What Stopped You?

There was a movie called Castaway where a man was stranded on a remote island.

He wanted to get home to his wife, but there was an obstacle:

A giant, powerful wave sent him crashing to the rocks below, injuring him badly.

This defeats him for quite a while. He really wants to get rescued so he can get home, but the wave stops him. For a very long time.

In the movie, he finally makes it over that menacing wave, has other trials and tribulations, and then he's finally rescued. He would never have been rescued if he didn't conquer that first big wave.

That wave reminded me of how we let one thing stop us from following a dream.

Just one thing! Whether it's fear of rejection, fear we're not good enough, fear of the unknown, whatever.

It turns out that people who accomplish their dreams figure out that they don't have to be attached to their so-called "failures." Failures to them are just stepping stones.

I heard of a guy who wanted to start a candle business. The first ones he made were terrible. The same with the next group, and the next.

He made 200 candles (which he gave away to friends) until he figured out the right temperature to pour them at. He tried 185 degrees, 175 degrees, 165 degrees... that was the one!

Then he had to figure out colors, scents, packaging, etc. He did all that, and now he has a small thriving business that he plans to expand into other housewares under the brand he created.

Thomas Edison made 1000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb until he had a proper light. I guess he had more perseverance than smarts, and that's what counts.

He wasn't attached to his "failures."

Keep failing. Don't let the first wave stop you, or the second, or the tenth...

Five Enemies Within Us

From a satsang by Gautam Baiji ~

The saints say there are five enemies hiding within us.

kaam (lust)
krodha (rage)
lobh (greed)
moh (attachment)
ahankar (conceit/pride)*

You can escape "outside enemies," but how can you escape "inside enemies?"

Your soul is craving the divine power. Your mind is wandering with the worldly things, the materialism.

So how can we avoid distractions and connect with the divine power? How can we connect the body, mind and soul?

Here's a hint: you cannot see your face in boiling water. You can only see your reflection in calm water.

The water should be steady.

And clean.

Clean and calm water, and we can see clearly.

If the mind is not there, we cannot get the peace we want.

Our thoughts will become our actions, so we have to watch our thoughts. Everything is depending on our thinking.

So how can we make our thinking better?

Our saints say, "Good thinking comes from the company of great saints and satsang..."


*These five major weaknesses of the human personality - at variance with its spiritual essence - are also known as the Five Thieves because they steal a person's common sense 

The Story of the Two Babies in the Womb

In a mother’s womb were two babies.  The first baby asked the other:  “Do you believe in life after delivery?”

The second baby replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery.  Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

“Nonsense,” said the first. “There is no life after delivery.  What would that life be?”

“I don’t know, but there will be more light than here.  Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths.”

The doubting baby laughed. “This is absurd!  Walking is impossible.  And eat with our mouths?  Ridiculous.  The umbilical cord supplies nutrition.  Life after delivery is to be excluded.  The umbilical cord is too short.”

The second baby held his ground. “I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here.”

The first baby replied, “No one has ever come back from there.  Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery it is nothing but darkness and anxiety and it takes us nowhere.”

“Well, I don’t know,” said the twin, “but certainly we will see mother and she will take care of us.”

“Mother?” The first baby guffawed. “You believe in mother?  Where is she now?” 

The second baby calmly and patiently tried to explain. “She is all around us.  It is in her that we live. Without her there would not be this world.”

“Ha. I don’t see her, so it’s only logical that she doesn’t exist.”  

To which the other replied, “Sometimes when you’re in silence you can hear her, you can perceive her.  I believe there is a reality after delivery and we are here to prepare ourselves for that reality when it comes….”

~ Wayne Dyer attributed the original story to Henri J. W. Nouwen. However, it appears that all “mini-versions” have been adapted from the writings of Pablo Molinero. 

Perspective is Ours to Create

From a satsang by Gautam Baiji:

A woman got married and then moved to the Mohave desert with her husband.

