Babaji, what is in a name!

Jai Ma Nanda, Jai Sunanda Nanda Devi and Sunanda Devi: Main and East Summits (photo: Alex Moran) With permission from http://www.moran-mountain.co.uk/moran-mountaineering/Nanda%20Devi%20East.htm  

Just as there is little substance in dress one wears but more in real worth of a person;. a crooked rascal may wear a fine suit and tie and make silly putty of others, so it is with high sounding names and titles.

Nevertheless, despite this fault, one has to put on the right dress to suit one’s mission in life, for a door may shut because of a wrong dress even before someone has had a chance to take a good look. It is just as a fine book may go unread because it has a poor cover. So it with names and titles too, albeit it is a superficial thing

It was mentioned in an earlier post that I have been guided much in life by spiritual guidance for many years, both in my not-so-spiritual days and now when it has become more spiritual. Back in early nineties, an eminent personality, a former Prime Minister of India, Shri Chandra Shekhar had suggested a similar title but I had declined then even though I regarded him as a father figure and he reciprocated similarly. It was indeed an honor to have been associated with such an eminent person for over a decade. At that time I did not consult spiritual mentors for the many choices one has to make in one’s journey through life, that began a few years later, but felt that firstly I still had some professional career to pursue where a title of Dr. or Professor is more appropriate, moreover I suffered from many human weaknesses not fitting the role. Not that CS may not have not known of them but you know how politicians are. Most care less for substance than impression.

I had come in association with the former Prime Minister due to a family connection and also because of a developmental activity but as our association proceeded he discovered my understanding of the spiritual side from a scientifically logical perspective and had many queries. One question that had troubled him was that a seer had predicted with precision when he would become the Prime Minister of India and he was troubled that if things are predestined there may be no such thing as free will.

I explained to him that free will is real and he can choose what to eat tonight for example. However so is prophecy and the way it works is this. All beings are subject to two forces, actions arising from free will and those predestined by Karma that are external events which influence our lives. Karma is of different strengths according to its influence on the world. Thus because choosing what to have for dinner has little impact on the world what ever was chosen by karma can be altered easily by ones own free will and effort. However, when it comes to someone becoming the leader of one sixth of humanity, it is a weighty karma; it is not within the power of individual effort to change that. Hence one can say it is a predestined event and therefore foreseeable by a seer.

The PM was delighted by the explanation and perhaps because of this felt that I would do better as a spiritual teacher than a Professor of Engineering. However, I am glad I declined his suggestion because I would have been a disgrace to spirituality with my behavior in subsequent years, some of which, around seven, were spent with heavy consumption of alcohol. I did give up on alcohol around ten years ago when I felt that it had reached an unacceptable limit. I had brushed away the suggestion of CS in a lighter vein by remarking, then I would have to grow a long beard also. He had replied, no that is not necessary.

Essentially, to don any sort of spiritual mantle implies becoming a servant or loving child of the Ultimate reality and to do His bidding i.e. to make that the prime purpose of existence rather than their own will. Many such beings require neither any direct communication with the masses nor any recognition of this from them. Some of the evolved beings serve as His messengers while some merely assist in that task. For any such role, it seems, there must be sufficient lack of personal desire, ambition, and a reduced karmic baggage in order for God the Almighty and not just a human, howsoever elevated in the eyes of man,  to accept one in such a role and then to be able to execute that role with any degree of satisfaction.  

I have been interested in the spiritual side of life, for as long as memory stretches, even marveling at the infinite extent of universe as an infant, my career was a scientific and professional one.  That is how I made a living. Up until 2010, seven years ago, professional interests dominated spiritual ones and here I was variously called just Ashok by colleagues and friends or as Dr, Sir or Professor by others. In my spiritual breaks and forays into the Himalayas, some called me Babaji at times, perhaps spiritually charged during such episodes, the title was appropriate for those brief periods but not otherwise.

Therefore on blogger I simply used the name Ashok on my profile.  However, since 2010, it seems my spiritual contributions to the world appear to have dominated over scientific ones and now I would use the name Babaji in some of my works written to share my understanding on spiritual knowledge as well as some of my activity devoted exclusively to spiritual progress. This may give more confidence to sincere spiritual seekers when they read through many of  spiritually inspired posts in my blogs and elsewhere. Of this I have no doubt that it will do much to improve lives.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:(A)_Valley_of_flowers,_Garhwal_Uttarakhand_India.jpg

The author visited the Valley of flowers in the summer of 1980, The Novella - Mystic and the Blossoms - was inspired by this visit. If you are interested just search for it on google.