrity and your good character
34
when you say one thing and go against it by saying

and doing something not congruent with your
thoughts. So I advise you to be careful about these
matters. You want to simplify your mind, break
down the ego structures that have been built up over
many lives. So be simple, sincere and honest in
thoughts, words and deeds, and dedicate them all to
the Lord, the Atma residing within and all around as
your true Self.
15
I would be very pleased to see you following My

Teachings on how to avoid falling away from the
spiritual path due to distractions and loss of proper
direction. Let us look now at another pitfall on the
path to be avoided if possible. You all know what it is
like to be overly influenced by other people, by their
ideas, dramas, charisma, personalities, etc. Some
people can be very domineering and dominating,
trying to force their ways, beliefs and will on others.
You must be strong enough and detached enough,
not to let this happen to you.
When you truly know your path in life, and are

following the guidance of Spirit, of the Satguru, from
moment to moment, and practicing the teachings,
you need not be influenced by others no matter how
35
strong their influence appears to be. You must be

strong and resilient inside of yourself. Listen to
others if you are in a situation where you must, but
you need not carry on a conversation. Be respectful
when you disagree with what another may be
expecting or demanding you to do or be. Politely say,
"No, I do not agree with that. It may be acceptable for
you, but it is not acceptable for me. Have a nice day."
Say what you mean and mean what you say. Speak
in a respectful tone, and then change the topic or
leave. Do whatever you have to do. It is no use being
in the company of those who are antagonistic
towards you because you do not agree or wish to
follow their ways. It is better to not be in their
company. However, I must emphasize here that you
try to be friendly with all up to the limit possible, and
not make enemies. The tone of your voice, your facial
movements, and your words will determine this.
Practice Truth Love, Peace, Righteousness, and Non
violence in thought, word and action. You must
protect your energy also. Keep a protective light
around yourself at all times by visualizing it, asking
God for it, and by repeating God's name and
remembering Him at all times. Then other people's
energy won't affect you.
When you are dealing with egotistical people, it is

necessary to set boundaries, yet realize the Atma,
Spirit motivating their thoughts, words, and actions
is the same Spirit in all, the basic life of all beings.
However, there are bound to be differences in the
36
manifestations of Spirit through different bodies,

minds, and egos. When someone is overstepping
their boundaries, attempting to influence and control
others, this is clearly not right. Here I am speaking
about adults who do not have a healthy sense of their
own energy bodies, and others' energy bodies, their
own business and others' business. In the case of
parents and their children with whom they have the
responsibility to raise in a moral, ethical, value based
way, and in a disciplined way, the parents may need
to influence the children in a positive manner. This is
fine as long as parents adhere to the five values I
teach.
A devotee should know when he is being unduly

influenced and controlled by another as well as
himself inappropriately controlling and influencing
another, and know how to deal with it in a spiritual
manner that reflects his status as a devotee of God.
16
Wouldn't it be easier for you if you knew the

quickest, easiest path to Self realization? Well, that is
just what I am showing you in these My Words to
you. I hope that you will contemplate and use them
well to your advantage and for your uplift.
I am aware that many of My devotees chant My
37
Name and sing bhajans. The results of these exercises

may not bear much fruit. What do I mean? If you
merely chant and sing with your lips only, there is no
depth to your practice. It is the feeling that will
transform your mind, heart and consciousness. The
deep feeling of love. Love transforms. How? Love is
the nature of Atma, Truth, or Self. It is a powerful
transformative vibration. So when you chant or sing
with deep loving feeling, this feeling reaches and
resonates with your true Self, Myself, the Atma
within the heart. This resonance of like with like, love
to love, etc., sets up a flow, a relationship, a sense of
oneness. I have often said that chanting and singing
is for the mind; it keeps bad or impure thoughts
away from the mind. When I said this, I meant that
the feeling, the depth and intensity of feeling of love
is lacking; so here singing is merely for the mind.
Love is the binding force. So put your all into your

chanting of the Divine Names and when you sing
bhajans. Even if you listen only to bhajans, deeply
meditate on the meaning with loving feelings and in
this way, evoke the grace of the Divine. The Satguru
will respond with enhanced love and light for you
when you express yourself in this way. You will
overcome awareness of separation from God and
rejoin with God in your own consciousness. You will
find love, peace, bliss and contentment in this union
with God, the Satguru. You will realize, 'I am the
embodiment of God'.
38
Don't expect to experience continuous union with

God as soon as you begin chanting and singing the
Divine Names. It takes time to purify the mind and
heart of all that has been accumulated over many
lives. But do not despair and give up hope. Pray for
love and light Divine to encircle your being and to
purify you. You will not be left in the dark if you
sincerely pray for Light and Love and perform ample
spiritual practices to purify yourself to reveal the
Divine Atma that is your basis and Source. Before
you realize yourself as God you are called Jivatma
which means your Atma is bound and/or covered by
impurities, lost in illusion. After realization, your
Atma will be free from attachment and illusion. It
will know oneness with the Satguru, the All-That-Is,
and will be called Jivanmukta, or liberated while
living in a body in the world.
17
It is not easy to remain on the spiritual path and not

face obstacles and potential pitfalls. They are bound
to come your way at one time or another. Be
prepared for them. How? Maintain your power and
strength at all times. Be prepared to face anything.
Don't let your guard down. If you have offered
everything to Me, then offer everything to Me, good
and bad. Offer it and remain equanimous. You know
39
everything is a passing cloud; it will soon pass and be

gone. Let it not leave any trace in your consciousness.
What am I talking about? Any misfortunes, upsets
that come and tempt you to react in a negative way
and disturb your equipoise, offer to God Who is the
Truth. In this way whatever happens has nothing to
do with you, in that you do not take it personally and
need not react. You can choose to respond in a
dharmic, responsible, loving, peaceful manner if that
is what is required. For example, a close relative
suddenly dies in a car accident. Realize that all is
Gods Will in that He allows everything to happen as
per the laws He has set forth for the workings of the
universe. Realize that karma happens; it is one of His
Laws. Realize that most often a person can never
know all the reasons an event happens. So trust is
important here. Trust that God knows all, sees all and
is in control.
So if any feelings or thoughts around this incident

surface, offer them to God and remain free of
botheration. If it is up to you to make funeral
arrangements, inform family and friends, and this is
the dharmic action for you to take, see it as a
responsibility and offer it to God. Do likewise with
all occurrences, events that many may view as
negative, due to their experiences, attachments and
lack of wisdom. However, devotees should perceive
such occurrences with wisdom, practicing the
Teachings of the Lord, the Satguru, and the sacred
scriptures that embody Truth and the ways of
40
Dharma or Righteousness. Be not led astray My dear

ones. Know the ways of Truth and the Truth shall set
you free. Free from upset, disturbance, negativity and
ignorance.
To continue, you need not follow the ways of the

world in these matters. Others have different
reactions and ideas and beliefs. You need not buy
into any of them. You need not agree with others'
ways of being. It is best to keep quiet as much as
possible. Do not alienate others with your ways of
being and your beliefs. Better to say nothing. Just be
love and compassion. Help where ever you can. Be
positive, always knowing the Truth that no one dies,
only the physical body dissolves. That all is the play
of the Lord-His Consciousness and Energy. You are
the actor and the witness. Play your role until the
curtain falls, remaining in union with God, Your Self,
equanimous, happy and content.
18
Be prepared. For what? To face anything that may

come your way. How to be prepared? Keep the
company of God, Satguru or Atma at all times as
much as you remember to do. You must get the
consciousness of God to be God. And realize this
consciousness is eternal. You have consciousness
41
now; you are aware. But this consciousness must

grow in purity, and expand to eventually include All-
That -Is. For now it is enough if you realize this pure
consciousness within yourself and identify with it as
the Self, God. It will protect you when you depend on
it, trust in it, and offer your life to it. This is the most
important way to be prepared for all that may
transpire in the world. This consciousness of God as
yourself makes you very strong and acts as a buffer
between your Self, the Truth, and all that is false. You
know that Truth is eternal, unchanging, pure,
unsullied, etc. Take it as your refuge, your protection,
and never entertain fearful thoughts.
In what other ways can the devotee be prepared to