She didn't like the place at all.

She got very bored and decided to write a letter to her father.

"Dad, I don't want to live here. This place is like hell. If you want to know the heat: it's 125 degrees in the shade. Even the wind is hot. And all you see is desert, desert, desert.

"I don't want to stay even another minute here," she wrote. "I'm leaving him and coming back."

After several days, she got a response from her father. It was just two lines:

"Two men looked out from prison bars. One saw mud, and the other saw stars."

With this bit of wisdom, she quickly realized she had only been listening to her mind and not her heart.

After that, she started making friends with the natives and found much to love about her new home.

The desert didn't change. Her attitude did.

We Are Not Our Body

Gautam Baiji did a satsang about not letting others' negative (or positive) words affect our inner peace:

"In our life, sometimes we are happy, sometimes sad. How does this happen?

Regardless of what happens, we should always be steady. Don't get depressed, and don't get too happy.

How can we maintain that?

If people say something bad about us, we feel bad. If they say something good, we feel good.

Try to practice being your true self. Know who you are.

Why do we feel sadness and happiness?

Because we think we are this body.

We don't know our real form. We should know we are just using this body as a vehicle.

The vehicle and the driver are not one. They are two. You will never say "I am the car." You will say, "Me and my car."

The car is mine; I am not it.
The body is mine; I am not it."

Would You Allow a Mahatma to Wash Your Dirty Dish?

Satsang by Gautam Baiji

I want to share this with you - last week a bhajan singer came to the ashram. Dada (the tabla player) brought him along.

He was a very good classical singer. He sang so many nice bhajans here... and that guy was down to earth! He was so good.

He was here during lunch and I told him there was food ready, that he could join us if he wanted to. He said, "I already ate lunch, but I will have tea."

So I served him tea.

Afterwards, when he got up to leave, I also got up and started to pick up the plates and cups and everything...*

He said, "No no, please don't pick up my plate and cup."

I said, "No, it's okay, I can wash them."

He said, "I don't want to give them to you because my guru taught me not to give up a chance to do seva. Why should I give anyone, especially a Mahatma! - my dirty dishes? How can you think that?"

He's here, but still he remembers his guru! This is a small thing, not a big thing, but by that we can learn. There are a few things we cannot teach you directly,** but there are few things we can learn and accept.***

I feel so good about his guru. The guru may not have said, "Don't give up your dirty dishes." But he taught him well, and that even the small things matter.


* As a public place, they keep the kitchen very clean and wash any dishes immediately.

** The Mahatmas devote their lives to serving others, and yet they are so treasured as living saints that true devotees don't allow them to do very much work for them - they would do anything to help with their burden. Which is good, because they don't like to ask for help - they are the ones devoted to helping others, right - how can they ask? They are sooo busy - to run an ashram 24 hours a day, 7 days a week demands they receive and meet with visitors; take phone calls around the clock, frequently to counsel people; plan their satsangs; prepare meals; clean, clean, clean; lead yoga and meditation classes; plan future events; and much, much more, just to enrich our lives. Most devotees consider it an honor to be able to help in any way possible (seva).

*** No one has to do anything. This is simply for those who see the value in devotion and seva and its role in helping us conquer our ego and get closer to God. 

God Gives You 24 Hours a Day - What Will You Do With Them?

Krishna in the Gita said, “If someone puts poison in your mouth, there is a chance to cure that. But if someone puts poison in your ear, there is no medicine for that.” So save your ears!

Poison can come from anywhere – negativity comes so fast, you don’t have to chase it down. It comes without asking.

How can we deal with these things (that threaten to distract us from our path)? The laziest and easiest way is to get satsang. Nowadays there are hundreds of mahatmas on youtube, so you can listen on your phone. Here you cannot turn it off, but with your phone, it’s easy.

