18 – Man jityu téné jagat jityu. Japyagna and Smurti thi Jagrat man jiti jajo. Sukshma no kajiyo swapna ma aavé té tarat bhuli jajo. Prabhu par nakhi déjo

One who has conquered his mind has conquered the world. Conquer your conscious mind with Japyagna and Smruti. Instantly forget the sub-conscious conflicts revealed in your dreams. Allow the Lord to take care of them – Pappa

According to the principles of Akshar-Purushottam, to conquer the mind is to acknowledge and accept all those associated with Maharaj i.e. his samband-walas, as ‘souls in the process of purification’ and to control the mind such that it only allows those thoughts, speech and actions which will please the Pratyaksh Swaroop. This is known as practising and applying Gunatit Sthit Pragnata.

Over millions of years, our minds and chitta have accumulated their own beliefs and formulated their own opinions. Once we have attained a single-minded conviction towards the Pratyaksh Swaroop, formed a bond with Him, then we should obey His commands sincerely whilst believing that He is omniscient. If we fail to practice this sincerely, but we repent, pray and continue doing mahatmya-yukt séva, then no matter how formidable our fate (prarabhdhas), due to the grace and blessings of the Pratyaksh Swaroop who has been pleased by our endeavours, our fate will change, becoming ‘Akshardham na prarabdhas’. There have been many such examples where P. Yogiji Maharaj has blessed and ameliorated his devotees’ prarabhdhas.

Thus as the attachment of our soul, intellect and heart towards the Pratyaksh Swaroop intensifies, if we endeavour to discard laziness and carelessness, remain humble and obey His commands sincerely then all the sins and egotistical prarabhdhas from our past lives will be purified and new destinies – ‘Akshardham na prarabdhas’ will be born.

Even as the devotee obeys the commands of the Lord with his conscious mind, the subconscious mind, which is the inner-mind will cause him distress as it reveals memories of past prarabdhas in his dreams. The devotee will become alarmed and distressed that he is experiencing such dreams even though he worships the Lord, performs mahatmya-yukt séva and practices japyagna.

However, Maharaj has said that even the mightiest, i.e. those who are considered to be spiritually enlightened suffered from such conflicts of the subconscious. The Lord, who rewards the soul according to his deeds (Karma-fal-data) is the custodian of these conflicts. We should try to forget such dreams, we should not ponder upon them, but should thrust them into the custody of the Lord. The reason for this is that we have no knowledge of what has become rooted in our inner-minds, the Lord has this knowledge, thus let Him take care of it. We should simply concentrate on our conscious mind and focus it on living according to the Lord’s wishes and commands.