face any eventuality in the world? Develop the
relationship with the Satguru to the extent that you
become clairaudient, telepathic. You hear Him the
voice of consciousness speaking to you within your
purified mind and consciousness. Then you hear all
direction and guidance as to what to do and what not
to do, etc. There comes a time also when you have
surrendered to the Lord, that spontaneous right
action and words come through you. You are so in
tune with the Lord, the correct, required words and
actions happen through the mind and body. At this
stage little or no verbal guidance is required from the
Lord. The devotee has become a perfect instrument
through purification, having relinquished ego and
the consciousness that I am the form.
42
Another way to prepare yourself for any outer

occurrence is to practice living in a peaceful,
equanimous, loving way all of the time. This way of
being will carry over when a so-called calamity
strikes. It is good not to be too complacent, expecting
your life and life in general to carry on as it always
has. Most devotees know to expect the unexpected,
as well as to have no particular expectations. If you
have no expectations you have no disappointments.
It is best to be as much accepting as you can of others'
ways, and be not bothered by them. Work on
yourself, develop equanimity, acceptance, inner
peace and unconditional love, not expecting from
others unless an agreement has been made between
parties, or as in a family where rules have been set for
proper righteous behavior, practices and disciplines
for children to abide by.
19
You must see that your thoughts are so very

important for Self realization. If your thoughts are
largely negative and centered on the false world of
name and form, such thoughts act as an obstacle to
Self realization. Why? Because such thoughts go
against, are counter to the nature of Atma or God, in
its purest form, the unchanging nature of God as
Peace and Love. So it is important for devotees to
43
monitor and manage their thoughts. They may

discriminate and categorize the thoughts as pure
Divine thoughts and ego-based thoughts. What are
ego-based thoughts? They are thoughts that are
based on the perception and belief that the world of
name and form is the Truth, the Reality and there is
no other Truth. Ego thoughts relate to duality, that
duality is True and Real. Well, it is Real for those that
believe in it. But it is not the Truth for those that
know the All Pervasive Atma as the basis and
motivator of thoughts, feelings and actions. You may
believe in the world of duality, and names and forms,
and also keep a positive mind. But without intense
self-inquiry, you are unlikely to know and be the Self,
the Atma. Keeping a positive mind and emotions will
help a great deal to know the Self, along with self
inquiry and devotion to the Truth.
It is the negative thoughts and feelings that keep one

pinned down in the darkness of ignorance. Where
there is darkness the light of true knowledge and
wisdom is obscured, hidden from awareness. Many
people live in this darkness most of their lives. What
kind of darkness? The darkness of fear; many kinds
of fear are there in the minds of people who live in
the midst of strife, uncertainty, cruelty, etc. as in
totalitarian states run by leaders who are full of
darkness. Darkness of hate, greed, cruelty and
demonic behaviors such as torture, murder, etc.
Darkness of ignorance comes in many forms. It is an
obstacle on the path to God realization and must be
44
removed and replaced with faith, confidence and

trust in the Light and Love of the Supreme Being we
know as God.
You may know, be aware, that God, The All-That-Is

contains all that is. Even the darkness is contained in
God. God is aware of what is Truth and what is false,
so the false does not really affect God, though He is
conscious of it. You see, the darkness is unreal in that
it is a distortion in the energy forms of thought,
feeling and action. A handkerchief is white when it is
new. It may become soiled black depending on how
it is used. The same handkerchief when bleached can
become white again. So too the consciousness of
beings was pure and white when it entered into
forms. Through time and many incarnations,
negative conditioning from negative thoughts,
words, and actions, soiled the consciousness and
energy patterns of the forms of humankind. Animals
act according to Divine law, their inborn instincts and
other programming. It is members of humankind that
have descended to the demonic level of great
darkness and distortion, using Divine consciousness
and Energy. Though the darkness is essentially false,
it causes much pain and suffering for many beings on
earth. God takes a human form from time to time as
an Avatar to put a stop to this and turn the tide
towards greater Light, Love and Righteousness in the
minds/consciousness of human beings.
45
The more human beings fill themselves with pure

loving thoughts, feelings, words, and perform these
types of actions, the more Divine Light and Love will
be present and manifest on planet earth. This Light
Energy being of a higher vibration than the lower
darker energies will transform the darker, distorted
energies into purer energies that reflect the oneness
of the Atma. So watch your thoughts, words, actions,
character, and heart that all are pure, and in so doing
realize the unity and Divinity that the world truly is,
despite the appearance of darkness.
20
My dears, do not despair, the world is not going to

end. It will surely change, transform, but it will never
end. I have a Plan to bring more Love and Light onto
this earth; and it is happening now. My Plan cannot
fail. The forces of good are overpowering the
negative forces surely and steadily. You have heard
that good always triumphs over evil. Why? Because
God is goodness, and evil or darkness is a distortion
of what was and essentially is goodness. It is just a
matter of time before this Divine drama comes to a
happy ending, though there is no ending. Creation of
one type or another will always be there in the
universe, some aspects devolving and some aspects
evolving. So I ask you not to worry about anything.
46
Worry is ego; worry implies lack of trust and faith

and confidence in God, Satguru and your Higher
Self. For a devotee who has surrendered, all will be
well. Even if the body is lost, all is still fine as life
goes on in another dimension, in another form. Trust
in God and Satguru is very important. It is the
binding force to keep you safe and sound; sound in
mind, body, and consciousness. You need not worry
what to do, where to go, how to be. Live in the
present moment and think, say and do what comes to
you to think, say and do. Mainly give attention to
Being, Being Atma, the eternal, unchanging Atma.
This is the only true security for life. It is eternal life,
unchanging. There is no need to worry about the
changing world; its nature is to change; change is the
only constant for the world. Cling to the Truth, the
Atma, God, Satguru and know safety and security in
this oneness of Being. Remove the obstacle, 'worry',
which sets you apart from God, and keeps you in the
dream world of body/mind/ego.
21
It is My hope that My devotees progress to God

realization without undue delay. That is why I am
sharing this knowledge with you all, that you may
not fall back and cause pain for yourself.
Did you know that once you take to the spiritual path
47
and unconditionally surrender your life to God, He

makes a Plan? What kind of Plan? He maps out all
the main events, circumstances and grace that will
come your way in this birth and the next birth if there
is one. He has a Plan for your spiritual unfoldment.
This involves using your gifts and capacities for your
spiritual uplift and that of the world. The Satguru or
God will plan situations to force you to surrender
more, to show you that you are not in control, to
force you to accept, and develop equanimity no
matter what. He does all this for you to bring you
home to Atmic oneness by destroying your ego. You
must be aware that these things happen when you
attempt to surrender to God, and not resist them. If
you wish for deep eternal peace as your goal, you
must be prepared to go through tests and to let go,
accept, and be peaceful no matter what. Otherwise
you will face confusion, unrest, and other types of
psychological pain.
The Satguru may wish to develop and use your skills

such as inspirational speaking, or channeling and
writing, as a service for the uplift of humanity as well
as your spiritual unfoldment. Be prepared to have the
Divine guide you in unforeseen ways. Once you have
offered your body, mind and intellect to
Satguru/God, to be used as His instruments,
consider yourself as belonging to God, and allow
Him to use you. Of course you must be certain it is
pure Divinity that is using you. Beware of gurus who
claim to be God realized and who are not. You must
48
be very careful in these matters. I have outlined these

matters in the previous book entitled, "Not Gone I
Am Still Calling".
So once you have surrendered to God/Satguru,

obedience to the Divine is expected, following all the
guidance as perfectly as possible. You will know in
your heart whether it is correct to follow; God will
never deceive you; He is all love and compassion. So
trust your Satguru with your life and you will be
rewarded with eternal life. This is what Jesus meant
when He said, "I am the Way and the Life". Every
true Satguru is the Way and the Life and there have
been many who have graced planet earth with their
Presence.
22
It is My great pleasure to again speak with you dear

seekers of Truth. It is My hope that you will imbibe
and benefit from these My Words given to you with
Love. How will you use My Words? Please read
them and ponder over them again and again until
their essence becomes part of you and you no longer
need to think about their import. Living them will be
natural to you.
49
One more obstacle you may come upon on the path is

