& BAPA said... "You have kept all your hopes tied to darkness.
Untie them and the lamp will light up on its own.
It is waiting to light up but cannot do so on account of your attachment to darkness.
Many lives have passed.
You left the way you came.
Only if you become a true aspirant will there be light within..."
& BAPA said... "Owning an object does not make us possessive, but unawareness towards its effect on us, does.
To develop non-possessiveness, to remain unaffected by an object, the awareness of the self is very important.
we must seek it.
With the development of awareness and alertness we can realise the self..."
& BAPA said... "Discipleship is an elevated form of love.
No one can stop its manifestation, not even the Guru.
Therefore, the Guru does not make disciples.
When a disciple develops intense love, faith and a feeling of surrendering to an Enlightened Soul, his discipleship manifests; and the moment this happens, that Enlightened One becomes a sadguru.
That is why, it is said that it is not the Guru who makes the disciple; rather it is the disciple who makes the Guru..."
& BAPA said... "In order to realise the blessings of the saints, you will have to show your willingness.
You will have to become worthy of these blessings.
You will have to change your way of life because it is full of mistakes.
If you continue to live the same way, it will be impossible for these auspicious blessings of the saints to come true.
They can be fulfilled only when you desire so.
If you become religious in the true sense, you will inevitably become joyful.
To be ever-joyful is religiousness..."
& BAPA said... "Through your Sadguru a sweet echo has emerged in your heart.
You will be able to understand that echo only when you succeed in creating an echo in someone else's heart.
The Sadguru has touched the strings of your heart.
You will have faith in this only when you touch the strings of someone else's heart through religious discussions..."
& BAPA said... "The three forms of Divinity are in the context of the world; but a disciple experiences all these three forms in his Sadguru, in the context of his inner world.
Brahma - as a creator, the initiator of his spiritual world; Vishnu as the protector of his spiritual inclinations; and Mahesh as the destroyer of his obstructing tendencies.
The real sadguru is one who has all of these three forms inherent within him..."
& BAPA said... "It is essential to focus your energy to strive for a thought-free state through introspection.
By staying free of thoughts through the practice of meditation and making your inner disposition pure, the focus becomes subtle, calm, resulting in the attainment of self-realisation..."
& BAPA said... "When you fall in love with a great soul, your ego and attachment get diluted over time, and gradually they disappear.
The Guru is merely an excuse.
The main objective is to surrender your ego.
To look upon the Sadguru as the Divine is to surrender your ego totally.
To consider a living being, divine, amounts to shattering your ego into pieces..."
& BAPA said...of "Prayer is a serene state mind, and not some singing of a composition or chanting of a mantra for the fulfilment of a desire.
Some pray in the belief that if you ask with faith, you will receive it.
They believe that begging is praying.
But the Enlightened Beings say that if we entertain desires such as, 'I hope I get this, I hope I don't get that, let this happen, let this not happen,' and so on, then it is not a prayer, a millstone gets tied around the neck of the bird of prayers.
The wings of worship are clipped.
Now, the bird will not be able to fly.
It will struggle in vain and ultimately die..."
& BAPA said... "Why do people remain the same even after praying?
It is because prayer has been misconstrued.
It is unfortunate that the very word 'prayer' has come to mean, begging.
Asking for anything with faith is misunderstood as a prayer.
If we label a person who begs, as a prayerful person, then whom will we call a beggar?
For centuries begging has been carried out in the name of prayer, that is why such a prayer does not blossom in the heart to give joy..."
& BAPA said..."Keeping the soul in constant focus and practising complete non attachment, is the path of self-realisation.
All of the Enlightened Ones teachings can be summarised into, 'I am not the body, I am a separate entity that knows and sees the body, I am Pure Consciousness, I am the Soul.'
This should not be forgotten when performing any activity - this is the teaching of the sacred Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra..."