So because it’s so easy, you can’t say, “I wanted to listen to satsang, but I didn’t have time.” God gives you 24 hours a day. It’s up to you how much of that time you’ll spend on yourself. Then you might even start singing bhajans!

When you have a good thought, it’s good to share it. Because if you have one dollar, some people might say “Give it to others.” What is left? Nothing, right?

But if you have one good thought, and you are sharing it with other people, what happens? You still have it – nobody can take it away.

While we are sitting here (in satsang) it’s up to you, you can think whatever you want. If you want, you think, “Oh my God, why do we come here? The baiji, she takes too much time. We get bored, we’re yawning, she never keeps track of the time.”

You can think that, or you can think, “We are so lucky. By the grace of God we get the opportunity to hear a good satsang. Our mind is not wandering here and there; we are able to keep our mind steadily in place.”

It’s up to you what perspective to take.

(to be continued)

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?

The Art of Remembering

Satsang by Mahesh Shastri 

"No one escapes life and death. It’s important to understand this cycle. 

The mind gets involved in the material world. You play in the material world with the conscious mind. 

But everybody sleeps at night. They’re connected with God there unconsciously. 

And because they are connected, they are very peaceful when they get up. 

But if they know how to meditate with the conscious mind, then, during the daytime in the material world, it will help them connect with their deeper self.

If they know this.

If they don’t do this, they will have more difficulty at the end of their life.

Lord Krishna maintained that one could be a cruel person in life, but if they remember Him at the end of their life, if they remember the Holy Spirit, they will be forgiven. All will be forgiven.

Providing… they remember.

How to remember? 

That's what we teach at the ashram. The art of remembering. Of connecting."

Did God Ever Send You a Bill?

Satsang by Gautum Baiji ~

"Whatever we really need, God gave us.
What do we need the most?
We need oxygen.

Did God ever send you a bill for that?
No, and he never cut the connection.

If you don't pay the electric bill, what happens?
One time, two times, then... they cut the connection.
We never pay any bill to God, and yet he never cuts the connection.

He gave us oxygen for free.
He gave us water for free.
And the sun, which gives us light and heat.
The most important things we need, God gave us free of charge.

But do we ever thank God for giving us all these precious things?



We never think about the beautiful body God gave us, and the intellect.
He gave us everything.

Yet still we try to get more.
And more and more and more.......

So satsang reminds us that every day, God gives us what we really need.
Everything else is extra."

It's a "Spiritual Battery Recharge Station" - Reasons People Come to the Ashram

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

Chaki: "Ashram (DAYC) is a home away from home and a spiritual battery recharge station where I have learned who I am and have grown spiritually. Mahatma Baijis have been true mentors for me, my family, and premis (devotees) in instilling spirituality and yogic characteristics. In addition to imparting Gyan (Knowledge), Baijis at Ashram provide food for the Soul and teach us the importance of balancing materialism and spirituality by means of satsang (religious discourses)." 

"The Ashram Gives Me Tranquility" - Reasons People Come to the Ashram

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

Pratap: "The principles and disciplines I studied in my youth, I see the same thing here. I listened to a lot of satsangs in India and I follow the same thing here. The ashram gives me peace of mind, tranquility, and a direction for me to lead my life. That way, whenever I'm in a confused state, if gives me good direction." 

We Also Have a "Spiritual Birth" - Satsang by Jigna Pandya, part 2

Jigna Pandya satsang excerpts:

“Why do we do satsang?

We are born once by our mother, and we have a second birth as well, a spiritual birth. When we go to a spiritual place, and we listen to the spiritual discourses (satsang), we learn different values, we use them in life, we learn what is right from wrong, and eventually we learn meditation. 

Through a saint we connect with the truth through satsang. The saint helps us unite our body with the truth that is within us. The body is just to hold the soul. That soul is on this Earth for a specific reason. We get our second birth when a saint teaches us the knowledge and we meditate, a very important step for us to take.