that of friends and relatives leaving your company.
You need not feel dismayed when this happens. It is
bound to happen when your vibration, your energy
level, changes and theirs does not. Why? What is
important to them is no longer important or
interesting to you. What the devotee cherishes and
adores may not even be on the radar so to speak, for
ordinary worldly people. You both may have very
different interests and outlooks. But nevertheless you
must continue to love everyone and be helpful where
you are needed. But it may be very difficult to engage
in meaningful conversations with non devotees. They
may not wish to speak about God, Satguru and
spiritual matters in which they have no interest. You
are not much interested in worldly matters or
discussing or hearing about them. So what should
you do? Be a good listener; and you need not spend
much time in their company. You have your spiritual
practice, meditation, reading, service activities, or
whatever you do to further God realization and
purification. It is okay; just accept things the way
they are. See it as God's Will for you, for your uplift.
Continue to see God in everyone you meet; be kind,
courteous and respectful. But also be true to your
heart and do the activities you feel motivated to do
and dedicate them to God. Do not be at all disturbed
that certain people do not relish your company any
longer. Spend time alone in silence with the Divine;
with bhajan and Divine Discourses. Others who do
not think about God cannot understand your heart,
50
your mind, when you have surrendered all to God

and wish to be with Him every moment.
It always happens that when one person changes,

others change also, the ones who are closely
connected to you. They may resist your ways and
you feel uncomfortable, unaccepted, even shunned.
Find like-minded people to spend some time with so
you do not feel alone. Of course God is always with
you, though formless, and you may not have
developed the capacity to hear and feel Him that
much. Then it is difficult for you; a transition period.
But you will adjust to being alone, more than you
ever have before, and also enjoy being alone with the
Divine. Relationships can be difficult; the ones with
other egos. But the relationship with God is very
easy. It is Being, Awareness, Bliss, Love, Freedom,
Heart to heart, Atma to Atma.
I wish you to realize that there is always an

adjustment period after you have changed your life
to the spiritual path of Self realization and all that it
entails. Others may not understand and distance
themselves from you. It is okay; do not be disturbed.
Remain as loving and accepting of them as you can.
Know that all are evolving toward Self realization in
their own time and way. Practice acceptance and love
for yourself and others; love your own company, that
is to say, My Company. Be Happy; never worry.
51
23
Another obstacle on the spiritual path I wish to speak

about concerns your relationship with your partner,
your spouse. It often happens that one partner takes
to the spiritual path before the other. This often
causes friction in the relationship. How? In many
ways. When God enters your life in a strong way,
you feel pulled toward Him to feel Him, see Him,
and to know Him as much as you can. One feels he is
definitely missing something very valuable if he does
not come closer to God dwelling within the spiritual
heart. So he will often spend more time doing
worship, prayer, bhajan, reading spiritual texts,
performing selfless service, etc. If the other partner is
not interested in any of these activities, a rift in the
relationship may develop. The partner who feels left
out may feel resentment or dislike for God, Satguru
and religion or spiritual matters. He is not receiving
the time and attention he used to receive from his
spouse, so the rift may grow larger. The two should
sit down and have a frank discussion about the
purpose of human life and human values. The main
purpose of human life is to gain God realization,
though many people do not realize this. And the way
is to love all and serve all. Many do not know this
either. Spouses, partners should love and serve one
another and at the same time be independent and
look after their own individual needs where possible.
It should be a partnership where duties are shared in
52
a manner in which all feel happy. This can be

negotiated between the two partners whereby both
feel that their needs are taken care of, and they also
have time to pursue their individual interests such as
God realization, in their own way. Often an
adjustment is needed by each partner, so that both
feel comfortable in the relationship.
People must realize that life changes from day to day;

things do not remain the same the entire lifespan. If
the Divine has prompted your spouse to seek God
realization, you must understand and accept this, and
not be selfish for your own ends. And she may not
seek God according to your ways and understanding.
She cannot. She must follow her own unique path
based on past life experiences on the path, having
gone through different religions with different gurus,
as well as this life's conditioning with parents, the
religion and family deity one was born into.
So it is best to be very tolerant and accepting of
another's ways, as long as they do not trample on
your ways. Remember that God or Satguru is the
embodiment of unconditional love and acceptance.
So you, having been created in the image or likeness
of God, have the same qualities within you. Uncover
and cultivate them more and more. Live and let live.
Allow your spouse to follow her own spiritual path,
and you also have yours. It would work for the
harmony and peace in the relationship if you both
could follow the same path, that is, worship together
at times, meditate, listen to discourses together, etc.
53
But if it is not possible to worship together. cultivate

peace and love between you. You are both Divine
beings, though the manifestations may be somewhat
different. I bless you that you find love, peace and
contentment in your relationship, though your paths
to the Divine may be different.
24
It has been said that when the devotee is ready, the

Master appears. The spiritual seeker becomes very
interested in God, to know all about Him, and the
answers to questions such as, "Who am I really;
where did I come from; and where am I going?"
When the desire for this knowledge becomes intense,
the Master will appear. How? A spiritual teacher
with whom you have had a relationship in the past,
who knows you well, will be placed on your path.
God does this. A certain teacher, guru or Avatar is
there for each seeker. There may be several
appropriate teachers for a seeker, and he may take
knowledge from each of them in turn; or only from
one teacher.
Obstacles may come up for you when you do not

recognize your teacher to be your teacher. You may
waste a lot of time going from guru to guru and not
feel a deep resonance with any of them. Why is this?
54
You are not quite ready and ripe enough. You have
not gone deep enough within your self or the guru.
You are still skimming the surface looking at the
outer superficial aspects such as how he or she
appears physically, how many devotees the guru has,
how big is his ashram, does he give a mantra, does he
give me a lot of outer attention. None of these are
important really to Self-realization. It may take years
before a seeker gets settled with a guru or teacher.
Often a Satguru will outwardly ignore a seeker for
years if He sees she is not ready, not pure enough in
thoughts, emotions and actions, or there is too much
conditioning and clutter in the consciousness. All
these are obstacles to God-realization, and mergence.
They have to be cleared. And this process can be
painful for the seeker. When the devotee has decided
upon the guru or teacher she likes and wishes to be
with, to help her progress spiritually, the teacher may
test her for some time. He may not look at or speak to
her. This can be painful for the devotee, if she does
not know the guru's ways. However, the guru will
always try to contact the devotee inwardly by
speaking in the consciousness, or through dreams, to
let her know what is happening. He is full of love and
compassion, and knows the hearts and minds of
everyone.
Once the devotee knows who his master is, he should

stick to Him, have patience, perseverance, and
develop purity, trust and surrender. One should also
expect great purity, love, compassion, wisdom,
55
spiritual strength, fortitude and grace from the

Satguru. Know that it is a two way relationship
always. You purify yourself and develop devotion for
the Divine, and He showers grace on you that will
move you in the direction of Self-realization.
25
It has come to My attention that many of My

devotees are leaving Me in favor of other living
gurus. This is not right. I have told you that it is of no
use to dig many shallow holes looking for water. To
find water you must dig one hole very deep. Now
that you have been with Me and know Me to some
extent, you should not move away from this name
and form of God. Moving to another name and form,
another guru in human form, may delay your
progress. Why? As you have been looking to Me for
some time, I have been looking to you. I have been
scrutinizing you, knowing all about you in detail. I
am familiar with you, and you with Me. There is
already a bond established, and this is beneficial for
you, for your spiritual progress. When you go to a
new guru, a guru who may not be a true Satguru,
who therefore cannot help you that much, the process
of developing a deep relationship will have to begin
anew. You may believe it will be better for you to
have a guru who is living in a body, but this is not
56
true. You still have to go beyond the form to discover

the Atma. You still have to attach yourself to a new
form and then become detached later. There are a lot
of mundane worldly distractions around a guru in
physical form that have nothing to do with God
realization. All the moving around from place to
place which often happens as a guru is usually
invited to many places can be distracting. Getting
involved with the personalities and stories of many
new devotees you would meet when you come to a
new guru, and also the time wasted getting the new
relationship with guru established, getting to know
his ways and expectations take time and are
distracting. All gurus do not use the same approach.
When you have been with the Poorna Avatar, the

