September 28, 2020
Sri Prem Baba, it’s natural to question the reason for existing at some point in our journey here on the planet. After all, who hasn’t woken up in the morning wondering what the meaning of life is? Why were we born? What really motivates us? Why does this happen to us?
As I observe the world around us I realize that the moment of starting the search for self-knowledge converges with the moment when some questions start to resonate within us. This is the beginning of a revolution of consciousness, it is the beginning of redirecting life itself.
Eventually, we can direct all of our efforts, resources and skills to do something in the world and meet the needs of survival. To do things in order to earn money so to please society, the family, the environment or even to acquire power and fame.
“To do something to meet needs of survival by directing our efforts, resources and skills to please other people”
Prem Baba calls this action external purpose and considers that at some point in life, it really motivates us.
But is there a problem if we want to make money, Prem Baba?
No problem. At some point, this is the source of our enthusiasm. But there comes a time when that enthusiasm runs out, the motivation wears off because this purpose does not connect to the heart, does not connect to that which in fact you came here to do. In other words: the external purpose does not connect with the internal purpose.
I feel that this mismatch is one of the roots of existential anguish and many other destructive symptoms, such as corruption, anxiety, depression and shame.
Perhaps the most serious one is the feeling of not fitting, of non-belonging, which makes you feel isolated, lonely. Because that’s how it feels to be a person who is simply fulfilling the external purpose in order to meet material needs without having any connection to the heart.
Prem Baba, can you explain what this internal purpose is? What is the purpose?
It’s the purpose of realization that manifests once we are able to be who we really are. It’s strange to speak in this way, does it mean that I am not who I really am? It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But perhaps you are using a false identity and became used to it to the point of not even questioning it.
Yes, you can identify the symptoms of this false identity: they are anxiety, feeling of disorientation, continuous anguish, a sadness that you cannot explain, the impression of feeling like the odd one out.
These are the symptoms from which you know that you are using an ID that is not actually yours. Therefore, once you are able to tear up this false identity and express the truth of who you are, the purpose is made manifest. It’s a program of your soul, it is like a perfume that is naturally sprinkled.
“Anxiety, continuous anguish, a sadness you cannot explain, the impression of feeling like the odd one out. These are the symptoms that indicate that you are using an identity that is not yours ”
Prem Baba understands that you can put an end to your illegitimate purpose.
Sri Prem Baba, do you mean that we all already have a pre-programmed purpose within us? As if we were already born with it?
I will explain it better. When the child arrives in this world, they are spontaneous and free. They manifest many fragrances of the Self that they are. They trust, they love, they take their parents’ hands and go without knowing where they are being taken because they trust.
The children can be themselves because they have not yet been contaminated by shame or fear. From the very beginning they bring news of their purpose, talking about what they want to be when they grow up, about their heroes, about the people they admire. They are signals, coordinates placed on the GPS, on the path to be followed here in this life.
Very early, however, this child learns to be afraid, to feel jealous, to be possessive. They start to build a false self. They begin to disconnect themselves from the essence of who they really are. Eventually, they forget those first inputs, those first signs of what they came here to do
But, Prem Baba, the parents themselves are often the ones who undo these dreams, due to the lack of knowledge.
Yes, sometimes the surroundings do not favor and the child ends up hearing that what they want is very difficult to get, maybe it is not even possible, maybe it is just a fantasy, a dream. Later, the direction of the path they had ends up disappearing and being covered by beliefs of others around them, by that which others believe to be really important and necessary for that child to survive where they live.
So they end up believing that in order to be happy they need to do certain things, to have certain things. Eventually they end up acquiring skills and creating a repertoire to do these things that the world expects of them.
In summary, many times what the child ends up becoming or doing in the world has absolutely nothing to do with what they really are and what they actually came to do in the world.
The child must be free to grow and to deliver the gifts and wisdom that they have brought, as well as their gifts and talents. To do this, we will need to free them from the captivity of the conditioned mind that I, Prem Baba, call false identity.
We will need to have the courage to promote an inner paradigm shift, freeing ourselves from a limiting belief system that is based on fear. In principle, fear is the one that causes us to be focused only on the external purpose. At some point, even shaking from head to toe, we will have to face this fear.
“Fear is what makes us focus only on the external purpose. At some point, even shaking from head to toe, we will need to face this fear ”
For Prem Baba, this is a fundamental point for self-knowledge and to be free.
How does the person realize that they are disconnected from their original purpose, Prem Baba?
The greater the distance between the external and internal purpose, the more intense the negative symptoms are and the greater the anxiety and distress. Consequently, this sometimes also ends up triggering physical illnesses and a series of other problems that are symptoms of this disconnection with the purpose.
For example: imagine an apple tree that cannot produce apples, an apple tree that is trying at all costs to produce avocados. I’m sure the life of this apple tree will not be easy. Imagine the sun rising with some different intention other than lighting or warming up. The water trying to do something else in the world other than quenching your thirst.
