A Spiritual Awakening with Kirtan Meditation – Part 2 Q&A

Nice? So, I guess—you have some kind of like refreshments and stuff, yeah? You want to start circulating those, and we’ll see if anybody has any questions.

When you bathe in these transcendental sounds, it does melt the heart and give us, as I said, that taste of some nectar that we are actually always anxious for. The practice of meditation and particularly kirtan meditation, when one adopts it as part of a daily routine, will bring enormous transformation and open up the possibility of a world of great spiritual wonder and experience.

Yeah, you have a question?

Audience member: Namaste. [Acd: Namaste.] You spoke about birth, death, rebirth. [Acd: Yeah] You spoke about birth, death and rebirth. I really would like to learn more about the time in between death and rebirth, the life between life there, what happens, where’s the soul, what…?

Acharya das: Big subject. And it is difficult to appreciate. Different living beings experience time differently. So for instance, you have small organisms, their life span is only 24 hours, where they go through the whole cycle of growth, development, maturity, mating, and then dwindling and dying. That’s their lifetime. What to us may be 70, 80, 90 years, they experience, their experience of 24 hours of our time is like 80 years. You know how they got dog years and stuff. So don’t get too hung up in the time thing.

I have been informed by reputable sources that it’s about seven seconds in between exiting and entering another womb, whatever type that may be. But that’s irrelevant because it depends how that’s experienced. That could be an eternity for certain types of life forms. So I’m just throwing that out there. There’s no messing around.

In this lifetime we develop desires and attachments. We develop a state of consciousness and attraction, and that’s what guides us to our next body. When one has given up all material attachment and desire, the desire is only for that which is purely transcendental, for Krishna, then one does not take another body again, a material body. There is no need. Okay?

So you can take that for whatever you want to take it for. It’s not an important point. So don’t get hung up on it. It’s like sometimes people say, “Oh, I can’t embrace the idea of reincarnation. It’s like, what, you become another person or an animal?” and it’s like—No, you’re still you. You take another body, and you identify with it massively, but you’re still you. But you know, if they say, “I can’t handle it,” it’s okay. It’s irrelevant. Don’t think about it, don’t worry about it. It’s this spiritual process of discovery of the self and of God that is of relevance. All the other stuff is pretty insignificant in comparison.

Anybody else? Kind of anything goes. And there is no such thing—we always tell people, there’s no dumb question. All questions are relevant. Yeah? Looks like you got the mic, like it or not.

Audience member: What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

Acharya das: First thing I do? The first thing I do is chant these sounds, and hope never to become forgetful.

Somebody else had their hand up. Yeah?

Audience member: I’m a little bit naive, but I would like to hear a little bit more about reincarnation.

Acharya das: Okay, big subject. It’s like, you notice that when somebody takes birth, everybody—it’s so uneven. Some people are born into wealth. Some people are born into great poverty. Some people from the start have beauty. Others may be extremely ugly. Some have incredible health. Others are sickly and deformed. We all come into this particular life and receive a different package, and it is understood that that is determined by two things.

One is—you know about karma? Karma? Karma literally means action. Most people use the word to describe the fruits of action as karma. That’s, in Sanskrit it’s called karma phalam, the fruit of karma. And so, karma literally means action. And for every act that you engage in, there is consequence. There will be what people will generally consider a reward, or one will be forced, if they cause suffering to others, to experience that same suffering at some point.

So, throughout the life, if one is not living a spiritual or transcendental life, then we are accumulating all kinds of karmic results. Some of the results of actions that we take are experienced immediately. Some are experienced after some time. Some are experienced much later. And some of them sit like seeds waiting to fructify at some point in the future and grow into a tree that bears the fruit.

So, in the course of our lifetime, we develop different forms of attachment and desire to different things. And so as a result of our state of consciousness and the accumulation of all the karmic fruit that we are carrying, it will determine what type of birth we will have, the nature of our body, the nature of the opportunities that we will receive. That’s sort of the big picture.

But when a person comes to the platform of not having material desire, they are living purely as a humble servant of the Lord, and they are engaged in serving and seeking the good of everyone, of all other living beings, then one is not—the past fruits that they may still have a storehouse of become, it is described, like burned to ashes in the sacrifice of their life in the service of all. And because they are cultivating transcendental, or spiritual, desire, that carries them into a spiritual dimension. That’s the big picture, in brief.

