Power to Change Your Destiny

Avdhoot Baba Shivanand

I have been receiving a lot of letters at Ashram, from people seeking healing. Telling me how they
are suffering in their lives be it their health, profession or family. Today I promise you that I will
talk about this life and try to unfold its secrets, so that once you leave this hall you are clear as to
what life is and how you should live this life. All our scriptures the Shastras and Vedas are the
best management books. They are comparatively more compact and complete than modern
education books. I was in Bangalore and a lot of people belonging to different communities and
working in industries came and met me. They spoke about recession and its ill effects on the
country. And how the people were closing down their businesses. Overall they were suffering.
They had all come for my blessings believing I would give them some locket or bhabhoot that
would alter their fortunes.

The first thing I told them was low of nature. If you understand the fundament al law of nature,
then you cannot do anything wrong. If you ignore the law of nature it can lead you to trouble. And
the basic law is ‘healthy people make healthy industries’. Vice versa, sick people make sick
industries. So you jot down on a piece of paper whether you are a healthy or sick person. Healthy
people make healthy nation and sick people make sick nation. In the same vein, healthy people
make healthy society and sick people make sick society. Everything good is collectively good for
people. So you have to analyze and see what we are and how we are. World Health
Organisation has released a new definition of a healthy person. Now according to WHO, a
healthy person means anyone who is healthy physically, mentally and spiritually. Hence if anyone
is healthy physically, mentally and spiritually, he is considered a healthy person.

First we must ascertain whether these three things exist in us. Now today the society is worried
about children, particularly the youth. Are we imparting these three things as a culture? Are we
inculcating these habits in children to make sure they are healthy physically and mentally? Are we
taking them towards the spiritual side? Mind you, there is difference between spirituality and
religion. So don’t get confused. If I say inculcate the feeling of spirituality in children, suddenly I
find some Amma taking her teenage son to temple everyday in order to inculcate spirituality in her
son. No, not that.

If you want to accomplish some thing, you have to pay a price got it. This is a major thumb rule of
nature. Nothing comes for free in this universe. In some way or the other you have to pay a price
to achieve whatever you want to achieve. In case you want to remain physically healthy you are
required to pay a price even for that. The price is in form of physical exercises. Tell me, are you
regularly doing exercises such as morning walk, jogging or practicing Yoga or Pranayama? If you
are not doing any of these you are not paying the price. And if you are not paying the price, are
you going to be healthy?

Health is necessarily not confined to only physiological aspects of our body. There is more to it.
Rather it is factored in three-pronged sequence. The three essential components of health are
healthy mind, healthy body and healthy spirituality. By saying healthy spirituality I mean strong
spiritual moorings. As I said earlier health is a multi dimensional phenomena. It is closely
interlinked with its three corresponding parts. To start with, mind is the most pivotal part in entire
scheme of things. Above all, mental part connects with your thought process. Food for mind is
also very important. In our Shastras they call it Swadhyay. Swadhyay is reading the divine
scriptures everyday. After reading the positive scriptures, the positivity of the mind increases and
it becomes healthier. Healthy mind on its part, leads to an advanced spiritual state. Thus, when
you meditate deeply you inculcate this feeling of spirituality in you. To put it more clearly, healthy
mind, healthy body and sound spirituality together make a healthy individual. Any nation, where
people are practicing these three things will have a healthy society. Because if people are
healthy, the nation becomes healthy. If they become healthy their organizations become healthy.
As a sanyasi I must talk about the mantras. I will tell you how the mantras are relevant in the life.
But first I will explain you what are the mantras and their relevance especially they were created
in first place. Once you go into spirituality, you will find mantras there. In Geeta Krishna says,
“Among all the Yagnas the Mahayagna is Mantrayagna. If you recite a mantra that is Mahayagna,
God of that Mahayagna is myself. I am the Devtaa of Mahayagna.”