Guru of gurus, it is not a wise decision to move to a
new guru just because he or she is in a physical body.
The work you need to do is inner work, not outer
work. That is, you need to work on yourself to purify,
discriminate correctly, do spiritual practice and serve
the society if possible. I am telling you these things so
you do not waste time, and also not become
disappointed that you have not progressed, but may
even regress in Atmic awareness. The decision is of
course yours. I always wish the best for all beings. I
am willing to work with you to the extent that you
are willing to work with Me. I am always available to
My devotees for their spiritual uplift and Atmic
awareness.
57
26
I am always looking out for your welfare. That is,

when you turn to Me in a concerted way seeking
spiritual uplift, I help you. This is what I love to do;
help aspirants evolve to higher levels of
consciousness, awareness, as they purify themselves
through self inquiry, spiritual knowledge and other
types of spiritual practice whereby unconditional
love is brought to the forefront of their existence.
It has come to My attention that My devotees do not

like to constantly chant the name of God. They think
that it interferes with their work, their talk, their
activities. I advise My devotees to take this name
chanting up again. It is more beneficial to your
vibration than you realize. Chanting the name of God
counters the negative vibrations you meet in the
workplace and in the world at large. It is very
important to keep your energy vibration high in
order to raise yourself to higher levels of ascension
and awareness. Otherwise you will not progress
spiritually when your energy remains the same or
takes a dip. You may keep a recording of the
chanting of the Divine name and bhajans in your
office, workplace and home to keep the energy
vibrations high around you. When you work all day
in a place of negative or lower vibrations, they seep
into your energy bodies, perhaps unknown to you. So
please be vigilant about this matter, and keep the
58
Divine Name with you at all times for your

purification and uplift.
Another matter that I wish to discuss with you is

that of meditation. Now that you no longer take My
darshan in India, it is important for you to
concentrate, contemplate, and meditate on Me. Start
by concentrating on My form or the form of God dear
to you. At the same time contemplate on all the
aspects of this form, the glory, beauty, Divine
qualities, memories of loving interaction, etc. As you
remain with this contemplation for some time, eyes
closed, you will move into the formless Atma that is
the Essence, the Truth of the form. It will take some
time sitting in silence to move from the Lord with
form to the formless, but it is well worth the time. Let
this practice become effortless, so that there is no
striving on your part, just simple witnessing and
feeling of love and peace, while you are
contemplating. In a flash you will move into the
formless. It happens automatically without effort, as
you remain very still, gently witnessing the Lord in
your mind, having transcended body consciousness.
Practice is the key. As you become formless within
yourself, you merge with the formless Lord of your
heart.
59
27

devotees have not understood some of My Essential
Teachings. It is necessary that you understand so you
will practice properly and not fall behind due to
misunderstanding. Which Teachings? I will tell you.
When I said that all are one, I meant that the Atma is
the all pervasive Truth in and around all beings. I did
not mean to say that all are the same. All
manifestations are not the same. What do I mean?
Human beings are at differing levels of evolution.
That is to say, the consciousness in each being is at a
different level. Consciousness of what?
Consciousness of Divinity and manifestation of
Divinity through that being. So, though all are one
from the standpoint of Atma through the Eyes of
God, all are not one in the quality of the
manifestation of Divinity on earth, in the world of
duality. This is why I ask My devotees to keep the
company of those beings who are manifesting more
of Divinity through their thoughts, words and
actions. Their energy vibration is purer, higher, and
being in their company will be good for you to raise
your vibration. Do you see? If you keep the company
of rough, negatively thinking, speaking, and acting
beings, your vibration is likely to be lowered, unless
you have a lot of protective energy around you. So
please be vigilant about this.
60
Some of you have chosen to work in negative

environments such as prisons, court rooms, slums,
etc. Be sure to call for protective energy at different
times throughout the day, chant God's Names, and
maintain a positive, loving attitude remembering
God. I have told you, "All are one, be alike to
everyone." However you must use discrimination. Be
polite, respectful, kind and helpful without putting
yourself in harm's way, remembering God is in
everyone as their source and substance. This does not
mean that you invite everyone you meet to your
home or give them sums of money. You must know
that some people carry very negative energy, and can
be dangerous to be around. I have also said, "Tell me
your company and I will tell you what you are". So
keep the company of the holy, those interested to
know and be one with God. Be in the world but not
of it. Your body is in the world; you work in the
world. But as much as you can, keep your
consciousness in God consciousness and try to see
the One that is in all.
28
There is another Teaching of Mine that is not clearly

understood by some devotees. When I said that you
should always speak softly and sweetly, I did not
mean to be too meek and weak. Sometimes it is
61
necessary to put some strength into the voice so that

others know you mean what you say. Don't shout.
However, a slight and firm raising of the tone will
indicate that you are firm, and others need not argue
with you. You need to maintain your credibility to
some extent. If you appear to be always too soft and
faint, others may think you are weak and try to take
advantage of you. So be firm and strong in your
beliefs and faith, without appearing aggressive and
rude.
Another misunderstanding is about the nature of

detachment. What do I teach about detachment? I
teach you to discriminate between God, the Atma
and what is false. Be detached from the false. What is
false? All forms, all bodies, of people, animals, plants,
minerals, etc. All thoughts, words, emotions, feelings,
conditioning. All things.
Pay attention to the words of the Satguru and the

sacred scriptures, knowing they are pointers to the
Truth that is beyond words. So detachment is not
getting attached to what is transient and fleeting. You
may love it as a manifestation of God, seeing the
beauty and majesty of God in it, such as the sun,
beautiful people, animals and flowers, etc, but don't
be attached to anything except God the Eternal Truth.
What else does detachment mean? If someone you
love has died, the body has died, and the person is no
more, do not feel that your life is over. Feel sad and
grieve if you must, but see your feelings as transient.
62
Become detached from your feelings as soon as

possible, remain in equanimity, and come back to a
positive sense of contentment. Detachment is not
bothering too much with that which is certain to
disintegrate and disappear in time. Be detached from
your own body, thoughts and emotions. See them as
passing clouds. Detachment will lead you to a state of
deep peace, serenity, contentment, equal love toward
all. Equal love? Yes, in realizing all is the
manifestation of the One Atma, and that one Atma is
manifesting through every form. The Atmic radiation
manifesting in and through beings is the main reason
for the great amount of variation in the world.
29
I have told you many times that God is love, so live

in love. Many devotees have a difficult time with this
advice. Why? Until you become God this is very
difficult to perfect. I meant for you to have love as the
basis for your thoughts, words and actions. But what
if, for example, your son yells at you disrespectfully?
How do you respond to him with love in your
thoughts, words and actions? You do not think about
yourself in this instance. You think about what is best
for your son. You must take him aside to speak to
him in private. Tell him that speaking in this manner
to elders and to anyone in fact is not acceptable. He
should not use those words or that tone ever again.
63
Get his compliance for this. Get him to agree that he

will not. Then ask him if something is bothering him;
why he was disturbed. Together try to find a solution
to the problem. Speak firmly, though respectfully. Let
him know that you will not tolerate such behavior
again; and if it happens again there will be
repercussions. If he has a problem about something,
he should ask to speak with you, his mother, in a
respectful way, and you will always be there to help
him.
What I have described to you is a way to be loving

yet masterful and in control, using your voice and
authority. No one should be denounced or trampled
upon. If others are involved in the problem such as
school mates, teachers, other family members, there
should be no negative judgments or words about
them. One must be very careful and discriminating
with words so as not to offend others even in their
absence. Let the incident be dealt with as quickly and
as clearly as possible, and then resume normal
relationships. It is best that once the message has
been conveyed, and the lesson learned, everyone
forgives and forgets, not mentioning again, unless the
infringement occurs again. Forgiving and forgetting
is being loving. People make mistakes. After the
lesson is learned, put it behind you and do not repeat
the same mistake again.
Being loving is not always about hugging and

kissing. Being loving is about acknowledging and
64
maintaining one's own and another's dignity and

respect as Divine Beings. You do this with kindness,
a smile, a nod, a loving hand on the arm or shoulder,
respectful, kind words, etc. The other can know and
feel your love is there without any hidden motive or
expectation of return. It is Divine Love, Atma to
Atma, from God to God. What is not love? Anger,
shouting, screaming, demanding, controlling others,
not giving psychological space to others, not
respecting boundaries, hate, greed, lust, jealousy, are
not love. Not speaking and acting in a kind, caring
way with family members and friends or with any
being is unloving.
30
In many years past it was the habit of people to

