The following is part one of a talk given by Shri Anandi Ma in 2012.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I welcome you all with love and peace. It is often quite surprising when it is asked by a person in the later years of his or her life, What is my goal, Why am I here, What am I supposed to do? On the one hand it is surprising, but on the other it is not at all surprising because almost each and every person encounters these questions at some point, maybe early, maybe later in life. Almost everyone goes through that phase of questioning and trying to find the answers. But very few persons who have asked these questions have made efforts towards finding, and then discovering, the answers. Once these puzzles have been resolved, they are then able to help others find the answers to such questions.

Who are these persons? We normally recognize them as realized beings, masters, saints. Many such beings have already attained self-realization in the past and have simply come back into the physical plane to help others. Over the centuries, at different times in different parts of the world, such masters have incarnated by God’s will and grace to help humanity. When we look at the vast population of the earth, quite a few of these persons faced these questions and saw the limitations and impermanence of life; witnessing death itself; seeing the suffering of others; and something moved them to deeply seek answers to these questions.

As a child, Dhyanyogi was one such person who began to ask these questions at the age of just five and seven: Who am I? Why is there death? What is death? Why can’t people stop someone they love from dying? Naturally, He began to ask these questions of His parents, the elders in His family, and even his neighbors, but no one was able to give Him any answer that satisfied Him. So finally at the age of seven, He decided that He had to leave His home, and go into the world and try to find the answers. It took thirty years of crisscrossing India, meeting various teachers in all sorts of lineages, following all sorts of different practices. He had some glimpses here and there over the years but nothing like the full experience, until finally at the end of thirty years He met His final master who gave Him what is known as the initiation of Shaktipat. Once He received this transmission of energy from a realized teacher, Dhyanyogiji immediately had an inner experience where the puzzles were all solved and He felt that the answers of life were in front of Him. That experience moved Him so deeply that, by the instructions of His own master and His own intuition, He dedicated the rest of His life to reach as many people as He could. He was willing to share His experiences and gifts with all those who were seeking the answers of life.

The saints always say, and as we all witness constantly, we tend to forget that everything here is subject to being destroyed at some point.

The saints always say, and as we all witness constantly, we tend to forget that everything here is subject to being destroyed at some point. Anything and everything that has come to life, that has been born, will also die as well. But death and birth are just phases that everyone goes through. Nothing here is stable; everything is constantly changing and at some point won’t remain at all in the physical plane. One may be a millionaire today but tomorrow everything could be lost. Sometimes we may have loving family and friends but at some point and over time they all move on and we lose them as well. Most of all, our own bodies will be gone at some point, they won’t remain eternally.

What is eternal, what is stable? Through the mind and senses, the body is having this external experience, which is valid and happening only because of the presence of the absolute consciousness, what we refer to as the soul within. Over time we have become so accustomed to it that we have lost touch with that true reality within. So instead of being external, we need to go within and reach to that true eternal aspect within us, and if we are able to reach it somehow, then and then only, we will have the answers that we truly seek. As long as we remain attached to the external reality and search for these answers in an external way where they do not exist, naturally they will not be found.

The yogis say that is the goal of life, to return the source from where we have all come. That is the portion that never changes and that is always. That’s where that state of bliss is constant and expanding with never a variation.

We run around so much and put so much energy and effort into obtaining things in life in an external way and many of these efforts, of course, are necessary. We might even be putting out such efforts in order to attain that state of peace and happiness, but nothing can be found in the external because that itself is unstable. To attain the true state of eternal peace and happiness we have to go within ourselves.

Over the centuries, the incarnations of the Lord and the realized masters have given many tools and techniques about that inner journey. When the grace of the Lord manifests, it is possible to meet a master who is able to shed light and guide us on the pathway to reach that source. Dhyanyogiji had that experience after thirty years of intense effort and when the grace finally came to Him, He was able to apprentice to the master. It was through this path of Kundalini Maha Yoga and the process of shaktipat, transmission of the energy from the realized master to the student, that He finally attained this goal. Kundalini is the divine energy within each and every one of us. It is universal, whatever it may be called. Yoga is the process of uniting ourselves with the true essence and maha literally means great.

This path combines all the basic paths to reach the ultimate goal: the path of bhakti or devotion; that of gnyan or knowledge; of dhyan or meditation; and of course yoga, or union itself. That is unique.

All the different paths of course have a different approach, but they all lead to the same goal, just as all rivers merge into the same ocean. The end result of whatever may be the process is the same source. From the supreme consciousness, or God, comes you and me, the individual soul, which projects itself to function through the kundalini energy within the body.

Part two of this talk will appear in Shakti Online in May.