Various types of mantras are mentioned in our scriptures. The Vedic Mantras, the Tantrik
Mantras, Sabar Mantras and Aghor Tantras etc. basically what happens when you recite a
mantra; for example take up the mantra Om Namah Shivay and you go on reciting Om Namah
Shivay. After some time you find that your energy level is rising. And you begin to experience the
divine energy of Shiva. But what is the basic phenomenon that takes place? The answer is every
human being has five bodies. The physical body-Annamayakosha, the bioplasmic body-
Pranamayakosha, the mind body -Manomayakosha, the intellectual body-Gyanamayakosha, the
cosmic body-Anandmayakosha. If you see these five bodies the Mann or Manomayakosha lies at
the centre.

Every thought that comes in the mind creates energy. This energy makes you Mind body. If
positive thoughts are coming then you have a very beautiful mind body. But if anyone is
preoccupied with thoughts of resentment, anger and jealousy—for instance lot of people are in
the habit of saying that everyone is jealous of me. If such types of thoughts are recurring
repeatedly in your mind, inevitably they would constitute a very ugly body. Saints can see the
difference in the energy bodies. It’s a thought process. Our elders especially Siddhas were very
intelligent. They knew if they did not give Mantra Diksha to ordinary human being, then he would
be perpetually busy with negative thoughts and mundane negative feelings like resentment,
jealousy, hatred, etc. which in turn would generate negative energy. Therefore in order to control
these people, the Siddhas gave them positive mantras. So that if a person is reciting that mantra
continuously his mind body would be controlled. He will exude positive energy.

At this point I would like to reveal a very interesting phenomena. Every thought that comes in
your mind has a specific shape, color and fragrance. If someone is engrossed in negative
thoughts he will display negative traits like ugly appearance, darker negative color and foul smell.
On contrary, if someone is thinking positively all the time, he will have pleasant personality
emitting attractive odor and fair color. Subconsciously all the energy bodies around you reflect the
state of your thoughts. Or they are a creation of your own thoughts. Once you are absolutely
saturated with a particular energy, a stage comes when the same energy would manifest in the
form of physical reality. Primarily because everything originates from the mind body. If it is very
positive and divine thought, you will enter the Gyanamayakosha as your thoughts will move
upwards. Once you get the ultimate Gyana of the God you start experiencing the ultimate bliss
paving your way for Anandmaykosha

On the other hand, average or inferior thought would stimulate negative energy, which of course,
would automatically move in downward direction. First it would enter your bioplasmic body or the
energy body and then it would manifest in the reality. It is a very scientific phenomenon. All great
Siddhas and Saints have been working to increase the mind power. It is mentioned in our
scriptures that if a thought comes to our minds repeatedly, it becomes a mantra. And if you are
regularly reciting that mantra then it becomes a reality. In other words, you can create a life of
your own choice if you know how to control your thoughts.

Many people come to me claiming to be saintly persons who help everyone and in return the
same people cheat them. Well, there is something wrong with their thought process. They have
picked up this mantra—the moment I will help someone he will cheat me. Same mantra in
Manomayakosha is creating creatures permeating the energy fields. Therefore it is quite likely
that a perfectly honest person will impulsively cheat them after coming under the influence of their
energy fields. In our scriptures, it is written—Aham Brahmasmi; meaning I am Brahma the
ultimate creator. Therefore you are the creator. Aided by Chitashakti or Kundalini Shakti you
create success for yourself. You create spirituality for yourself. You also create failures for
yourself. In the same fashion, you create disease and cruelty for yourself. There is no external
force other than your thoughts and mind, which is responsible for creation of all these elements.
Shiva is very kind. He has given you the choice to create things for yourself. He has given you the
power to choose.