remember God in many different ways. For example,
when they awoke in the morning they would pray
that the new day would be auspicious for them and
for everyone. And they themselves would make
efforts to be auspicious to others; that is, loving, kind
and helpful. People would pray for their families and
friends on a regular daily basis in their prayer rooms
and altars in their homes. I am mainly speaking here
about the billion plus people who live in India. But
there are and have been pious people in all countries
who think of God and pray to and worship God
65
many times throughout the day. Some people

reading this may ask, Well, if India is such a
spiritual country, why is it so poor and lacking in so
many necessities of life? Doesn't God hear and
answers their prayers?" There is not a quick and easy
answer for these questions. However, Indian people
have not and do not pray only for material wealth
and items for themselves and family. They pray for
the progress and happiness of the entire world and
its peoples. Many Indians, as well as those from other
nationalities and religions may be poor materially
compared to western countries, but most who are
religious and spiritual in the way I am describing
have a simplicity and purity to their lives that fosters
faith and trust in a Higher Power, as well as inner
happiness, love and sharing. Love, happiness and
sharing is what life is all about. From this simplicity
and purity of living, one comes to know unity- the
One Spirit in all things, animate and inanimate.
When unity is known, experienced, then knowledge
of one God is there also in one's awareness. So I am
suggesting that devotees simplify their lives as much
as possible. When you believe that you are
God/Atma, and this awareness in its fullness is what
you are seeking, you need very little in the way of
material items. Too many material things distract
your mind and take your energy. Keep on
eliminating things; give them away to those who
need them. Live with the basics. Like the simple
pious people of India and other countries, be
prayerful throughout the day, not only asking but
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also blessing others, and having gratitude. I have said

that hands that help are holier than lips that pray. So
also help where ever you can. If you live only for
yourself, you will not know the expansiveness and
boundlessness of God. See others as yourself. Rid
yourself mentally and physically of clutter. You want
the spaciousness and freedom of God, so keep your
mind and living space also free and spacious. Be
simple and sincere and you will attain to the Truth
that will set you free.
31

devotees are not chanting My Name as they used to.
They think somehow that I cannot hear and I do not
know. It is the name of God that connects you with
Me. If you do not say My Name, how do you expect
to connect with Me? Saying My Name all day long
keeps Me connected to your Atma/Mind, and
confers extra grace on you for Self realization. Do not
give up on this. It is unwise to give the mind full
reign after you have done so much sadhana (spiritual
practice), and achieved a level of purity of
consciousness. Protect this purity by keeping the
Divine Name on your tongue and in your heart.
Picture Me swinging in your heart as a reminder for
you.
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Hopefully by now you are aware that I turn My

attention to you the moment you call. Though I am
very busy attending to many acts of service and
uplift, My attention and power are always at My
command. So continue to keep the faith and
confidence that your God, Satguru Sai Baba is here
for you always. Keeping a nearness to Me in the
mind and heart is important to have My
instantaneous Grace in times of grave difficulties.
However, you can still call My Name and I will be
there to act accordingly.
There is yet another pitfall I wish to speak about for

your benefit so you will know to avoid it. It is that of
feeling guilty for your errors and mistakes in the past
and present. Never carry guilt because it serves no
purpose. It is ego. You are judging yourself or
allowing others to judge you. Who are you? You are
the blemishless, pure Atma. It happens sometimes
that when you are moving towards this awareness of
Atma, that all is Atma that you forget and mistakenly
hurt someone, act or speak in an immoral way, etc.
Immediately tell yourself that you see you made a
mistake. You did not intend to; you did not know
something would turn out the way it did as a result
of something you said or did. Immediately repent
and forgive self and others if need be. Learn the
lesson so it is not repeated again. Be vigilant always.
Try to do the right thing always. Do what is good,
speak what is good, and think what is good, then you
will have no problems. Your conscience will be clear
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and pure. Guilt means that you have judged and

condemned yourself. You need not do that. No one is
guilty. Only in the false dream of body, mind, ego
has the idea of guilt been used. You are an extension,
a part of God made like God. God cannot be guilty
and neither can you. If you feel a mistake has been
made due to ignorance of your true Self, take note
and then forget about it. Also forget others mistakes.
Live in love and forgiveness. Forgive yourself for
thinking that you or any child of God could be guilty.
32
Please do not ask Me for anything material. I have

come to give you the Grace of liberation, to release
your soul from bondage. If you are truly with Me,
joining with Me in consciousness at every
opportunity, there is no need to ask. Pray for Love,
Light, and Peace; that you be filled with these. Then
you will be able to help uplift others by giving to
them from your fullness. How? In your spirit mind
envelop others in your Love. Light, and Peace and
they will feel, receive, and benefit from these gifts on
some level. You are to share your gifts with all who
need them, through your prayers that all become
aware of the Divinity within and around. Once you
have filled yourself with My Peace, Love, and Light,
you may embrace as many as possible, the whole
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world in fact. This does not cost a penny, is not

material. It is giving God to God. This is what people
need today; the awareness that God is immanent
everywhere in the world; that all belong to God.
It is true that living beings need food, water and

shelter. If you can, give these also to those who need
them. God knows everything. He also knows what is
Truth and what is false. Living life as only
mind/body/ego is a dream in God's Vision. Those
who live the dream of ego-based life and forget God,
God leaves alone. They reap the karma good and bad
of their past thoughts, words and actions; that is, they
reap what they have sown. Whatever seeds they have
planted, those seeds will grow into plants, not any
other seeds. So plant the seeds of love and
compassion and knowledge of Truth, so these are
what you will harvest, receive or experience. As you
give to others, so will you receive. Do you think God
has caused so many on the earth to live without
necessities? No, not at all. It is the result of one's own
karma, what man has done to his fellow man, and
due to apparent separation from and disbelief in a
loving Higher Power. This is a simplified version of
what causes suffering in the world. There are many
other factors involved such as one's life plan, karma
owed to others, tests, lessons and too much desire.
Suffice it to say that when the Soul/Atma sincerely
attempts to join with its Creator and Likeness, basic
needs are provided for without asking. So I ask you
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to pray for Peace, Love and Light for yourself and the
world and cultivate these within.
33
You see all is not as it seems. When you are true to

your heart, you will experience all the way it truly is.
The heart knows, the mind thinks it knows. So when
you wish to know the Truth, defer to your heart,
away from the habitually thinking mind. The mind
cannot take you very far toward Truth. Truth is in the
heart; seek it there not in the outer world. How?
Mainly by meditation and self-inquiry. The grace of
God and the Satguru which are the same can help
immensely to realize Truth. Do not think you can
achieve God realization on your own. That is an ego
trap. The ego cannot destroy the ego. It is not
possible. A higher transcendental reality must be
realized that can see the ego for what it is- a
pretender though it believes itself to be real and true.
So pray to know the Higher Truth, the Higher Self,
that can see the ego self, the body and
thinking/desire mind for what they are; that is, false
and temporary. It is absolutely essential to develop
the Higher Consciousness. Where is it? From whence
does it come? It is an aspect of your Soul, your Atma
that knows who you really are.
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When you go within yourself seeking to know

Soul/Atma, and ask the essential questions, and ask
for the essential knowledge, it will be given to you.
You may find this knowledge in sacred texts, but you
will not feel fulfilled until you experience within
yourself that which is spoken about by Self realized
saints and avatars. So go within as often as possible
and sit or lie quietly with the questions in the form of
sincere prayer. Do this again and again. Ask to be
shown, to feel and know the Divine Truth you are
seeking. Have love and passion in your being for this
sacred knowledge. Make this seeking the major part
of your life's quest and meaning. Spend time for it.
Become a sincere seeker of Truth during all of your
days and nights. You will not be denied this
knowledge and experience. Realize that time is God
given to you just for this purpose. To find your Self
and wake up from the dream of worldly life; to see it
for what it really is; a mixture of Truth and untruth.
When you know this you are free from bondage.
34
If you look at Me what do you see? A body form? Do

you see anything else? With your inner vision you
may see My Love, Peace, My Awareness. These
originate from the heart; all Divine qualities originate
from the heart. They do not originate from outside of
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you. It is exceedingly important for you to realize