Just existing inside the human body is not the ultimate goal! We exist with all the animals, but the human is the crown of creation. After how many births are we given this particular human birth? It’s for a specific reason. We ask the saints, “Am I just existing to eat, drink and be merry?” No, there is something beyond that.

What is that energy within us that makes us do things? Why do we think, why do we act? If that energy is gone, it’s a dead body. There’s not even a name for that. When I was born, I was given the name Jigna. When I’m gone, the body is called “the late Jigna.”

So what is gone? The body’s still there. What’s gone is the soul within us. And what is the soul? What is that specific energy that exists in all of us? It’s the same in all of us, and it’s the key to moving from physical birth to spiritual birth. That’s why we come to satsang at the ashram.

I recommend you all take advantage of the baijis’ presence. Come as much as you can, sit with them, ask questions, any “stupid” question you can ask: “What am I supposed to do, why am I here?” and the baijis will give you their knowledge. They will reference the scriptures, the bible. They will show you how Lord Rama took the words from his mother, why Jesus was born.

In the meantime, be the best human being you can be, and radiate that good energy out in the world to make a difference, like the baijis are doing.”

If You Skip Meditation, You Skip Your Deepest Self - Satsang by Gautum Baiji

A few weeks ago, Gautum Baiji spoke about how we won't get the realization benefits in meditation if we don't commit to the practice in the first place:

"We all know God is within us, but when a problem comes, we never go inward.

Where do we go? We try to get help from outside.

Meditation is there, but where is the trust? If trust is not there, meditation is not going to help you.

So what do we have to do? How can we get that trust? We can't buy it from a store.

Sometimes we do meditation, but if we are not 'realizing' then we cannot get that kind of trust.

We sit around for 15 or 20 minutes and think, 'You told me you can see this or that, and I don't know why I can't realize these things when I meditate.'

We say, 'God is light,' 'God, you are within me...' but as long as we don't know, we won't achieve what we're looking for.

We have to know first.

So how can we know?

We already know about deep breathing, but sometimes when we sit, we have to check where our mind is. We are sitting for meditation, but is our mind there or not? The mind is thinking something else.

Someone was telling me, 'You know, in the early morning, we cannot do meditation.' Why? 'Because when we get up, our minds go immediately to our job. We have to take showers, we have to make breakfast, we have to do this, we have to do that...' The list is there. And you skip meditation.

Did you ever skip anything else? Do you ever skip breakfast? No, you always have breakfast. Did you ever skip your shower? No, because if you go without showering, other people will not sit around you. So you are very careful.

So if you make time for everything else, why not for meditation? For breakfast, for shower, you get up one hour earlier, right? So we can get up 15 minutes (or more) early for meditation.

(Once we cultivate that, we have a place to go when problems happen in our lives.)

If you think this is a very important practice, then you make it a rule. And if you are making a rule, you will carry it forward in your life."

"I Come for Meditation and Spiritual Realization" - Reasons People Come to the Ashram

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

Vijay: "I specifically come for meditation and spiritual realization. I have learned to keep my mind calm for any situation that comes up. It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, that kind of knowledge is available to anyone. Full control of your mind gives you the ability to achieve whatever you want, whatever your goals are. It's difficult to explain this to people unless they come here - it has to be experienced, especially the baijis' satsang (spiritual discourses)."

Go To The Source - Gautum Baiji Satsang

A spiritual lady started thinking about all the people who go to temple and perform empty rituals without any regard for their meaning. She wondered how she could help them experience a closer relationship with God instead. 

One day, she got her chance. 

Her mother-in-law came to her and said, "Come with me to temple today and pray with me."

The lady never felt the need to go to temple because she knows God is within, but she cannot deny her mother-in-law, so she agreed.

Later, when they approached the large temple, they saw two large statues of lions in front.

The lady said, “Oh, Mom, I don’t want to go inside.”

“Why?”

“Look at the lions, they’re going to eat me!”

