October 26, 2020
Prem Baba, why do so many bad people, apparently, get along in life?
Prem Baba: I will answer you with another question: what does it mean to get along in life? To have money, power, fame? Is that what it means to get along in life for you?
If so, let’s do a reflection together. Is it true that a person with money, power and fame is getting along? It may be, but it may be not.
From my point of view, getting along means having peace of mind and heart. In that sense, peace can be in the mind and heart of both people who have material possessions and those who do not. Happiness does not depend on what you have. Happiness is not outside and does not depend on what is outside. But I understand the question, because this belief that happiness depends on material achievements is deeply rooted in the human being. Happiness, however, depends on other things. It’s a state of mind that is related to the principles of the internal worlds. Perhaps the best known of these principles is karma.
What is Karma?
Prem Baba: Firstly, it’s important to say that in the West karma has been misinterpreted. It has been related to a moral attribute, but it concerns the mechanics of action and reaction.
Eventually, we can use as an example a law of the physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton. Newton’s third law states that every action corresponds to a reaction of equal intensity, but which works in the opposite direction. Force is the result of the interaction between bodies, meaning one body produces the force and another body receives it.
That is, the actions are the same and in opposite directions. Undeniably, each action produces a reaction and the unfoldings are endless. Therefore, it’s correct to say that each one of us is living what we need to live. Everyone has what they need to learn what needs to be learned. Little by little you learn to play the game of life.
Prem Baba, can you give an example?
Prem Baba: Yes, I like to bring text passages that exemplify some situations. In the book “Autobiography of a Yogi”, written by the Indian yogi Paramhansa Yogananda in 1946, he talks about the experience of Lahiri Mahashaya. Before completing his game of life and surrendering to spiritual life, he had a wish to be fulfilled: he wanted to live in a palace. Babaji then gave him this palace. He lived in a palace adorned with precious stones, fulfilled his wish and said: “Okay, now I don’t need this anymore”.
Each of us has our aspirations and desires and there is certainly a purpose in them. Therefore, we must be very attentive to judgments. When you judge, you are not seeing what is happening to that soul, nor what it needs at that point of its journey.
Another example that I believe to be appropriate is that of King George of England. He was once on a spiritual search moment and went to India. They pointed out to him the holy Katcha Baba, a simple man who lived in a simple place. The King asked him what he could do for him, what he could give him ir order to thank him. Katcha Baba asked what this offer would be. Without modesty, the King replied that he could give him anything, after all, he was the King of England. Katcha Baba replied: “But your kingdom is just a tiny piece within mine and if there is someone here who has something to give, it is me”. Baba broke the King’s ego. There was an opportunity there and a real relationship flourished.
Master, now I got lost. We spoke about many things: getting along in life, karma, judgment and ego… And I got mixed up. Can we recap?
Prem Baba: Sure, here we go. First of all, it’s important to understand that we have many variables at stake, and that we do not know what is right or wrong, truth or lie.
I don’t share the belief that bad people do well in life. A bad person has no friends, has accomplices. If there is no friendship and real relationship flowing through the body, there is no love in life. And life without love is an arid life.
Because of our belief system, we judge and compare. The mind is the one playing the mad in the house, throwing you back and forth. Maybe this person you think is doing well in life is actually experiencing challenges that you have no idea about.
They are people who need prayer and a lot of love. If it’s really happening, we don’t know, because this is our vision, which is the result of our judgment. Only an awaken master can see if the person is doing well or not because they see beyond appearances. They see the karmic game taking place on the surface, as we get distracted by this game. At most, we see the cover.
Prem Baba, and where does the ego come into this story?
Prem Baba: I’ll get there. We need to look beyond the layers. Surprisingly, we only look beyond the layers if we have a minimum of acceptance within us. You have to have a degree of humility to be able to accept the game so that you can get out of the ego level and look from above at what’s going on.
Furthermore, if you look from above you will see that everything is absolutely right, even when in the ego level is absolutely wrong. At the ego level, right or wrong depends on your beliefs. So, again, I repeat that not everything you believe is true.
Whenever you are tormenting yourself with your judgment, try to observe who you are judging, where the judgment comes from, and question whether this is true or you believe it to be true.
One of these days, a boy came to me telling me that he began the process of self-knowledge. After having an experience, he came to the conclusion that he knew nothing. “I’ve experienced that I only know that I know nothing”. So I said: Hallelujah! You’ve put your foot in the way.
Prem Baba, and what about when this happiness that some people are are bothered about is ours? How to stay in a state of happiness without causing strangeness around us? How to deal with it?
Prem Baba: Don’t worry about it. Just as you are doing your best to break free from judging others, you must do your best to break free from the influence of the other’s judgment. Note that happiness, when it arrives, it needs space.
It’s possible that hapiness may bother some, indeed. Happiness undeniably bothers the unfortunate ones and you will have to deal with it. Maybe some people will get angry and jealous about your happiness. So, at this time, you need to be very attentive, because the slightest lack of care can make you start to feel ‘I’m the happy one’. And consequently, to believe that the other is unhappy. And with that, you will lose your happiness. It’s that fast!
The ego is very clever. It gets you when you least expect (when you take a nap, as a brazilian saying goes). The caboclo says: “If you take a nap, the pipe falls”.
(a caboclo is a person of mixed Indigenous Brazilian and European ancestry, a culturally detribalized person of full Amerindian descent who is known to smoke tabaco in pipes)
And what to do when we fall?
Prem Baba: No problem. Sometimes it’s just a little nap, but it happens. There is no big or small in the world. It is not wrong to fall.
After all, a child falls when learning how to walk. So be careful. Because you can demand a perfection that you don’t have to give.
This is another aspect of the ego’s cleverness: it starts demanding that you don’t make a mistake, that you never fall. It’s necessary to accept your imperfections. Only when you can accept them, without wanting to be above them, can you truly transcend them.
Certainly many things disappear when you are silent and put yourself in the here and now. In the same way, during this journey you realize that here and now do not exist, not even me, nor you. Duality disappears. Everything is Satchitanada: existence, consciousness and ecstasy. This is the definitive thing, it doesn’t die, it doesn’t burn with fire, it doesn’t get wet with water, it doesn’t age, it doesn’t get sick. It’s not subject to the game of Mahamaya, to the great cosmic illusion. In this way, there is no desire or stairs to climb, the steps disappear. That which you do from this place is love in motion. This is al there is, and only this.
In another article, the master of love Sri Prem Baba talks about purpose and how to connect to it. After all, at some point in our journey here on the planet, it’s natural to question the reason for existing. In fact, who hasn’t woken up wondering what life is all about? And what really motivates us? Come check out more about this topic in this text.