It is the same for humans. If you came to make popcorn and you are taking care of a garden, you may be in trouble. Or a ballerina working in an office.
There is no match, it does not adorn. The same goes for a person who came with the objective of running a company and is trying to be an actor. The conflict is armed.
Prem Baba, is there a way to know that we are ready to pursue our purpose?
We are talking about a change of identity. Are you really your story? Are you your name?
Your story may be the source of your anguish and it is very likely that you can’t bear it anymore: sometimes I am the good guy, sometimes I am the villain, sometimes I am the victim.
Who are you besides this story you created about yourself? I, Prem Baba, also ask me this question. In this sense, questioning has its role in the game, it is useful up to a certain stage. Just as it’s okay for you to do things just to survive until a moment in life.
On the other hand, there comes a time when you enter this blessed crisis. I said blessed because this is the turning point. The moment to rescue the inner child, the program of your soul, and to get in touch with that which you actually came to do here in this world.
First of all, every human being is born with a well-defined purpose. However, this purpose can often be completely forgotten. I, Prem Baba, believe that the purpose is only manifested when you can be yourself. Because as you unravel the purpose, you unravel yourself.
I’m talking about self-realization. I believe that we are a manifestation of divine love, a love that wants absolutely nothing in return. As long as you do not feel this unconditional love, you are far from your true identity and must continue the process of studying and investigating yourself.
The more conditional your love is, the more identified you are with the false identity, and therefore the more distant you are from your purpose.
Sri Prem Baba, can you better explain the connection of unconditional love and purpose?
For me, Prem Baba, purpose is closely related to this ability to love unconditionally. Because this soul-realization program is like a ray of construction and it always manifests for the common good in order to unite and facilitate everyone’s journey.
It is a manifestation of unconditional love from which you gain a particularity that is expressed in a unique way among your gifts and talents. When you begin to feel unease with existential questions and with the process of unveiling purpose or love, it all starts. The redemption process begins.
Memories and visions are the ones that bring you a synthesis about your purpose in the world. Perhaps this is one of the most beautiful moments in human existence, the alignment with the path of the heart. The beginning of the connection of the external purpose with the internal purpose.
You can manifest the inner purpose externally and even have your needs met from it. With this you trigger the flow of prosperity, abundance and eradicate the fear of scarcity out of your system, your body, mind and soul.
In fact, you will really have started your ascension. The child that inhabits you will begin to develop and move towards where he or she can get.
Prem Baba, can you give us a roadmap on how to start this journey in search of purpose?
A simple but yet powerful way to start this process of studying yourself and unveiling the purpose is to ask yourself a question:
If I didn’t have to worry about money and I didn’t have to please anyone, what would I do?
Understand well that I, Prem Baba, am not telling you to be inconsequential or irresponsible and to drop everything to go make crafts and sell them on the beach. Or even take all the savings and open an inn to make your dream come true. You can even do that, but not just yet.
Right now, I’m suggesting that you start mapping, making a diagnosis of your life. See what you would do if you weren’t so concerned about livelihood. Analyze the different areas of your life and recognize what you would like to be different. Try to identify the things you feel that are disturbing you. Detect that which is a source of distress, of anguish. And what you would like it to be different but are unable to do it.
Then find out what your dream is, what you would like to do. At the same time, allow yourself to remember your childhood, especially happy moments. Try to remember moments where you could be yourself and try to remember what you wanted to be when you grew up. Who were the people you admired, your heroes? So see if this in any way relates to your current goals and desires.
But what is the connection between childhood memories and what we would like to be doing, Prem Baba?
There is indeed a connection. You will reconnect with this source of inspiration that contains the program of realization, the purpose, which is the source of motivation. Then, you will begin to identify what prevents you from doing what excites you.
Inevitably, you will come into contact with limitations, with beliefs and voices within you. Little noises that say you can’t do what you would like to do. These are the inner “No’s”. When you identify the desire to go in a direction, you find yourself limited and prevented from going. Sometimes you find yourself even going in the opposite direction.
These are internal contradictions. There is a “yes” that wants to move towards that place that opens your heart, that fills you with joy and enthusiasm, that gives you warmth, that gives you goosebumps.
But there is a “no” that takes you in the opposite direction due to the beliefs you carry and programs made throughout life. Certainly, after identifying these voices you will begin the process of healing, of transforming the “no’s”, until you can move on to the “yes”.
Gradually, with self-knowledge we make this dream self-sufficient in order to meet material needs so that it can become a source of prosperity and abundance. However, when we put the need to make money up front, we end up hiding our motivator.
Therefore for me, Prem Baba, the first step is to start the question by thinking where you would be if you didn’t need to answer these voices, earn money and fight for survival. This is the beginning of the unveiling of the purpose.
Prem Baba, when we are in this process of searching for purpose, what’s more worthy: reason or intuition? Should we listen to our intuition?