this. Everything valuable comes from within you. So
wouldn't it make sense to spend more time searching
within to become aware of the treasures within the
heart? And when you become aware of them, to
cultivate and practice them more and more. Here I
am talking about Peace and unconditional Love,
which are the state of Being of the heart. Acceptance,
kindness, equanimity all originate from the heart. So
the world peace that human beings would like to
settle upon the world must come from within each
person's heart. A choice must be made from within
the heart in compliance with the mind to value peace
and be peace. You are each peace in your true Atmic
Self. So fighting for peace is useless. It is much more
effective to practice peace, and teach others how to
find the peace within themselves, through
purification, meditation and trust in the words of
sacred scriptures, as well as lives of saints and
avatars. Join a meditation group or spiritual
organization that values and cultivates peace and
love as essential values for humankind.
Of course, the members of the Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Organization practice Truth, Righteousness, Peace,
Love and Non-violence as the pillars of human life
and essential for transformation of the human to the
Divine level. I help all of them with this
transformation into Divinity with My Grace through
My Omniscience, Omnipresence and Omnipotence.
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Just as Jesus Christ claimed to be, I am also the Way

and the Life for all who accept Me and cling to Me as
their God. Just as Jesus realized on earth that he and
the Father are one, so too My devotees will realize
that they are one in Me. I am the Father, Mother God
Who took a human form named Bhagavan Sri Sathya
Sai Baba in order to bring My devotees home to Me,
reestablish Dharma (Righteousness) on earth and
avert the destruction of the planet by unrighteous
forces.
35
I have told you many times that I am prepared to

hold your hand, that is, remain with you during your
ascension to oneness with God. The term ascension
also means decension of God into matter. What do I
mean? Matter can and will become Divinized. Your
body can and will become full of high vibrational
energy, so that the Atma and body become one. Then
you will be a manifestation of God on earth in form.
All of your thoughts, words and actions will be
Divine, having no ego sense. And I am with you to
help make this happen. How? By overshadowing you
with My Divine consciousness and energy, sending
high vibrational energy into your energy matrix, thus
raising your consciousness/energy. You go through
this transformation of mind/body. At the end of this
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process you may declare, Yes, I know I am God; I

am Sai".
So it is your job to remove the obstacles as much as

you can and ask Me, God, to help you where you are
having difficulty. The main obstacles as we have been
discussing, are the ego sense that all you are is a
separate body/mind complex; the idea of "me and
mine"; many psychological types of conditioning that
have been attached to the pure Atmic consciousness
that you are in Truth; the realization that the world as
people know it is unreal and a projection of the mind.
These are some of the main obstacles to Self
realization. Spiritual practice is to remove these false
mental constructs and uncover the Truth that you
truly are.
Are there more pitfalls? There are so many, gross and

subtle that could come around and present
themselves to you. For example, when you dine in a
restaurant, an old vasana to eat meat or consume
alcohol could arise in you as you see people around
you doing so. You consume these items and enjoy
them. Then again and again you give into these
temptations and before long you have lost your
resolve to consume pure food and drink. Meat affects
your energy vibration and alcohol is not conducive to
a pure, alert intellect or buddhi, nor to concentration,
contemplation and meditation.
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Another example: You attend a party where there are

a lot of people who speak negatively about the world
situation, politicians, having generally doomsday
attitudes about the world and its future. They are
fully caught up in the dream/illusion that the world
as it presents itself is the solid Truth. They express
fear, judgment and other types of negative talk and
feeling. You begin to be mentally drawn into it,
unable to maintain the perspective of Atma as the
reality. You begin to lose your feelings of love, peace
and equanimity. Your mind/consciousness is
affected by the words and images the words conjure
in your mind. You begin to believe the world is real
rather than a dream projected by the mind of the
multitudes who believe the world to be Truth.
So you see you must protect your developing
awareness of Truth until it becomes strong by
keeping the company of those like-minded persons
who are also working to purify their thoughts, words
and actions, and thus experience unity consciousness
and Divinity. You need to protect your energy. How?
Keep a protective bubble of pure white light around
your body/mind/soul that will prevent lower
vibrations from entering. By keeping your inner and
outer environments clean and pure, by chanting and
hearing the names and qualities of God daily. There
are many different ways to keep your energy
vibration high. You may have noticed that saints and
sages, all types of holy people live in simple, clean
places often in the midst of nature. Nature is pure,
minus the pollution created by humans. The
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consciousness of trees, animals, rivers and oceans is

pure; so nature offers an ideal habitat for humans to
live. Saints and sages often live in isolated areas away
from cities. In this way they easily protected their
energy, as well as having the pristine energy of
nature around them. Today it is more difficult for
devotees to live in purity. But they can establish a
pure environment in their homes and at work by
chanting inwardly and practicing the five values of
Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Love, and Non violence
at all times, remembering God, practicing non
judgment, and thinking, speaking, and doing only
what is good and beneficial.
36
It is just when you think that you have arrived that

you see where there is still more work to do on
yourself. Don't be deceived by experiences that lead
you to believe you are Self-realized. Experiences are
passing clouds whereas Self-realization is a
permanent state that will not be lost. How do you
know when you are Self-realized? I will tell you.
When you see yourself in everything and everywhere
as the Atma. The One God that is and was never
separated into parts called souls and jivatmas. You
are Self realized when you know experientially that
there is one Truth and you are That, and that the
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changing forms are not Truth. As a Self realized

being you are God and carry the qualities of God
such as universal love, deep peace, supreme wisdom,
everlasting contentment, complete freedom,
compassion and more. These are the qualities to look
for in a spiritual teacher or guru. If she/he does not
exhibit such qualities, stay away. He won't be of
much use to you.
These qualities are already within you in the deepest

part of yourself which isn't so deep. It depends on
how much accumulation and conditioning you have
held onto. It may seem to you that you cannot find
your true Self, but it is really very near to you. Your
True self is within and behind the mind and intellect.
It is often not enough to quiet the mind and intellect
to reveal the Atmic Presence. Often the ideas that one
is the body, the doer and enjoyer, the sense of
ownership 'me and mine', are thick layers on the
consciousness blocking awareness of Atma. Also,
emotions, feelings and ideas connected to greed,
anger, lust, and jealousy further cover awareness of
Self. So even when the thinking mind is relatively
quiet, there are still layers of dross, of conditioning
that block awareness of Atma. That is why I tell you
purification is important to Self-realization.
Some people have no luck in meditation for the

above reasons. However, when purification, prayer
and meditation are combined in the life of the
aspirant, there will eventually develop awareness of
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Atma. For some aspirants the best approach is to do

selfless service to society, offering the actions to God,
as well as practicing and seeing God in everyone. In
this way the sense of ego, body consciousness, me
and mine, personal sense of doer-ship and enjoyer-
ship, and evil qualities will diminish and disappear.
There should be no ego in serving God in man. Feel
God is in you loving and caring for all His
manifestations. Try to sense the Spirit in all beings
and get the conviction that this is the unchanging
Truth that will set you and all others free from
bondage. Of course others have to realize Truth for
themselves, but you can reflect it to them through
your selfless love, so they may recognize their own
Divine Self in you.
37
It has come to My notice that many devotees do not

know the meaning, nor how to integrate some
Teachings into their lives. For example, some
devotees are confused about how to integrate My
Teaching, Love all serve all. The problem is with the
word 'love' and the word 'all' when used together. To
some minds it seems impossible to love all; especially
people who are evil, nasty and hurtful. How to love
them? Love them from a distance with your mind.
How? First realize that the same Divinity resides in
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them as in you and all beings. They also have body,

mind, intellect, etc., as you do. Their soul, Atma, is
one with God as is yours. And life is a dream, an
illusion, when you believe you are just a body, mind,
ego subject to birth and death. So called evil, nasty
people are exhibiting distorted qualities, through
speech and actions due to their ignorance about the
basic reality as Spirit, and due to very negative past
experiences, conditioning, beliefs, etc. Lord Jesus said
to forgive them for they know not what they do. It
may seem that they know what they do when they
perform an evil action, but it is the false conditioning,
the false ideas and beliefs about life that are driving
them to think, say and do what they do. How to love
them? Do not condemn, criticize, or abhor them in
your mind. Keep a neutral stance. It is the way it is in
the moment, every moment. If you can, pray for their
welfare and uplift, surrounding them with Gods
love and light. Feel compassion for their plight. They
are looking for love in all the wrong places. They
abhor themselves, feel tremendous guilt, and are
trapped, not knowing the way to begin to change nor
have the moral, spiritual strength to change. They
desperately need your love to know who they truly
are Atma.
I am not suggesting that you keep the company of

such people, but try to have understanding in your
mind and compassion in your heart. Some people
have traveled a long way from their True Self, Atma,
in the dream of ego life, though they are still one with
80
God in Truth, as Atma, and have gone no where. So

love with your mind, your heart. If you have
opportunities to help others without putting yourself
in harms way do so. Always protect your energy by
visualizing and affirming Divine Light around you
and in you.
Love is mind to mind, Atma to Atma. You manifest it

through your words and actions in relationship with
others. Love cannot be forced but it can be cultivated.
Through purification the way is opened for it to
manifest through the body and mind. Loving all
means not hurting anyone with your thoughts, words
or actions. Love all because all are essentially Divine,
even though the physical body is subject to decay
and dissolution.. The ones you love are not the body,
mind, ego they may believe they are. They are the
Atma; love the Atma and you are loving God the Self
in all beings. Then you may realize yourself as the
Self of the universe.
38
As I have told you, it does not matter where you live,

which religion you profess, what job you do, what
language you speak. These are all superficial, related
to the transient physical body and mind. You must
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transcend this conditioning and remain as the pure