You’re very welcome.

Audience member: Hello, thank you. Could you say something about the relationship between self-realization and God-realization?

Acharya das: There is a correlation. In the Vedas, they teach that the highest transcendent reality, the absolute truth, or God, is manifest in three features. The first is called Brahman, or the Brahmajyoti. And in this experience, a yogi, or a transcendentalist, may be very focused on the opportunity to not just come into contact, but literally to merge into that ocean of transcendental light and energy, and so they have a complete realization of their own essence as being spirit or spiritual. But in that experience, there is a loss of individual identity. One feels a oneness with this energy.

The second feature of God, or the Absolute Truth, is called Paramatma, which means the Supreme Soul. So, it is described that there is a feature of the Absolute Truth that is manifest within the hearts of all living beings, and permeating the entirety of material creation, which is why there is order, which is why there are laws that are followed, and things, because of the presence of this expansive feature. But that expansive feature is personal.

And so, the yogis would endeavour to have the experience and realization of this feature of God sitting—it is described as standing upon a lotus within the region of the heart, with the most charming and beautiful countenance, and a slight smile, and desiring to bless those who approach Him. And so the yogis desire to have that realization. And in that realization they experience another aspect of self-realization, that while I am equal with all other living beings, there is one being that is unique and different, as Patanjali describes, the purusa visesa, this unique and extraordinary person that is unlike other persons; and when I reconnect and reunite, I understand my purpose.

The third feature of the Absolute Truth is a personal feature of God that manifests in a spiritual realm. And that spiritual realm is filled with endless varieties of loving relationships and exchanges where the yogi, when they enter it, are lost in an experience of ecstatic and transcendental love. And this correlates with the third part of self-realization, to realize my natural function, that the living being, the spiritual being, if the material covering and consciousness is all removed, in its pure state, the question is, what is the natural expression of the soul? And that is, it is called prema. It is transcendental or spiritual love. And so with that third aspect of Godhead, the personal feature, one becomes lost in profound and ecstatic loving exchanges and relationships in a mood of loving service.

It’s a massive subject, and I’m only scratching the surface on it. But this is what’s actually taught in the Vedas. And they describe how that third feature, called Bhagavan is the actual sustainer, or the foundation, for the other two features of Godhead.

We need a mic.

Audience member: How would you speak to an asleep person, unawakened, who is approaching the end of their life experience and is gripped by the fear of [Acd: death] And how would you reach out and speak to them?

Acharya das: You hold their hand very gently, and tell them there is nothing to fear. You can tell them that you will not die, you cannot die. Your body will die, but you will not. You will now be moving on. The body is no longer habitable, and while you may feel some trepidation there is actually nothing to fear.

The only thing that you can bring with you when you cross that threshold are these spiritual sounds, and so to be able to introduce someone to this transcendental vibration, these sounds, and for them to take shelter in it, it is like the boat that will carry one across the ocean of material existence. That’s the only thing that you can bring with you and you can take shelter in; and you’ll be protected, and there’s no need to worry or be fearful. You should tell people they will be fine. Don’t struggle to hold on.

And if it’s a family member, you tell them, “We’re okay, we’re gonna be okay, we’re all right. And we want to now support you in this stage where you’re going to be crossing this threshold, don’t be afraid, it’s fine.”

And when they hear it, they become—they often cry. It is such a relief to hear this message, because they’re actually experiencing something. You know, it’s confusing because the whole life you’ve been identifying the body as the self, and now you’re experiencing that you’re going to be leaving, but it’s kind of like, “Yeah, but this is me, how am I leaving?” And you know, there’s all this kind of—they don’t think of it with that kind of clarity, but that’s the kind of confusion that exists. And when you lay it out for someone, they are relieved of their anxiousness and fear. I promise it.

There are occasionally people that don’t want to hear this, but it’s not common. The majority of people, when they hear this, they embrace it and feel very blessed.

Okay?

Oh, not Bev!

Audience member: Oh, okay, so I’ve always got—

Acharya das: No, no, I’m joking.

Audience member: I’ve always got lots to say. This is on a much lighter note.