I will give you one example. You all are wearing very nice clothes. How did you purchase such
fabulous clothes? First of all, how did you decide that I am going to wear pant shirt or kurta
pyjama? Understandably, a thought came in your mind and you chose. Is it your choice or not?
Tell me yes or no. (Audience murmur in consent). It is your choice that I want to wear a wonderful
kurta pyjama. Its your choice whereby you decide to wear a beautiful sari. Here what you do
when you go to a shop? For instance, Shyamji was narrating his own experience while shopping
with his wife and daughter. Both these ladies, Shyamji says, have their own way of selecting their
favorite stuff. They ask the shopkeeper to show them everything. Whatever they like is kept aside
as per their instructions. Not content with that they demand, “Now show us something else some
other saris which may be more beautiful than the ones we have selected so far. This is better
keep it aside and show us more.” Eventually they virtually have his shop emptied of its entire
belongings. Bu then they have a pile of saris chosen by them. Out of that they will again choose.
Finally they pick up one or two saris. That is the power of choosing. You are exercising your
power to choose. Shiva has given you this power. So that you select whatever you want. For
instance take the example of food. The lady of the house enquires Kya khaoge, what will you like
to have for supper? Then you choose….Okay I would like to have such and such dish. She
informs you that your choicest bhaji is not available right now. If that’s the case drive down to all
corners of Mumbai and get me that particular bhaji, you order her. In doing so, you are exercising
your power to choose. It’s a simple example that I gave you. You do that or not?

If your child has to go to the school are you not exercising this power? If you have to watch a
particular channel on television, are you not exercising your power to choose? These are the
different ways you exercise your power to choose throughout your life.

If it’s a thought that is going to decide your future, shat should you do in that event? Should you
exercise your power to choose the thought or you let any other thought to enter your mind? What
I mean is are you exercising your power to choose this thought or are you letting it come?
Invariably you are exercising the power to choose while buying clothes, deciding menu and a host
of mundane things. Or let us put it this way. You go to a garment shop and say I want to go to
party so give me something to wear accordingly. You do not want to exercise your power to
choose. And supposing the shop owner gives you an underwear and baniyan suggesting they
would make a fabulous party wear on you. Would you agree to his suggestion? Certainly, not.

My point is, for trivial things you are exercising your power. But for bigger and decisive things that
shape your lives, you are not watching your thoughts. If you watch every thought that comes to
your mind and if you are that intelligent as that sari buyer is. Then certainly between the negative
and positive thoughts that approach your mind, you would block the passage of negative thoughts
and simultaneously allow the positive thoughts to enter our mind. This way you will make your
life. It is in accordance with the law of the nature. The law of the nature states that every incident
that occurs in your life is due to the thoughts that you have created. Be it disease, poverty or even
accidents. You create them much in advance. First by creating the thoughts and then finally they
manifest in reality. There you are not exercising the power to choose, that why the life is going
haywire. What are we choosing today? Take the case of industry. We have already chosen the
thought the industries are doomed. Because the government is not favorable. The policies are not
favorable. Hence, we are going to lose everything. Individually the people have chosen a
negative thought. Therefore in reality the negative thought created by the person will take actual
shape. And it will happen actually.

Many mothers decide to choose very delicate thoughts for their children. Mostly the children
concerned are either suffering or are regarded as problem children. They come to me and say
Babaji he is a problem child. Unwittingly, the very thought that they have chosen for their child is
–he is a problem child. He is a problem and if she repeatedly says he is a problem, she is
creating that energy in atmosphere. Obviously the most frequent and recurring thoughts are liable
to become a reality. Hence the child is bound to become a problem. Exercise the power to
choose your thought more than what you are exercising in choosing your clothes, make up, car or
the house. Exercise the power to choose the thoughts arriving in your mind. Once you start
believing everything good is going to happen to me, everything good will happen to you. On the
other hand if a person feels that I am sick. Every time he is creating a thought that I am sick, he is
creating a diseased individual. Ultimately after some time that person will become sick. My view is
if you scan every thought entering your mind very carefully and select only the positive thought,
your life will change for the better.