Kabir: Most people seem to regard destiny as some preordained happening written in concrete, and you
have given a totally different interpretation of that, so could you share that with me and others?
Daaji: Definitely. I would love to. If destiny was fixed and written on solid,
written on stone, then why am I working? Why am I working to make my life better? Why am I
educating myself and torturing reading books etc. If the end result is fixed, what is the use of
actions and what is the use of thoughts and what is the use of intentions? So it is half-truth.
I need to work for sure, but what is my destiny? Destiny is something that I have prepared,
something by doing. If I had not studied pharmacy, I could not have become a pharmacist.
Certain actions are followed by results - that is for sure. That is karma part of it. But how do you
explain karma which is deviated by other’s action? I will give you an example of Hitler and Jewish
ghettos and how he tortured them in a gas chamber, how he killed millions of them. Was it a common
destiny of all Jewish people? I don’t think so. It was an action committed by a mad man. So the
destiny can change by so many influences- some are in our control and some are not in our control.
Kabir: Consciousness, as you quoted yourself and quoted Swami Vivekananda saying
that consciousness, is but a film between two oceans- the subconscious and the superconscious.
So my question to you is, for all that we do at the conscious level, how much of that can we
influence the subconscious? And which is more powerful, our subconscious or the conscious?
Daaji: Again, how we have created, you see destiny and subconsciousness are similar in nature.
When we act and repeat those actions again and again, it becomes a habit.
It becomes our subconscious act. And the habits are the most powerful thing, ask a
smoker or drug addict or an alcoholic. So the subconscious that way is very very powerful,
very powerful. It sometimes spoils all our best intentions.
How to get out of the clutch of the subconscious? So that is the main topic of spirituality. How
to go beyond the slavery of yourself, the lower self. Now when we meditate, what happens is
you go so deeper within yourself at the same time,
you go into a sky of super consciousness. You are somehow touching the higher planes of
consciousness. So for a moment you are far, far away from the subconscious.
Now the subconscious is also a treasure. If your actions were good, or if your habits were good,
it can come to your fortune and it becomes your, you can say, your wealth, your treasure.
But our subconscious or our karmas are mixed from the past- whether you believe
in past life or not. But the immediate past also can influence my present. Now,
there are techniques and ways of how to get rid of this baggage that we carry in our subconscious,
that we have described this particular method as Cleaning, and it can be felt. When
we do this every evening, you know, when we are working, for example, you are acting - wherever,
on a TV or in a theatre or for a movie - you carry some level of impressions about that act, about
that character and you get absorbed in it. It has some impact on our psyche. But in the evening,
when we are free from all this work and sit down for a few minutes and wilfully make a sankalpa
that, “Yes, I am going to get rid of all the impressions which are cluttering my mind” and
we are able to remove most of it. Kabir: We all wish to
evolve, we all wish to become the best we can be. I think that is the desire within everybody, even
the most unfortunate person wants to better himself - in some ways materially,
spiritually, emotionally. It is a universal desire to better ourselves. What is the most powerful
force for bettering ourselves, that can help us along that road in the most constructive
way? What is the most powerful weapon, single weapon, that we can use to empower ourselves?
Daaji: Humility. Kabir: Humility. Wouldn’t
you add kindness to that too, Daaji? Daaji: It will be the result.
Kabir: Right. Daaji:
Kindness, compassion, love. In the absence of humility, they will
all fail. Humility is the number one thing. And people talk of love, compassion. Of course,
they are very important but without humility at its base, they will fail.