I was interested in what you said about the mantras being from an authentic spiritual master, something to that extent. Now I’ve chanted with the Satyanandas, with the Siddha yoga, with  Gurumaya, with Amma. They’re all authentic. Which mantras? I’ve never known what a mantra could be, that if it wasn’t authentic. I don’t understand the comment.

Acharya das: So I’m choosing not to comment further on the subject, I’m just laying out a transcendent truth. And I would suggest that we take our own internal journey in this regard, to endeavour to understand what this great teaching is. It’s something that’s usually not really talked about. But anyway I’m just lending—opening the door on that, and letting people take it on board as they see fit, or not, and to prayerfully consider it. That’s all.

Audience member: Thank you.

Acharya das: You’re very welcome.

Audience member: On Friday you touched on free will, and you said that we’re not really doing anything. It’s not in our control, it’s already written—

Acharya das: What’s that last part?

Audience member: It’s not in our control, free will. It’s already written.

Acharya das: It’s not in our control? [Audience member: Yeah.] What is not in our control?

Audience member: Any actions we do, it’s already written.

Acharya das: In what way is it not in our control?

Audience: Acuatlly, it’s all destiny. You mentioned a bit [Acd: Oh, Okay.] on Friday. I just want to hear about the balance between our free will and what’s…

Acharya das: Okay. So, destiny is a big question, and it’s frequently not fully appreciated. The reality is, whatever I am experiencing at any given time, it is the result of choices that I have made and decisions that I have taken. When I engage in activity, I create pathways where I will experience things. I become destined to experience them, not because they are forced upon me, or it is just from an unknown source, but I have created that destiny through my choices, my actions, my speech. So, and as I mentioned, when one engages in karma, in action, there can be immediate fruit, there can be at a distant time, may produce or ripen fruit. And it may even exist in seed form. So that’s what shaping everything.

When a person begins to sincerely ask the question, “Who am I? Why am I here? What is my life for?” When I begin to think like that, or even ask that—and it may be something that I don’t focus on, it may even be a passing thing, now, there will be some outside influence. This feature of Paramatma, or what we may call the Lord residing within the heart, He is also known as the caitya guru, which means the guru within, and it is described that by His benevolence, one becomes guided to encounter people or personalities or things that will begin to answer those questions, and guide me in a certain direction. And so that, that is the result of a sincere desire.

So when people speak of destiny, we often think of it as almost like something outside of ourself, that’s, (you know what I mean?) somehow affecting and influencing us. But it’s actually not the case. We create our destiny. And even when we sincerely seek answers or pray, as it were for some—what the hell is this all for? Then we may refer to it as destiny, but it is actually now the Paramatma, the Lord within the heart, that begins to direct a person’s life and create opportunity, open doors.

Okay? Sound all right? Yeah, pretty good? I agree.

Audience member: What does it mean to be a servant of God, and how one can become one?

Acharya das: You guys ask very heavy questions.

So it is understood—and this may be difficult for people to comprehend—the first time I heard this idea it blew my mind, but—and it was difficult to accept. The reality is the conditioned living being is existing in what is considered a corrupt or a diseased condition. The condition in which we exist, part of what really forms the foundation of material consciousness, is self-centeredness. I see everything in relation to me. And if you actually think about it, it’s like shocking.

I use the language, as I said, my husband, my wife, my partner, my children, my parents, my friends. I see myself at the centre of everything. My decision to act, what am I going to do today? I’m at the centre of that. I’m at the centre of everything. And that is not my position to be the centre of the universe. That is God’s position.

And so the other end of that spectrum is complete selflessness, to seek, to simply be pleasing to God. And the two ways that manifests, one is to do the right thing by oneself, to take care of oneself, to attain the actual purpose of life, and then to engage all your energy in seeking the welfare of others, both in this world and in the future. That’s what it means. And of course, that plays out in very profound ways.

And so part of the process of self-realization and of God realization is the realization of my position. When—and I mentioned that on Friday—the question of “Who am I?” we must examine three things: What is my essence? What is my position? And what is my natural function?

My essence is that I am spirit. I am spiritual. I am eternal. There is no beginning, no end; I cannot die, I cannot be cut into pieces, I cannot be withered by the wind, all the things laid out in the Bhagavad-gita. That is my essence.