Atmic consciousness to know oneness of Spirit.
Now another Teaching that may cause devotees to

feel confused. When I say that devotees should
maintain silence, I do not mean that you should not
speak in order to do your job, talk to your spouse or
children, etc. Speak when you need to convey
information, to promote understanding, etc. But talk
for the sake of talk, gossip about others, and negative
talk is to be given up. Often people talk not for any
useful reason or cause, but because silence makes
them feel uneasy, and also because the mind is totally
untrained and allowed to blurt out and ramble on
with anything that comes to it. There is no master
present to control the mind and discern what needs
to be said, and what is not necessary to speak. Birds
of a feather flock together. Those that are used to
speaking out anything that comes to mind will
usually keep the company of like-minded people.
Devotees are not to be like this. Devotees are
expected to be masters of their minds, that is, their
thoughts, feelings and speech. I have advised
devotees to speak what is good, kind useful and
truthful. If it is impure, dirty, unkind, false, useless,
nonsense, and does not improve upon the sacred
silence, do not speak it. If someone in your company
is speaking such kind of words, you need not
continue such conversation. However, often it is
necessary for you to speak. You as a master must
decide whether to or not and use all your intelligence
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and discernment. Do not speak out of ego self

enhancement that you are special, better in some way
than others; don't speak from your pride, boasting;
don't talk about yourself and your stuff. Don't share
your private family and financial matters with others
in a casual way. Keep these matters private within
your family. So you see there may not be a lot to talk
about. It is good. Keep the mind pure and empty or
filled with thoughts of God, His qualities, glory, the
nature of Self-realization, etc. I hope you now
understand what I meant by keeping silent, and not
wasting time and energy on what is non essential to
Self-realization, living in and as God, while in this
world of name and form.
39
Please realize that your salvation, your realization is

up to you. The Satguru walks with you, inspires and
guides you, but you must walk the path with
earnestness, following, and practicing the guidance
and Teachings to the best of your ability. That is all
you need do. If you have constant commitment and
earnestness, and the intellect to understand the
Teachings, you will progress well. I guarantee it.
Though do not be in a hurry. Hurry and striving is
ego. It is the false personality trying to get
somewhere and get something. Relax and just "Be" as
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much as possible. And consciously dedicate all

thoughts, words and actions to the Divine. Don't do
this hurriedly; rather do it consciously with
awareness and understanding of what you are doing,
feeling the higher Power within your mind and body.
I have said, Hurry makes worry, and haste makes
waste". When you believe and realize you are the
unchanging, permanent reality, Being, Awareness,
there is no longer any point to rush and hurry. Slow
down, relax, enjoy; Be yourself, the eternal
Awareness.
People hurry and rush because they believe there is

not enough time. They live with their minds and
bodies in the ego world of time and space. But you
are the eternal Self. I am not saying to waste time
either. In your job, work at a steady pace. If you rush
too much you may lose awareness that you are
Awareness, and become lost in the maya that
suggests you are a limited body/mind/ego complex.
Striving takes you into the ego idea that you are the
doer, that you need to makes things happen. Are you
still in the dream? Are you lost in the dream? Look
and see. Give up striving and just "Be". Watch and do
what needs to be done with the Awareness that you
are the watcher, fearless, peaceful, and loving.
Whenever you catch yourself rushing, hurrying,
striving, just stop for a few moments and clear your
mind and emotions. Quiet your body and go back to
being the Watcher, with acute, serene Awareness.
Affirm that you are a Being and not a doing. The
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body does action but you are a distant onlooker. I

hope these words help you to understand that
spiritual aspirants must gradually get off the wheel of
owning doer-ship, by dedicating it or realizing the
Divine shakti does everything. You will gradually
move into Atmic Awareness as your reality, a state
where there is no rush or hurry. It just, "Is",
peacefully the same always; of the nature of stillness
and silence.
40
Just because you have been on the spiritual path for

decades and many lives does not mean you are
nearing the destination. Some people take a
meandering, circuitous route due to desires and
attachments and too much investment in the outer
world. Perhaps they have also misinterpreted the
Teachings so have not been applying themselves
properly to the task. Or they did not have a proper
teacher who led them astray, with whom they did not
make good progress. For so many reasons devotees
delay their progress.
Today I wish to speak about the role of relationships

in terms of spiritual progress. Relationships in your
life are there for many reasons. The most important
reason is so you can see yourself in others. What do I
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mean? I am talking about your true Self, Atma, as

well as your projected ego self. First I will talk about
the projected ego self. What is it? It is the false dream
self whereby you identify yourself as a separate
body/personality with a specific name, form,
address, nationality, religion (or not), and all types of
characteristics, beliefs, and conditioning including
anger, jealousy, greed, hate, selfishness, etc. It is often
true that what you see in another is your mental
projection, showing you what is also in yourself, your
false self. For example, when someone you know
does not look at you or speak to you, when you pass
them on the street, you may immediately project
certain ideas onto this occurrence such as, She is
mean, uncaring, and stuck-up"; or, "She does not care
about me; there is no friendship between us." You
must look inside yourself to see where you are or
have been mean, uncaring, and stuck-up with
yourself or others; where you do not care about
certain others or yourself: also where you have not
been in friendship with yourself or others at times.
When you understand your projections, that they are
your own, belong to you and no one else, you can let
them go. Also develop understanding, acceptance
and love for those aspects that have been unaccepted
and unloved by you, whether in yourself or others.
This is your inner work in your own psychological,
and need not be talked about with others.
So all relationships can show you something about
yourself, positive or negative. They can show you
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about your attachments also; where you have to let

go or accept things the way they are.
I have said that the world is reflection, reaction and

resound. So another use of relationships is to see how
you are reacting to what others do and say. Are your
thoughts, words and actions pure and loving when
you are reacting or interacting with others? Or do
you sometimes have negative reactions and resounds
(words)? They are often about you not about the
other. You choose how to react from the purity or
impurity of your mind/consciousness, in alignment
or mis-alignment with Sathya, Dharma, Shanti,
Prema, and Ahimsa (Truth, Righteousness, Peace,
Love, and Non-violence). So relationships offer a way
for you to see how you are doing on the spiritual
path.
Relationships also offer an opportunity to see God in

the other person. Do you see another as part of
yourself, a child of God, or do you see only the
ego/personality/body of the person? If you see your
Self as Atma/Spirit, you will see the other the same
way. You must be grounded in Being, the I Am
Presence to see it in others. If you see yourself as only
an individual ego self, you will project this onto
others. So purification of the consciousness/
mind/heart is essential to see God/Atma every
where. All are one Atma. Do unto others as you
would have others do unto you, said Lord Jesus.
Then relationships have more chance to be
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harmonious, loving and Divine. So use relationships

to know yourself, purify yourself, and to know God.
41
You need not be surprised if you hear that I have

appeared in a specific place for a specific purpose. I
have a plan to visit devotees more in the future in
form, to encourage, uplift and guide them. So be
prepared for My appearances. How? Keep a list of
questions in your mind you may ask Me, and
maintain inner and outer cleanliness and purity. You
may pray to Me to visit you but expect nothing.
Leave everything to Me. I know most of you would
love to see Me again in form, and I would love to
make you happy.
Now I wish to talk about another difficulty aspirants

