OM

**INTROSPECTION** My Salutations to all Pious Souls.. Every Guru-Poornima is always one step (further) for sadhaks towards spiritual progress, and this time the Guru-Poornima was a special occasion because it was being celebrated for the first time in the Gurus Place (Guru-Sthan). Therefore, a transformation has occured in sadhaks after the Guru-Poornima. Today every sadhak who is connected to the Guru-Energies wishes to know about the level of his spiritual state. He wishes that he should at least come to know about how much progress he has made in the spiritual field, and how much further progress he still needs to make. This thought about ones level of progress is itself indicative of the first step to progress, and I have been receiving thousands of letters from sadhaks on this subject. This is a sign of a good spiritual state; otherwise there are many sadhaks who dont even have time to think about this subject. They always remain under the influence of their situations. But actually, situations are never steady. Every morning there is darkness before it dawns and therefore even in our life when the darkness of bad circumstances is present, we should think about the brightness of the next morning. In my life too, the situations would keep changing from moment to moment and I was all alone even in the environs of the Himalayas. Death had passed by near me many times. I feel quite astonished now when I think about how I could come out alive from such a dangerous jungle and from the snow- covered mountains. Perhaps I could return from there because Gurudev desired to convey me up to all of you; otherwise death was always present with me like a shadow one false step would have landed me on deaths door. I was not even familiar with those areas; but with every breath I took I would feel that Gurudev was with me, and therefore I never ever felt that I was alone in my life. I always find Gurudev present with me as soon as I close my eyes. While the Namaskar was in progress during this Guru-Poornima, there were two kinds of sadhaks standing in the queue; one kind of sadhaks were getting the darshan of Gurudev personified and wishing that the queue should never come to an end and they should continue to stand in the queue all their lives. On the other hand, there were sadhaks who were thinking this is such a long queue! Who knows when it will end and when we will be able to get lunch they were not even aware that Gurudev was seated before them without having his lunch too. You yourself should introspect about which queue you were standing in this is the same answer to all your letters. I have given some benchmarks here and you can introspect on them and find out for yourself: 1. Do you meditate regularly? (Yes) 2. Do you get thoughts about the past? (No) 3. Do you follow the discipline? Because discipline is the first step of Samarpan. (Yes)

4. Do you have feelings of enmity towards anyone? Do you have ill-will towards anyone? (No) 5. Are you satisfied with your life? (Yes) 6. Do you experience waves of consciousness in your body? (Yes) 7. Do you perform Guru-Karya without ego for your own inner-satisfaction? (Yes) 8. Do you spend some time all alone with your soul? (Yes) 9. Can you hear the celestial sound (Brahmanaad) when you are alone? (Yes) 10. Do you ever get darshan of the Satgurus subtle body (Sookshma Sharir)? (Yes) 11. Do you obtain the Satgurus messages before receiving the messages at the physical level? (Yes) 12. Do you get the spiritual experience (anubhooti) of suddenly receiving the fragrance of sandalwood or roses from inside yourself? (Yes) 13. Do you find yourself free of all kinds of bad influences like the lotus flower, despite living in society? (Yes) 14. Do you know Who you yourself are? Why you have come here? And where you have to go? (Yes) 15. Are you aware of the true form of your Satguru? Do you have knowledge about whose life-time it is in which you are living, and what is your relationship with Him? (Yes) 16. Do you go into a meditative state as soon as you close your eyes? (Yes) 17. Do you always have goodwill and good wishes towards everyone? (Yes) 18. Do you always hear the Brahmanaad from inside yourself? (Yes) 19. Do you practice Samarpan Meditation in order to fulfill some particular requirement? (No) 20. Has your quest for Paramatma ended? (Yes) 21. Do you experience complete inner-peace in your life? (Yes) Ask yourself these above-mentioned questions and if your answers correspond with the correct answers, it indicates that you have achieved completion. I am only talking about spiritual progress because prosperity always stands before a Yogi with folded hands. Prosperity fulfills the needs of a Yogi before he is aware of them; and whatever answers of yours are not correct that indicates that you still need to travel a long way on the path of devoted meditational practice (dhyan-sadhana) and begin your journey on the path immediately with this knowledge. You will find me within yourself at every turn of your life, because now I no longer belong to myself but have become yours completely. I am experiencing this and you too should try to experience it. With these Blessings, Yours, Baba Swami