So to prove the lions were harmless, the mother-in-law walked over and put her hand on a lion’s head.

“These lions are fake! They can’t hurt anyone, so don’t worry.”

She finally agreed, and they went inside.

Then they saw a statue of Hanuman, and the lady said, “I’m not going in there, he will attack me.”

The mother-in-law went up to the statue and again touched it to show it was harmless.

“See? Only stone. It can’t do anything to you.”

“Are you sure Mom?”

“Yes, I’m sure, let’s go.”

Then they saw Durga, and all the weapons she holds: the sword, the axe, a trident...

“I came this far, but no, I cannot go inside. She has so many weapons and I’m afraid.”

Again the mother-in-law ran to the goddess statue and showed her that everything is fake. “Listen to me: the lions are fake, Hanuman is fake, these weapons are fake, everything is fake.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Finally, they settled down, and the mother-in-law said, “Okay, dear, now pray to the mother goddess for whatever you wish, and she will fulfill your desire.”

“Mom, you told me these are all fake. So how can I ask anything from the fake things and expect to get it? Instead, can you bring me to the real mother? You told me there are not going to do anything, so how can I even get a blessing?”

“What kind of thoughts are these you are having?" the mother-in-law said.

“I know that if we want anything, we don't have to go anywhere to access the real source.”

One Year Anniversary of this Blog

One year ago, on April 12, 2015, I created this blog and wrote a short post about joining the ashram Divine Art of Yoga Center which is run by Mahatma Rammurti Baiji and Mahatma Gautum Baiji.

270 satsangs, stories, and memes later, here we are: wiser, more spiritual, and on the path.

This blog started as a place to explore and share my spiritual experience; I later realized it was much more interesting and beneficial to share the baijis' satsangs, for the world to experience (as well as other gurus' wisdom).

I'd like to thank the baijis for being my gurus, blessing me with their saintly company and their spiritual teachings.

I am also very grateful to the devotees here and around the world - they are a wonderful and giving community of people that I consider family.

I look forward to more contributions to the blog from devotees and to make it a repository of shared wisdom from everyone involved with the ashram to help us achieve lasting peace and move towards Samadhi and ultimately Moksha.

Jai Sat Chit Anand

(Some of the devotees)

God Decides How it Goes - Satsang by Rakeshbai Pandya, Part 2

Saint Rammurti Baiji asked Rakeshbhai Pandya to give satsang about his experience with spirituality, part 2: 

"When I do meditation, I get so many things. God gives me different messages. 

In 1990 I took photography classes as part of my GE requirements. I went to Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles on Mount Washington. 

It's such a peaceful place there. Parmahansa Yogananda used to sit there in meditation under the pepper tree, which is still preserved there. I saw some devotees working there, and I said, "What if I get a chance to work in this kind of place for seva, for service." 

Within a year or two we got connected with the baijis, the saints,and their elder sister. Their satsang was going on at the Norwalk temple where we went every Sunday. We got more into it and we received the knowledge.

During the Northridge earthquake we lived in Sun Valley. Just three weeks before that, we received the knowledge. You won't believe, the earthquake epicenter was 14 miles from where we lived. I felt like the townhome was lifted and just... pounding. 

Me and my wife sat under the door and we started doing meditation. All the books and bookshelves were (shaking and falling), and after that, whatever was the lesson or message from God, we don't know. 

Then this ashram property was purchased, and they needed someone to take care of it. So we decided to rent our other property and we will move here and do seva and whatever we can. 

The reason I'm saying this is I started from Babaji, who was in my mind as I wanted to do seva. 

So God arranged this. We both moved here. We did seva here for four or five years. We had a daughter here and stayed nearby after that. And we still did satsang and meditation. 

So what I'm saying is that middle part of that breach... I started with Babaji and came back full circle to Babaji. 

I'm not just believing that. How it starts, how it ends, God decides that."