Excerpts from Anand Krishna’s Autobiography
Echoes from the ‘Soul Quest’
Journey from Death to Immortality
by Anand Krishna
Huwa Raam Huwa Rahim
Huwa Krishna Huwa Karim
– Excerpts selected by Mona Darwish –
‘Malik, Thou, the Sole Owner of Creation, bless me with a son’. P9
‘He will bear a mark on his back. Mark of my Shiva, the Lord of the Universe, The Source of All Auspiciousness.’ P12
‘Wake up, wake up to your destiny…wake up to your conscience, to The Consciousness…’, The Angelic voice reminded me. P13
‘Birth and Death are just like waves of the Great Oceanic River of Life- the Sindhu of Existence’. P7
‘Birth was not my beginning. And therefore death could not end me.’ P15
‘I must rid myself of these thoughts about my past.’
‘Not rid, but transcend them.’ It corrected me.
‘How?’ I asked.
‘ By separating your ‘self’ from your thoughts. Just watch those changing scenes without getting emotionally involved.’
‘What do I do with these emotions arising?’
Watch them falling again…Just like waves, they once again become part of the river.’ P38
‘Creation is nothing special. Man is as much a creator as Brahma is,’ I heard the Angel whisper. P42
‘ My parents had given me freedom to learn and read about any religion. They in fact encouraged me to study all religions… Families broke down just because of religion, because of their inability to appreciate and accept differences.’ P51
‘Existence is like a huge radio station,’ my Angel had explained… ‘Then you are tuned to your mind. And the mind speaks from its memory. It has its own vocabulary. Its own language, rather languages, and patterns’… There were uncountable frequencies, so a person claiming to hear the Voice of God may have been tuned to any of those frequencies… One may even be prompted to kill and get killed in the name of religion. Tuned to another frequency, one may hear the messages of love, peace, harmony and sacrifice.’ P52-53
‘Are you a boat on the river or have you become one with the river? If you are a boat, then you must do evaluation. You must be careful with what is happening around you. But if you are already one with the river, then there is no need for evaluation. You will continue to flow with it.’
‘God is happening in your life. It is happening in Soul’s journey from death to immortality, from dust consciousness to divine consciousness. God is happening all the time. The journey you undertake makes you aware of the happening.’ P59
‘Is there any place, anything where God is not?’… ‘Yes and the place is the man’s mind. Mind can accept God. Can reject It. Can place It at a distance. Mind is part of God’s power that keeps you static on ‘one plane of consciousness’. And that plane can be earthly, can be godly, can be angelic and can be animalistic. Mind is a hindrance to journey. Mind settles you in one place.’ P 59
‘And by recollecting my past, by remembering it, I would get rid of it?’
‘Yes you would. Don’t you see your first love initiated your journey? You began your quest -Soul Quest.’
‘Free from the memories of past and worries about future, when you live in the present moment, you live in ‘presence’, you live in God.’ My Angel had told me that. P 69
‘So you have come!’ p70
‘There are levels and levels of receptivity, as there are stages of Self Realization. The realization of self that one gets depends on the level of receptivity’… ‘You couldn’t have bypassed that level. You had to go through it’ the Angel told. P71
‘Baba said that ‘Loving Unconditional Devotion’ or Bhakri was the safest and surest way. That was my path and I had found my guide.’ 72
‘My situation was like a fish living in the waters, and yet looking for river. Those waters were the River, but I did not realize it then.’ P78
‘Then I saw a woman’s face, a very sad face. I somehow knew she was in love with me. But I refused her love. I refused her because she was a prostitute, a whore… I remember asking her to raise her consciousness from sex to love, to compassion. But I was fooling myself. Deep inside, I was burning with desire for her. I wanted to take her in my arms, to make love to her. But I was afraid-afraid of society, of social norms, of what people would say. I considered her profession a disgrace and myself too respectable.’ P82
‘Baba, my father is sick.’ But Baba said, ‘No your father is not sick’. Then I said ‘But he is suffering.’ Baba just smiled and gave me some candies. He put them in my shirt pocket,’ Prashant told us. P88
‘I tried to define the word ‘Love’ and I failed to do so. Love was a mystery to me. The more I tried to understand it the more mysterious it became. And then I realized it was as mysterious as God was, for I could neither define God.’ P95
‘Fear not…Listen carefully, we have a mission for you…Carry it out, go in peace with our blessings.’ I was puzzled: ‘what mission?’