Giving way to purpose means being guided by intuition. You make use of reason, you make use of technical knowledge, you make use of the whole repertoire of the mind, but intuition is the one who guides you because it knows the path of realization.
At some point you will learn to trust your intuition even more than your reason. When following intuition, we inevitably face challenges. So it’s important to be aware of that.
Sometimes you even get surprised by the dimension of the challenges, to the point of believing that you made a huge mistake in following your intuition. But believe me: these challenges are places of purification and learning and will contribute to your evolution. It’s natural that in some places on this journey you might feel fear and doubt. You will need to deal with it.
I want to bring an example with the story of a boy who, when unveiling the purpose and listening to his intuition, understood that he needed to drop everything, so he sold what he had and traveled to a distant city. When he arrived in this city he was robbed, all his belongings and valuables were taken. He entered a deep crisis of confidence, began to fully question his values and discoveries and entered a valley of skepticism. Because he had nothing, he had to sleep on a bench in a public square and beg for food. He later got a job washing dishes at a restaurant. That’s when he met the person he fell in love with and got married. What I wanted to exemplify here is that no, there is no way to control the process.
But this feeling of not being in control of things is very difficult. How to live with this, Sri Prem Baba?
The way is to continue allowing yourself to be guided by intuition and gradually go on purifying what has to be purified, learning what needs to be learned and correcting what needs to be corrected.
When intuition manifests, it brings a bodily feeling of openness, the energy grows, you feel the expansion, and the heart opens. One can still feel enthusiasm and motivation. When the conditioned mind enters, one feels the opposite, it’s a contraction. It is the ego: it brings doubts and the energy withdraws.
I, Prem Baba, feel that this initial inspiration, this intuitive leadership, always brings openness. It makes you feel whole, in place, even if this movement generates some disengagement afterwards. This is part of the process of purification, of learning.
The accomplishment of the purpose has the objective of expanding the consciousness and for that it is necessary to free yourself from the ghosts, from the limiting belief system. It is necessary to get rid of a lot of things that you believe to be you, but in fact, they are not.
As I’ve said before, following intuition does not mean having no challenges at all. You will have ups and downs, and this is where the doubt comes in. There will be many stops where your GPS will be recalibrated in order to continue your journey. It is all part of the process for the self-awareness of purpose and how to connect with your Self.
Prem Baba, returning to the example of the boy, how can we lose the fear of scarcity and lack of money?
The fear of scarcity is so deeply rooted in the human mind, in the nervous system, in our DNA and in our cells. We’ve been for millennia living under the fear of scarcity. It is natural that you are feeling this fear even when everything is thriving around you, when everything is flowing wonderfully.
It takes a mental reprogramming work to remove fear from your system and move towards the self-knowledge of the purpose. To do this, you need to identify the roots of this fear within you, and this is usually related to your life story.
Although scarcity is a collective phenomenon, it manifests in each one of us individually through shocks experienced during the development process. The free and spontaneous child at some point experienced a shock and lost confidence, lost the ground. At that moment, he or she broke with the essence and disconnected from what they are, and fear was installed in their system.
At first it feels like a generic fear, but gradually it starts gaining the “inputs” from: you cannot trust anyone; things will be lacking; if you are laughing a lot today, you will cry tomorrow; and so on.
You need to map these moments in your story and identify those voices that sabotage self-knowledge. Note that they are just voices that vibrate in the same frequency as darkness does and darkness has no existence of its own. Darkness is the absence of light. When it’s dark you turn on the light and darkness disappears. But first you need to identify darkness and then you turn on the light. These voices are ghosts, mental creations, they are not real. Then you free yourself in search of self-knowledge, purpose and connection with your Self.
To sustain prosperity, pleasure and goodness is the greatest challenge for human beings on this planet. It’s the biggest challenge, but it is possible. We are here precisely because we believe in this possibility.
How do we know that we are on the right path, Sri Prem Baba?
First of all, I think it is important to say that the search for self-knowledge and purpose is always related to innovation. No matter how classic and traditional is that which you are willing to do, there will always be a particularity of innovation.
When you connect with purpose and you understand that your destination was to come and make popcorn, that popcorn will have something unique, something new that will contribute to the cosmic order, that contributes to the evolution of the human species.
That being said, you need to break free of this idea of what is right and wrong, and allow yourself to follow the flow. Spiritual self-knowledge is fundamental to a certain extent, but there comes a time when it can also intoxicate. At this point you will have to break free to transform knowledge into wisdom through experience. If I, Prem Baba, could make a suggestion at the end of this conversation, it would be: do not waste time thinking if you are right or wrong. Allow yourself, allow yourself to live this experience.
It may even be that you are at another moment in your life and this might be the occasion to open another page in the book of life. After all, life is all about relationships and it is through them that we delve into ourselves. You can read more about it by clicking here!
