It is better not to have a Guru than end up in wrong hands.
So what sort of pitfalls? Pitfalls inside and outside.
Like you might suddenly get enthusiastic about something that is written in a book and start practising and end up in trouble. If there is a teacher or a guide, need not even be a Guru, somebody whom you can talk to on personal terms, who has already walked on the path, he would tell you don’t do this now, do this simple thing and then you will come to that. These are some of the outward pitfalls.
Inner pitfalls are if you get into a state of consciousness about which you have no understanding and you are puzzled, if there is someone who has already passed through it, he can help you out with this.
Suppose you are practising yoga earnestly and one day you come upon some blissful and tremendous energy and you discover that you are able to read somebody’s mind, suppose, it’s a big pitfall. If somebody doesn’t guide you away from that you will probably end up reading some minds and so on. What I have been told is that it is like reading somebody’s sealed letter, you can’t do it. You shouldn’t do it.
Since we are on this subject, I want to elaborate a little more from my personal experience that’s more important. When I was with Babaji, with my Master Maheshwarnath, just the second year when I was with him, I had this great, you can call it desire, to see more than I can see with my eyes. I thought there must be something subtle which I can see like thoughts. I had heard that thoughts have forms.
So I asked Babaji if is there some exercise by which I can do this. He said, ‘you really want to do it?”
I said yeah, I want to try it. As usual, he said okay, theek hai. So he gave me an exercise. Please don’t do it.
He gave me a blackened glass which can be kept on the wall and in front of that lit a candle. He said – look at the candle and meditate and a little bit of pranayama, some breathing rhythm, pattern change, look at the flame. After a long time of looking at the flame, I was supposed to close my eyes and look above the flame at the black mirror.
I did this for 21 days. When I sat there I didn’t feel anything but when I was not practising it, one morning I got up and I found some terrible thing coming to me. It looked like a mixture of a crab and the scorpion kind. I knew that this is a thought form which I am seeing. There must be somebody with terrible thought somewhere, so I started seeing these things. All kinds of thought forms, some were good, some were bad, but all the time, except when I went to sleep. And it became such a burden on me but then you could find out person’s thought, good or bad. Colors are also different.
But then it was such a big burden carrying this thing around that you are sitting here and talking suddenly something has come in front. I went to Babaji with folded hands and I said, how do i get rid of this? Please…this is a pitfall. You know what I am talking about.
You said, you wanted it. I said, yes, I didn’t know that it is such a big burden, so how do I get rid of it.
You really want to get rid of it, don’t ask me again. Abhi tum mujhe nahi puchhoge, I said, nahi Babaji, I won’t ask. Okay, he said, and gave me one hit on the head, I felt something like lightening, and tuck, and it was gone.
Another thing, suppose you are a young man. You start practising yoga with certain amount of celibacy and so on. Energy builds up. Your face shines. You become very attractive. Very soon you see ladies around you. Pitfall, watch out! I am not saying that you should hate them. I hope you understand what I am saying. You have to be careful. Because the energy is seen by others, and it reflects, and especially the opposite sex they see it. They can feel it. So you have to be careful. It may be nothing. It may be just a friendly gesture, but one has to be careful. Otherwise, one would end up in trouble.
So these are some of the pitfalls.
-Sri M