The big one is this shift from me seeing myself at the centre of everything. My position is not to be the central enjoying and controlling agent. That position is reserved for the Lord. Our position is that we are small, and we are sparks of God, if we—one way to put it. And we are subjected to infinite amounts of control. I don’t have any control. Try running through a red light repeatedly, and see what happens. Eventually you’ll have your car taken away. You know, you’re not in control of everything. We’re subjected to the influence of the weather, social environments, all kinds of things.

And yet we want to be independent. We want to be the central enjoying agent. I want to be adored. I want to be loved. I would like to be worshiped. Everybody fantasizes about being a movie star or up on stage. These days everybody fantasizes about being an influencer. This is a desire to be like a small God, to be the centre of everything. But that is not my actual position. My position is that I am actually an eternal servant of God, or the highest transcendent reality.

My natural function is both to love and to serve; and that’s why I mentioned when you show kindness in this world to anyone, you show any kindness, even a small child, a person struggling, open their—trying to open their car, somebody tripping over on the sidewalk, any time—or somebody in great need, and you make some sacrifice to be helpful, you have a feeling that’s good. There’s something really moving and good about being charitable, being—showing kindness to others; and that’s because it aligns with our nature, that if we experience the reality of our identity, we would be constantly absorbed in this mood of loving service.

Service is an—should be an expression of love. In this world, in relationships that we have, even though they may be imperfect, when we feel that we love someone, we want to do things for them. Isn’t it? It’s not like you love someone, and then you start demanding that they just keep doing things for you. That’s kind of weird. Right? It’s just the opposite. So this discovery of our actual position and beginning to live a life that is in parallel, it’s consistent with our position, is part of a spiritual practice.

Audience member: Inaudible

Acharya das: Thank you.

So many people in the room, and you answer a question, and you may have 10, 20, 30 different ways in which people hear and appreciate, or don’t appreciate, don’t like it even. You know, it’s all—we don’t understand, because of our ignorance, we don’t understand how much we are controlled by material conditioning. We adopt so much, so many ideas and things that become lenses through which we view the world and we absorb and take things in. And so even something that is true may appear to us to be false because of the nature of our own consciousness.

And of course, the only way to overcome that kind of barrier is through this meditation and kirtan. It dissipates the fog and brings clarity. It’s astonishing how we have so much faith in our mind, even when our mind, in reality, can be our greatest enemy. And if anything appears in our mind, we embrace it as true. Everybody gets into all these things, the tizzies and fights and everything, all based on speculation and emotions and what the mind is feeling and everything. It’s like, oh my God, let it go. Don’t take your mind so seriously. The mind leads you to hell and back if you direct it.

But you need to be the one at the driving—you need to be the one driving the bus. You shouldn’t just be lying down on the back seat and see where it goes and what happens. That’s crash and burn territory. I mean just the idea that it is actually our responsibility to determine the content of our mind, what we are going to be thinking about, and how we’re going to process things that we encounter—that’s our job. We’re doing it anyway, but we’re often just surrendering our mind to different influences, different types of influence, different types of ideas, social pressures, all kinds of so-called norms. And then we have encounters, and we get all emotional, and then we just go with the emotions… it’s like, oh my God!

This is foundational in the prison stuff we do. I tell people, when you’re in a heightened state of emotion, whether it’s positive or negative, don’t say anything. Don’t make any decision. Don’t make a promise, and don’t act on it. You need to calm the (you know that word starts with an F?) calm the whatever down. Get on an even keel, stop being controlled by your emotions, and question, how should I respond? What is truly in my interest? What’s going to make my life better, even a little bit, and potentially make this other person’s life better? What should I be doing? And then when I figure that one out—and I may have to reflect a little bit and do a bit of deep breathing or do some chanting—chanting is really good for this kind of stuff, blowing out the cobwebs. And sometimes you’ll just receive an inspiration. It’s not even a result of thinking about it. You’ll just suddenly go, “Oh, yeah!” You know, you’ll have an inspiration of what you should do in that situation.

Bottom line—I tell you what, in all relationships and everything that you’re doing and all you encounter, adopt the motto, “Don’t make it worse.” Okay? With what you say and how you respond, don’t make it worse. That’s already massive. That’s monumental.

And by exercising control of your mind and emotions, by not just surrendering to them and following, you’re actually on the path of self-realization, because there will be a growing recognition that I can control my mind. I don’t have to follow it. This is a choice I’m making. And when you start going down that pathway, your life becomes transformed. The possibility of peace and of happiness opens to you.

