I Feel Provoked and Just Want to Live My Spiritual Life

Questioner:

I just don’t want to deal with people’s BS, you know? I want to do what I want to do. I want to come to meditation when I want to come to meditation with nobody questioning it. I just want freedom like that. I don’t want to have to fight for things.

Swami Premodaya:

So nothing is free. You may have somebody who objects your going to meditation. There may be problems caused by you doing what you want to do.  So do not have the idea that, “If I am further on the path, that “I am problem-free.” Or, that “There should be even less problems.” There may be more problems.

If people see you are more peaceful, if people see you are more spontaneous, if people see you are more joyful, if people see you are really different than how they have always experienced you, they can get very angry with you. People do not like change. And people are challenged by seeing transformation in someone else. There is no question you have experienced profound transformation and true realizations. Many deep realizations.  There is no question about it. Now that provokes people frequently because even not knowing it consciously, they feel something and it is like an affront.  It is like, “Who do you think you are? Because it challenges them. Why haven’t they found it? Why haven’t they tried it? Why hasn’t that gone out there?  People take it as a challenge—as a provocation sometimes. That’s a price that people who come to these types of meetings frequently pay.

Nothing is free. There is always some result that comes with relating with other people.

And that does not mean you go and put a down payment on a cave in the Himalayas and just never relate. It means that you have your eyes open and realize that people are people. But really, going all the way means saying, “I am willing to pay the price. Maybe nothing in my life will change. Maybe everything in my life will change. Maybe some people I will get closer to—maybe some people I will never speak to again.” You don’t know. We don’t know the result. It is a continuous surprise who supports us, who does not—who stands by our side, who does not …As long as you are alive, and on the planet earth, there is problems. Anybody who tells you different, or thinks different, is deluded.

Questions:

How Can I Attune Myself to God’s Will?

Questioner: How Can I Attune Myself to God’s will?  Swami Premodaya: So anytime you question and wonder, that is a good thing. Because if followed in a sincere and correct way—if your questioning is true and right, if your pondering is a total effort, if your...

Why Is So Much Effort Needed on the Spiritual Path?

Questioner: Why is so much effort needed on the spiritual path? What is the purpose of all these strivings and practices?  Swami Premodaya:  …The Divine will come to you—you won't get to it—it will come to you. But it will come to you when you've done everything and...

What Does It Mean to Be Truly Responsible?

Questioner: What does it mean to be truly responsible? What are we responsible for, exactly? I’ve heard you say many times, “You control nothing, and you’re responsible for everything.” But what does that mean? Swami Premodaya: The statement you are referring to, is I...

Does Everyone Have a Mission in This Life?

Questioner: Does everyone have a mission in this life? Swami Premodaya: Do you have a mission? No question. I guarantee you that you have a mission in this life. I don’t know how to say it other than, “I guarantee it.” I don’t know what good my guarantee does, but...

Is There Really a Divine Plan?

Questioner: Is there really a Divine plan?  Swami Premodaya: There is no chaos going on anywhere, no matter how much it looks like chaos. There is, absolutely, a Divine plan. But it's not how it sounds. Divine plan is not our idea, your idea, my idea. When we think of...

What Do You Teach?

Questioner:  What do you teach? Swami Premodaya:  That going to God is more important than everything else—and should be the only item on your priority list. Everything else can wait. Everything else will get taken care of by itself.  Questioner:  What's your...

What Is Satsang?

“There have to be meetings in Truth; it makes sense because we can’t get there on our own. One by oneself can’t do it—it is too hard; there are too many obstacles.” –Swami Premodaya

How Can I Stop Being So Judgmental?

Questioner: I’m looking for a practice to stop judging so much. I actually know what it feels like. But I haven’t felt it in a while. It feels good! Swami Premodaya: Good!—we’re glad you’re here. If we could stop judging and did nothing else, if that was the practice,...

Are There Soul Mates?

Questioner: Do you think there is such a thing as soul mates? If so how do you know if you have found yours? How do you know if someone is right for you in the long run? Swami Premodaya: So, listen to this answer to the soul mate question—not the way it will sound....

What’s the Difference Between a Teacher and a Guru?