sometimes have. It has to do with understanding
some of My Teachings. When I said that you should
help ever hurt never, I did not mean that you must
always be out in the world doing charity work for the
less fortunate. It is good to help others when you
have the time. When I said to help ever I meant that
you should not cause problems for others, not disturb
and upset them by any of your words and actions. I
also meant that you should think, speak and act in a
positive, up lifting manner so that others feel
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benefited by your presence, not dragged down. It is

not possible to be always lending a helping hand to
others. You need time to sleep, rest, do your job, and
look after the needs of family members at times, and
so on. So, by helping ever I meant for you to be
loving, and also helpful where ever possible, not
hurting anyone with your thoughts, words or actions.
It has been said that hands that help are holier than
lips that pray. I did not mean that you should not
pray. Prayer is very important. By all means pray for
the well-being and spiritual uplift of others. The best
prayer though is to surround others with My Light,
Love and Peace, even groups of people, countries,
and the planet earth. The more of this kind of prayer
the better, as the earth and its inhabitants need much
positive energy to counteract the abundance of
negative energy that permeates this planet. Of course
hands that help without ego-sense, and offer the
results to God, are holy. The idea here is that it is not
enough to sit and pray; the world needs your help in
the form of action also. Do both and you will have
fulfilled your purpose for being on earth. I bless you
that you take up both prayer and work to uplift your
brothers and sisters unto the Light and Love Divine.
89
42
My Dear devotees, I hope you have benefited by My

Words to you through My very dear devotee,
Catherine. She is My Life and breath and she knows
it. I certainly hope that you will avoid pitfalls and
distractions as you walk the path Divine, and reach
Self-realization sooner rather than later. Why to
waste time? Of course when you realize the Self, you
are eternal. But before that realization, you have a
limited life's sojourn here on planet earth with a
body, living amid multitudinous forms.
It is My hope that you all reach Self realization in this

birth; if not you definitely will in the next birth in the
Presence of Prema Sai Baba, the next Sai incarnation.
However, do not idle your time now because I have
said this. It is not easy to achieve Self realization. It is
arduous, so work hard, be vigilant, and grow in
awareness and detachment.
Another pitfall to be wary of is that of identifying

with the illness or other state of your physical body
such as fatigue. You cannot say you are a diabetic, a
heart patient, or a cancer survivor. If you do you are
referring to the body and it's condition, not the Atma,
the Witness. So be careful here not to identify as a
body or your progress is delayed. When the body
goes, the affliction goes. However, you as
consciousness/awareness are still there. Also, when
90
the body feels tired you may say, "I am tired". The, "I
am", is never tired. So be vigilant and maintain the
correct awareness of what you truly are. You may
think it is impossible to carry on a conversation when
you speak the Truth from the Self. Indeed it is
difficult. There is often little to speak about. That is
why I ask you to maintain silence as much as possible
and concentrate on Me, the Atma, which is also your
Atma, the One Atma. Why remain mentally
immersed in the false? It leads nowhere. So maintain
the, "I am Presence," as much as you can, and
hopefully fulfill the purpose of human life.
43
As I bring these talks to a close there are a few more

things I wish to tell you. You are dearer to me than
you will ever know, My dear devotees. It is My hope
and desire that we will continue to travel the Path
together and that you will make progress to undo
and let go of what has been gathered and held onto
for ages past. It is time now to truly let go of all that
you think you are and have been. It may seem
fearful, but keep on going. I am here to support you
and guide you to the final goal.
91
I have said that life is a game, play it. You are the
knower, the seer, and your body/mind may have to
play a role a little longer. Do not involve yourself
with the role too much. Just do your best and leave
the rest . . . to Me. Yes, life is a dream game and God
is playing the role. There is only room for One in
Truth; this is why you must die to your lower self.
I have also said that life is a challenge, meet it. I have

been showing you some of the possible challenges to
Self realization. However, there are so many varied
challenges in life. Be vigilant and the witness, and do
not get drawn in to the extent that you lose yourself.
Do your best to meet the challenge retaining peace
and equanimity of mind, and have patience and
perseverance; then all will be well. All is well
anyway. You are always the eternal Self.
I have also said that life is love, live it. This is most
important; to live in love, in Atma. Then you will
always be blissful like Myself. So you can see, the
guidance is simple but the path is arduous. It all
depends on how you take it; how you react or
respond. The purer you are in mind and emotions,
the simpler will be your journey.
92
44
It is My great pleasure to tell you that there will be

another book soon in this series of channeled books
through My dear devotee Catherine. She has made
herself available to Me for this work and I am very
grateful to her. These channeled books are a way to
make My Grace, My Teachings available to all who
would avail themselves of them, take them to heart
and make use of them. I am always ready to speak to
My devotees, but there are few who can hear Me. I do
hope more will develop this gift of inner listening as
they purify their minds, bodies, and consciousness
more and more. Then they will hear My guidance
and Grace for them directly without the need of a
channel. However, My channel provides a great
service to devotees through conveying what I
wish to tell them in this manner. How is it that I
chose her? It was her destiny planned by Me long
ago.
You My devotees all have your destinies. Be open

and surrendered, and everything will manifest as it
was designed by Me. You need not plan; live in the
present moment and your life will unfold as it was
meant to. No more worries; no more striving; relax
and allow the Lord to work through you. All will be
taken care of. Do what you need to in the moment
and dedicate it to God. You are safe in the loving
arms of God; in the Oneness of Being, Awareness,
93
Bliss. So be at rest; this is what I wish you to know

and be.
45
These My latest talks have come to a close. Of course

I am always sharing My Wisdom and Guidance in
one way or another. I do hope you will read these My
Words over and over so you will not forget their
import. Their essence should become your essence.
My dear devotees, know that I am with you and will
never forsake you. That is guaranteed. I am you and
you are Me. As you purify and realize this, you will
be very, very happy, blissful and free. I am your
greatest well-wisher, your best friend. Depend on
Me; rely on Me. Claim Me as your own, and you will
realize the greatest fulfillment possible for a seeker of
Truth.
94

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What are some of the pitfalls discussed in avoiding spiritual progress?

What are some of the pitfalls discussed in avoiding spiritual progress?

What guidance is given on how to meet life's challenges?

What guidance is given on how to meet life's challenges?

Pitfalls on the Path

All rights including the rights to translate or to

First Edition, 2013 300 Copies

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

The Divine Mother

I began channeling this book entitled, Pitfalls on the

The previous book, Not Gone I Am Still Calling, began

Pitfalls on the Path

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

It has just come to My notice that you My devotees

Let us begin by discussing the most common ways

psychologically blocked and thus unable to receive.

So I am advising that you look at everything that

react negatively to an outside condition or

For a devotee, the work is to purify oneself so that the

unchanging and the witness. If you have offered

It is My great pleasure to again speak to you, this

more, spiritually. They are at a higher level of

I mention this to show you that it is detrimental for

encumbrances, and attachment to the physical form

Holding on to this negativity has stalled progress for

Just because I know and see everything, does not

Criticizing others goes against Dharma and Truth.

fault in them. You are associating your mind and

You may believe you are a do-gooder finding and

Another unhealthy practice is that of comparing

superior and the other inferior in your mind, and you

You may think that because the Satguru Himself is

Jewish religion or another group. Her stubbornness

Another common mistake is to see and label some

consciousness/mind interacting with the world of

When the devotee cannot hear the voice of the

simple examples, as did Lord Jesus, so seekers at

on with them is a way to develop your awareness,

God would wish you to choose Righteousness,

What if they are not? Right away in your mind

unrighteous action. Your conscience will let you

It is just a matter of time before you realize that you

journaling until all your doubts and questions are

Whether you feel trapped physically, spiritually, or

strength are also required so you can protect yourself

It is My great pleasure to again speak to you about

If you wish to try to fit in with these groups of people

Of course you must practice the five great values I

Try not to disturb or upset others with your talk.

As you know it is very difficult to judge how well

When you think you are not progressing well, that So

everything; unique past lives, karma, capacities and

It is My great pleasure to again be with you and

burst out in anger and retaliation. Neither of these

How does one acquire this strong self confidence

Through faith, you turn your mind, your thoughts

My dear devotees, in order to avoid troubles in life it

eternal bond with the Lord, the Creator that is so

So you can see that self sacrifice is essential to reach a