& BAPA said... "It is not that you are unhappy because God has written that as your destiny; nor are you unhappy as a result of your past karmas.
In fact, if God had charted out your destiny, he would have filled it with nothing but happiness.
And if karmas had the ability to make you unhappy, nobody would ever have been happy in the face of adversity..."
& BAPA said... "The cause of misery is not money crises, but identity crises _ one has not identified with one's Self, one has not recognised one's Self.
We remain a stranger to our own Self.
We know so many people, but we do not know ourselves!
Religion is the way to become familiar with one's own Self, a method to unite with our true nature, means to reach our own centre..."
& BAPA said... "Remember your past, but do not identify with it.
Look at it as if it has happened in somebody else's life.
Remain neutral like a witness; look at it as if it is being replayed on a screen.
Look at the role in that event.
You are merely an observer, a witness.
If you identify with yourself in that scene, you will feel like defending yourself.
Only if you see someone else there, will you be able to look at it neutrally, as a witness.
When this happens, your learning from it will be extraordinary, the realisation which you will attain will be wonderful.
It will change the course of your entire life..."
& BAPA said... "Prayer expresses itself in different ways, in the form of tears or as dance. It has nothing to do with the vocabulary. Words may or may not be present. Only that heartfelt emotional state is necessary..."
& BAPA said... "Divine feelings arise in the one who, by virtue of his surrender to an Enlightened One, looks upon him as God.
He does not care for what the world says or believes.
His transformed life is his prime proof.
He sees no exaggeration in addressing his Sadguru as the Supreme Soul!
Even the term 'God' does not satisfy him and he helplessly accepts his inability to find a better term for his Sadguru.
Thus, addressing the Guru as God is an exaggeration for the listener and a matter of self-experience for the speaker..."
& BAPA said... "A disciple asked his Guru, 'Do prayers reach God?'
The Guru replied, 'You have not understood the purpose of prayer.
A prayer is meant for you to reach God, not for your prayer to reach God..."
& BAPA said... "A prayer weighed down with demands is not a prayer at all. The sanctity of the prayer lies in desirelessness..."
& BAPA said... "Liberate your consciousness from the burden of the past.
Cleanse it of the filth of the past.
The solution is not difficult; it is simple.
With continuous practice, one day you will suddenly awaken, and your entire past will mean no more than a dream.
You will completely break free from it - detach yourself from it, and never again in life, will there be a reappearance of that stupor..."
& BAPA said... "In the interest of your own spiritual advancement, you should surrender to the one in whose presence all your thoughts subside, your preconceived notions dissolve and your mind becomes calm..."
& BAPA said..."How can reading or verbalising someone else's emotions be called a prayer?
That which is borrowed cannot be a prayer.
No matter how many times you repeat the words, if your heart is not moved or your dormant existence does not start dancing, believing that such a prayer will be beneficial is a mere illusion..."
& BAPA said..."The one in whose presence you realise that you no longer exist, is your Guru.
Stick to the one in whose presence all your barriers of 'I'ness start crumbling.
He is indeed your Guru.
Attain spiritual benefit by surrendering your love to that great soul, because it is rare to come across such a great person..."
& BAPA said... "Do not be in a hurry to renounce anything.
Renunciation is not the beginning.
The real beginning is the process of understanding.
First obtain an in-depth insight into the matter.
Understand how, where and why it arose.
If you develop correct understanding, the inevitable result is liberation from it..."
& BAPA said... "There are no rituals for love.
Where there are rituals there is artificiality.
Do you learn how to love?
When you study how to love, it becomes merely an outward act.
This kind of love is not real.
You are born with the innate ability to love; it is not necessary to study how to love.
This music is already present in your existence.
All you need is the opportunity for it to manifest..."
& BAPA said... "May we understand through the medium of the satpurush, the jewel-like-religion, as espoused by the Tirthankaras; permanently eradicating all misery and attaining the ultimate bliss of samadhi..."