You had a question?

Audience member: I just wondered … [inaudible]

Acharya das: One moment, we’re getting somebody with a mic rushing towards you. Hope they don’t fall over you.

Audience member: Yeah, just wondering, just with earthquakes and flooding and stuff like that, is that God sending a message? Or is—how does that all sort of work?

Acharya das: The Vedic understanding is that God is not intimately and personally involved in everything that’s happening. But He is responsible for the laws of material nature, which we are all bound by, just as we’re bound by laws of gravity. So, there are natural forces that are occurring on the earth, and those things are going to happen no matter what. But when people are in proximity to these things, there will be an element of being related to some karmic reaction. The laws of karma are so intricate and so complex.

It’s just like, you’re in your house, and you have your breakfast, then something happens, and your wife did something you didn’t like, and then you start shouting at her, and she shouts at you. And then you’re all pissed off, and you go out the door and slam it, and then the kids all freak out. And they go off and have a bad day and start acting out their being traumatized by some massive fight or something. You become implicated in all that stuff.

And then you go to the office, and you’re all bummed in the car, and you start giving somebody the finger next to you for whatever, and tooting a horn and just spazzing people out. And you go and you start shouting, maybe at the secretary or one of your office mates and everything, because you’re bummed about something, and they did something that maybe wasn’t too smart, and you’re overreacting.

It’s kind of like when you drop a pebble in a still pond, those ripples go out and out, and there’s so many of them, and they just keep going and going and going, and they intersect with so many things. It’s not possible to comprehend how we are so implicated in so many things due to actions that we take. And there will be consequences. And we don’t really understand and appreciate everything.

But in relation to the subject of forces that cause suffering, it is understood that the material world by nature produces suffering and anxiety, and they categorize it into three. They call it adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. This means suffering caused by my own body and mind, adhyātmika. Adhibhautika is suffering caused by other living entities whether it’s cockroaches, or little microbes that get inside me and make it me sick, or somebody, my neighbour, harassing me, or my kids driving me nuts. This is called adhibhautika. And they call adhidaivika, it references natural occurrences, extreme heat, great flooding, earthquakes, all of these kind of things, natural phenomena. And they’re just a natural part of material existence and they cause suffering. It’s just part of the package. No escape, unless you decide that you’re done with this whole thing. It’s not as cool as they were telling us. The promises are wearing pretty thin.

So we done? I mean there’s just so much—You know, something that amazed me: when I met my initiating spiritual master, and I heard him speak, and read things that he wrote, some of the things I had a hard time understanding and even accepting. But over time, careful deliberation, I’ve come to see that Vedic knowledge is fathomless. It’s vast. It’s comprehensive. There is an answer for everything. And we may not be able to accept things. There’s also many ways of understanding. It’s not like there’s just one way of understanding. Different people from different perspectives can have different understandings also. So we shouldn’t be fanatical about just seeing things one way. Different people may see things somewhat differently, but the truth is the same.

With that, I think we’ll bring it to an end. Thank you all very much for being so patient with me and kindly giving me the opportunity to share the wonderful gifts I have received. I am deeply indebted to you all. Thank you.

Gopala dasi: I’d like to thank you so much, Acharya Das, from all of us here. It’s been unbelievably wonderful. Thank you very much.

Acharya das: Thank you for having me and inviting me. You are very kind.

Gopala dasi: Thank you. And if anybody would like resources that they can learn more, Acharya Das has a website with hundreds of talks on there. We’ve got lots of different information and kirtan programs, so please reach out and let us know, if you would like more, then we can help you with that.

Acharya das: I’ll just add one thing. What’s going to make a difference in your life is to develop a regular practice of meditation, even if it’s only 10 minutes a day, and even if you’re just using a simple guided meditation that you’re plugging into. Don’t just come and listen and go, “Wow, that was really interesting,” or whatever, and then just go back to your life the way it was. You have to be a little courageous. Start with little steps. Don’t try to do too much—you’ll fall over, run out of gas, and then get lost. Do little things that are achievable and doable, but consistency, even if it’s 10 minutes a day, consistency will bring the big change.

Sorry, I thought that was important.