Questioner: What’s the difference between a Teacher and a Guru? Swami Premodaya: The Guru is not an educator—a Guru transforms people if they're willing. A Guru is a catalyst. A teacher is an information bringer. I'm not sharing information, although information may...

What Does the Word “Spiritual” Mean to You?

Questioner: Everybody says “spiritual” a lot everywhere, all over the world now. And my question, just to you is: How do you define spirit? Swami Premodaya: “Spirit” is a code word. It’s a code word we use for what we mean by “the Divine, the Unknown, the Mystery” —...

I Realize I Use Spirituality to Escape My Worldly Responsibilities

Questioner: For me it’s a tendency to indulge in escapism, to not deal with my basic human responsibilities—relationships, jobs, money—and excuse it by saying, “Well, none of that’s real.” That’s number one of the ways that I con myself. I come up against an...

What Goes With Us When We Die?

Questioner: What goes with us when we die? Swami Premodaya: What goes with you is in two forms, the first form is that which is the essential—and it sounds redundant but it isn't: the living life in you. And the second thing that goes with you are the tendencies that...

I Had a Wonderful Experience of Liking Everything…

Questioner: I had a lovely thing happen yesterday, I was going along and I felt a general kind of liking for everything, and, it was very, very mild. And everything was just fine, just okay, but not a big deal. All the people who happened to be around, I liked seeing...

How Do I Practice Patience?

Questioner: My question is: How do you master patience when you have a lot of passion? I’m an actor. I have done a lot of work back in New York. I moved here and got a manager, and she’s been helping me find an agency. Sometimes I get frustrated because of my passion....

How Does One Maintain Equanimity When There Is Physical Pain?

Questioner: I’m interested in your thoughts about how one maintains equanimity and one’s realizations and one’s stability, to whatever degree one has in Truth, when the physical body is a factor—when the body is ill or over-agitated and metabolically, energetically,...

I’m Scared to Be Loving in an Unloving World…

Questioner: I think it is really scary to live in a world where you feel very open and loving—and you feel that space come up often and you act on it, or you be it, and then that which you see around you does not always reflect it. And it seems too normal …and I have...

What Is Service?

Questioner: I don’t understand what real service is. What is service? Swami Premodaya: The first thing to understand is: you’re already serving. Whoever you are, however you live, whatever your life is, you’re already in service to something. There’s no way around...

How Can I Be Successful in My Meditation Practice?

Questioner: I feel like I’m constantly failing in my meditation practice. How can I be more successful with my meditation? Swami Premodaya: I would like to be known for this actually—everybody says, “I'm not good at meditation” or so many people say, “It doesn't work...

Why Am I Here? Why Am I Alive?

“Why?” is the most important question, because it’s the beginning of everything that matters. Until you seriously, with your whole heart and soul, ask, “Why?” there is no real spiritual search. It always begins with, “Why? Why am I here?” That is the only way it begins for anybody, but that’s also where it ends, because “why” can’t take you to where you want to go, “why” can’t give you the answer, “why” can only take you around in a circle.

Why Can’t I Keep My ‘Spiritual Highs’?

Questioner: It seems like my biggest challenge over the last few years—because I’ve done a lot of different things, really intense meditation groups and workshops, and all sorts… here and there. And every time I go deeper, I mean that sweet, juicy, wonderful deepness,...

I Fear Being Alone, Can You Shed Some Light on This?

Questioner: I have a situation. I have been with my partner for about ten years, and she is a very loving person. She is away at night quite a bit at her job, and I’m alone in the apartment. Now, I don’t feel good alone in the apartment. I feel alright, but kind of...

Is Suffering Inherent to Human Life?

Q: Is Suffering Inherent to Human Life? by Swami Premodaya

A: The majority of us believe suffering to be inherent to human life—unavoidable. This gives us a certain self-righteous justification for our attachment to our suffering, and for our identification with it—no matter how painful or undesired that suffering may be. (As a by-product of this stance, many of us also indulge ourselves by permitting ourselves all kinds of insensitive and licentious behaviors, spanning from casual irresponsibility to intentional cruelty.) Nevertheless, the fact of the matter is that suffering is infused from the outside. Suffering is not inherent to any particular human experience.