‘Spread love, compassion…Enlighten each and every heart with the flame of love. Bring love to each and everyone’s life. You will accomplish this task. You will succeed in it. Have faith, trust, for our will shall prevail over every obstacle that may come in your way.’
… ‘But you will be back with us…when your work on earth is over.’ P101
‘Here I am now, wondering if it was a dream, imagination, hallucination or vision. Was the experience real? Is there another world beyond this one? I have my questions and my doubts, yet I know it is no use asking anybody. I know that ‘Time’ will answer all my questions. I know that in ‘Time’, all my doubts shall be cleared…’ P102
‘Simple…look at your life, look at yourself. Are you celebrating life? If you are, then you have got the realization. If you are not, then you haven’t got it.’ P107
‘Living to celebrate…Unaffected by anything, a realized soul celebrates life in its fullness, in its entirety. Such a soul becomes one with life, with existence, with what you have been calling God. Sometimes Realization was something that you did have to work for. It was there; you just have to realize it. At other time, Realization was the end of the soul’s quest.’ P108
‘Who was there beside the Savior on that day? I saw only three faces –three ladies. One was his mother, the Blessed Woman who bore him. The other was the woman deeply in love with him, his ex-fiancé. And the third was his fiancé’s sister- this was the woman whose love I had refused.’ P117
‘ You cannot change a person. All that you can do is to encourage the person to change. No pushing and forcing, no pressure- just encouragement. The change must come from within her.’ P141
‘I am not saying you are wrong. It is not a question of right or wrong. It is a matter of being conscious of all your actions.’ I thought I was conscious of my actions. I did not realize that ‘thinking of being conscious’ was very different from ‘being conscious’. P142
‘…I was afraid- afraid of death, of dying… Then I realized that when death stares at you, your body may or may not be in pain, but your mind surely trembles.’ P153-154
‘Let us make it clear from the very beginning that nobody can cure you from the disease. Yet it is curable. You and only you can cure yourself. Don’t hope for external help. The help must come from within you…This sickness is a necessary process of purification that you must undergo before embarking on your mission…Go back… Do your work and do not expect understanding or help from people around you. Do not expect encouragement or assistance even from your own family members. They are evolving at their natural speed. Do not blame them. Your spiritual growth is faster than theirs; it is not their mistake.
Do not expect people to change for you. Do not expect any transformation from them, in them. You, who are changed and transformed already, must have compassion towards them. They do not have to understand you. You have to understand them.’ P137-138
‘The book ended with the blessings of Sage Shuka: Go in peace. Fulfill your duties lovingly. Accomplish the Divine Task, which you are entrusted with and which is the very cause of this Last Sojourn of yours. Live consciously and nothing can ever distract you from the path. Shadows will not affect you.’ P159
‘I looked into the monk’s eyes. And I found tenderness and compassion in abundance in those eyes.’ P165
‘Prayer and meditation had nothing to do with planning… whereas prayer and medition, both must happen in the present moment’. One’s very nature should become prayeful and meditative… Otherwise prayers are reduced to mere appeals made to some god. And meditation looses its very meaning’. P166
‘Accept death as you have been accepting other things in life. But why am I telling you all this? You are knowledgeable. Knowledge is far cry from awareness. All my knowledge has not made me a bit aware. I confessed.’ P169
‘You have chosen the right place to die. Look at the Himalayas with their eternal snow… this is a beautiful place. Where on earth can you find another place like this? You have done well by coming here. Right place to die… My heart was already accepting death… ‘He is right. This indeed is a right place to die. Death here I am.’ P 174
‘Words are just words. Anyone can use them, and then they will just remain words. It is only when words are ‘not used’ but emerge from your heart, from your soul that they made a difference. And those words at that time, were coming from the deep recesses of the Lama’s heart, from his very being, his soul. The words came from that point of his being which was always at onement with Existence. It was as Existence spoke to me’. P176
‘Meditation couldn’t be taught. A master can only point the way to it. Meditation is a ‘happening’ but you can expedite it by preparing the ground where it is to happen. And the ground is one’s own heart, one’s own being, one’s soul. P 177
‘Vichaar Nahin Karne Kaa’. That is, ‘ Don’t you worry about anything’.
