Sri Krishna

When God Says It's Time to Go

From Gautam Baiji's recent satsang

When we are growing up, we think, "Let me get an education. Let me graduate."

"Now I'm graduated, let me get a nice job." So you get a nice job.

After that, "Now I want to get married."

And then? Children.

Why? All these things are to get happiness. To get peace.

And then... you know the link, right?

After that, you want education and a nice job, but not for you. For your children.

Again... marriage. Again... (grand)children.

What next?...

And the reason for these things? Happiness and peace.

I'll get education, I'll get peace.
I'll get a job, I'll get peace.
I'll get married, I'll have peace.
I'll have kids, I'll have peace.
And again and again the circle continues...

Then the time come when God says, "My dear son/daughter, it's time to go."

Then we start thinking, "What should I take with me? Let me fill my bag."

When we travel, we feel like our pockets should be full. Money, credit cards, so we don't get stuck, or have to borrow money. So we're careful to make sure we have what we need so we will have peaceful traveling.

But when God is ready for us to travel, we cannot even take our own body.

So how could we take a bag?

We cannot fill the bag with children, with wife or husband, or with money (because that currency doesn't work there).

What will we be ready to bring?

In another satsang, Gautam Baiji said that just as we brought our past karma into this life, we would be bringing our current karma forward that we achieved in this life... but that is all. To whatever level we developed our soul, that alone would come with us on this trip, which begs the question, are we prepared? If not, what should we be doing?

"It Keeps My Soul Happy" - Reasons People Come to the Ashram

Why do you come to Divine Art of Yoga Center ashram? 

Melina: The baijis are everything I want to be in terms of radiating love and warmth that all humanity should radiate. I love being around them because they remind me to stay humble, and I always feel uplifted when I visit. It keeps my soul happy. 

You're Invited: An Evening of Classical Hindustani Music - August 21 at 4:30pm

What Are You Doing With Your Life, The Crown of All Creation?

~ Gautam Baiji gave this satsang last week ~

One day a man saw his Mahatmaji, who asked him:

"Why are you not coming to ashram? You used to come all the time, but now not so much."

The man said, "I don't have time. I have to do everything for my family," and he told him all the things he has to do.

The Mahatma said, "I'm not saying you shouldn't do those things - you definitely should take care of your family. That is your duty. But what are you doing for yourself?"

The man said, "I don't have that time for myself. I'm too busy with my family. Plus I have to attend events with relatives all the time. But one day I will get a chance, and I will do it for sure."

Mahatmaji asked him, "Who told you you will get a chance later?" 

We say things like this a lot: "When I retire, then I will have time." But ask people who are already retired how much meditation they are doing, how much time they are spending on themselves..."

We think, "When everything is done, then I will do meditation."

Will that happen? No. One day your life will be over, but your work will continue.

So the man said, "Mahatmaji, you don't have a family, so you don't understand all that I have to do. I simply do not have the time."

Mahatmaji said, "You know, you are working for them day and night. Do you think they will help you with your karma?

"Why not? If I'm helping them, of course they would help me too."

"Let's put it to the test," and the Mahatma gave him a technique to use.

So the man went home and asked his wife to make rice pudding for him. She did this and served it to him.

Soon after, he started complaining of stomach pains. It got worse and worse. "I think I'm dying!" the man said. (He was pretending.)

After moaning in pain for a while, he said, "When I was a young boy, I would get this same pain and the only person who had the medicine was one Mahatmaji. Please call him." Then he stopped breathing and passed out.

The wife was scared, and she immediately called the whole family there and got her son to fetch the Mahatma. When he arrived, he said:

"It's true that I have the only medicine that can cure him, but it comes with one condition: I need someone to volunteer to drink the medicine for him. It will kill that person, but your Dada will live - that is the only way. Who is ready?"

The grandmother said, "If I do it, who will take care of my husband. He needs me, so I cannot to do it."

The wife said, "Mahatmaji, I could do that because I love my husband, but my kids are very young. If I die, who is going to take care of them? Because of them, I cannot die."

The Mahatmaji said, "Will any of the kids drink it?"

The mother said, "No, how can you say that?"

"Okay, so no one's ready for that, so let me drink it," the Mahatma said.

"Oh Mahatmaji, thank you so much," the wife said. "Mahatmas come into this world to help others. You already sacrificed your life once, and now if you sacrifice it again, that would be great."

"We even promise that if you drink the medicine to save him, when you die we will make a nice temple for you. We'll put a statue of you there, and we'll pray every day. Thank God you met us."

The man then opened his eyes and sat up, showing everyone he was not sick at all. He heard everything and realized that even though he did everything for his family, they were looking out for themselves, as people typically do.

"Do everything you can for your family, but take time for yourself. Sit alone, think about yourself, ask 'What is my life's goal?'"

Why do I have this beautiful life?

The saints say this human life is the crown of all creation. What are we doing with it?

Meditate For Oneness

"It's a Feel-Good Environment" - Reasons People Come to the Ashram

Why do you come to Divine Art of Yoga Center ashram? 

Serina: The ashram opens my mind, enhances my spiritual life and is such a feel-good environment with good, uplifting vibes which I take with me even when I leave. Everyone who comes to the ashram is so loving, it truly feels like home. 

Gautam Baiji Asks For Just a Few Minutes a Day - Satsang About Meditation

We all are like candles.
You know how much power is in a candle
A candle looks very small, but when we light it, it dispels the darkness, gives us light, and with light, we can get whatever we want

So when we get together, we learn good things from each other
You are not learning only from baijis

Sometimes we all learn from each other

This universe is like a university
And when God made us, he put good things in everyone
Everyone has good skills to teach
Once we collect and learn that good knowledge, our life will become good

And wherever we go we will spread the goodness and knowledge
And that way, we can help society

Because sometimes we think we should do some kind of charity
We might make food, or give to poor and needy people

But when you give someone food this month, what happens next time?
The person will have hunger again
But you cannot feed them all the time

So the best thing is - we don't need to feed them fish
We need to show them how to catch the fish themselves

If we are in peace, we can spread the peace

It's like perfume - people will get whatever scent you are using

The same way - if we have peace, we can give peace to others

How can we do that?
Whenever we go to any church, any temple, we feel peace
We feel happiness because we are getting something

But you have to go to your job, you have to go to college, you have to go home
What will we do there?

How can we bring the peace we get from the ashram everywhere?
How can we maintain that?

We have to make a discipline in our life
We have to make a rule in our life
We give importance to many things,
But we have to give importance to meditation

If you meditate every day...
I'm not saying for one hour, or two hours, or more than that
Just a few minutes

That means we are recharging our battery
And you all know how the cell phone needs that
If it's charged, we can do whatever we want
We can take video, we can record bhajans, listen to songs
And we can enjoy the whole day if we recharge it

The same way we can recharge our life

(to be continued)