‘Here, this is your place- in my heart.’ P179
‘Maintain your awareness in remain in love. ‘My’ Task is also your task. It is the Divine Task. Work for it Ananda.’ P181
I looked around and found the Face of God everywhere as mention in the Holy Qur’an… and that Its kingdom was within man, within each living being as Jesus had said. P182
‘Yes you do have. You have Love. And nothing is more worthy than Love. You have experienced Love in all its forms… Share your love. For all that humankind needs is Love… Love supports life. Love is at the base of the entire creation. Without Love there is neither existence, nor Non-Existence. Universes come and go; Love remains’. P185
‘God is the energy that flows through creation. Both the movable and the immovable bear witness to the Supreme Energy. Indeed loving yourself is to love God. Discovery of love energy within is discovery of God.’ P 193
‘Death is fictitious. There is no such thing as death. Death loses its meaning for one who has transcended the fear of it. Death is only meaningful as long as one has not transcended it, as long as one is still fearful of it.’ P 202
‘Sharing courts awareness. What is more important, sharing is an activity of the heart… Sharing brings us closer to the heart of consciousness. Eventually it transcends the heart, leading to unity with The One Great Sharer, The Greatest Sharer.’ P 205
‘ A master does not even claim to teach anything. He is just sharing what he has, that is ‘mastership’… Masters are amidst us to share all that they have. They are trying to reach out and touch each and every heart. But our hearts are often not ready. We are still vibrating on a very low frequency. Masters are full of compassion; we are not done with our passion. P 206-207
‘You can have access to the minds of the Buddhas, the Awakened Ones, the Jivan Muktas-those who have attained to freedom from psychic and physical laws while still retaining their physical bodies.’ P 190
‘ Easiest of all would be to identify a Living Master who is on the last leg of his or her journey. Such a master is on his or her way to Immortality, where death is no more- all is life, life and life… Give yourself up to such a master. Love him or her deeply, with all your heart and soul. Think of the master all the while… A Satguru is indeed the Living Manifestation of the Unmanifestable. Such a Master represents the Great Void- and by attaching yourself to the Void, you become the Void too. Attachment to the Void, in fact, cannot be called attachment. It is love-pure and transcendental Love. Loving the Void, you become one with the Void. You become the Void.’ P 192
As Rumi said:
Circle the Sun, you become a sun,
Circle a Master and you become one.
You’d be a ruby, if you danced around this mine.
Dance around him, you’ll glitter like gold.’
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om
Notes:
Define and narrow me you starve yourself of yourself
Nail me down in a box of cold words,
That box is your Coffin.
Rumi
The Soul Quest is a roadmap to the Soul, teaching us the Art of Dying and Living consciously.
The Soul Quest begins with Love and ends with love.
If you ask me what is the soul quest?
- Freedom: from anxieties & worries, from disappointments & fears, attachments & pain, freedom from shame, dogmas & rituals, freedom from the ego.
- To fall and remain in love: for one has to embrace life with its totality because love is the only truth at the heart of creation. Therefore the ultimate quest is to share this love with humanity.
- To die in Love.
How to achieve it!
Simple! Maintain your awareness and remain in love like Rumi said in his most eloquent poems: Wherever you are and in whatever circumstances you may be, try to be a lover and a passionate lover. Once you have possessed love, you will remain a lover in the tomb, on the day of resurrection, in paradise and forever. If you have not been a lover, count not your life as lived, on the day of reckoning, it will not be counted.