Dear Sister kami,
Yes, I fully agree with you! It seems so very clear at times of greatest meditative focus and deepest spiritual absorption. I feel that this is so, because the closer we get to the true reality behind the passing appearances, the more we each come to manifest more and more universal traits and become more and more the living embodiment of the Godhead. Sri Babaji Maharaj is so in tune with Brahman and so immersed within the Divine Field of Being, that he is truly one with the Sacred essence existent inside of all sentient Jivas.
Yet, he is appearing to each of us as his own unique human form. I honestly believe that the more one surrenders willingly, and becomes devoted to adhering to his immanent presence within us, the more we lose ourselves in the attunement. In my own experiences, this leaves very little separation between myself and my Master.
And Sri Babaji Maharaj is not just patiently awaiting our earnest approach, he is also graciously reaching to us from our own highest center of being. Eternally calling our souls to awaken, to bring us to that special understanding of who we all are… and what our lives really are all about. The message I have been taught is equally about Jnana and Bhakti. Union is arrived at from each stream of devotion.
We are here to understand each other and love all beings as ourselves. Wisdom is seeing our direct interconnection, love erases all barriers from each other. Knowledge is the freedom within the expansion of the mind. Love is the buzz we joyously share together, in seamless unification! 
When we see without ignorance, that all that exists is the same force, that all the expressions of life are truly One singular current of conscious-awareness… we are freed of the mirage of our individual minds. Jivatman is in reality Paramatman. All is One. Then how can we be lost within the illusion that there is a sequential journey to be taken towards realization of this Supreme Truth? We have the choice to fully awaken in this very lifetime. We are implored by Sri Gurudeva to choose wisely, not to waste the opportunity to bloom!
For there is no past, there is no future, as only this present moment truly exists and it is wholly unfettered by the time-space-continuum. Incarnation is one of the most difficult of illusions to see beyond. We have always been here, we will always be here, and this is all that there is/was/will ever become (shimmering beatifically). Within the movement is a stillness so vast it defies human description.
Only within our dreams and illusory samskaras, are we blinded to the Holiness of this timelessness and blinding effulgence, right here & now. Inside of everything is God, as it is it’s very own source and it’s spiritual perfection is blooming eternally. When we take notice and hold this focus… we awaken. We taste the Amitra of Remembrance.
While everyone and everything may seem to ceaselessly change… as surely, living souls do seem to come and go, gradually evolve and gradually ascend into the full realization of this pure fulcrum of conscious-awareness, it is also clear that we have always been here. All incarnations, in all places and in all eras are happening simultaneous. I am reminded of Meher Baba and his illuminated declarations. He was being most truthful and sharing his great vision.
I have found that when I merge the deepest within the Light, I discover that there is only one Omni-consciousness prevalent in all of creation. It shows itself through myriad forms and expressions but is still unbroken and indivisible. This is God, That is God, we are all That. Tat Tvam Asi. [OM]
The only constant is the innate Divinity residing within the morphing appearances seen through the lens of sentient minds. We are all the very same entity on the inside. Brahman created out of Brahman (as naught else exists). All of this universe is God’s Lila. And it is Brahman that assumes the myriad expressions of manifestation and the dissolution of those limitless manifestations.
So yes, on a very profound level and in this enigmatic light, Sri Babaji Maharaj is our higher self. As are Krishna, Zarathustra, Buddha, Mahavira, Lao Tzu, Socrates, Christ, Mohammad, Shankaracharya, Kabir, Rumi, Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramana Maharshi (not to mention many others). We essentially, only have one higher self, one without any definitive form or lasting fixation to any transient appearance.
And when we get closest to understanding it’s Sacred quintessence… we are no more just separate selves awaiting enlightenment, we are the very embodiment of the Godhead which abides everywhere (in complete harmony with this resplendent knowledge)! This is true freedom, this is Moksha. Heaven is here and we are Angelic beings. Ego was only the husk containing the kernel of Divinity, all along.
Seeing all of the infinite variances, progressive levels and ascending planes dissolve into the Supreme Unity is our natural predisposition. If we step back from the passing show of Maya, we perceive the Sacred Dance in all passing phenomenon.
Ours is the choice to access the core reality of this moment, to see with immediacy, the Divine as most present and fully unbound by any fixed form or even the thinnest membrane of finite substantiation. We are all undeniably That.
Again, Tat Tvam Asi. This is the only reality, the glory of God and our truest Omniself, is forevermore blossoming effulgently for the sheer joy of existing. This is some of what I believe I have begun to learn at the lotus feet of my Sri Gurudeva. 
Om Namo Bhagavate Satchidanada
Dear Govinda,
Thank you.
What I was trying to say is that Babaji (or other gurus I’m drawn to) as well as my Ishta initially seemed like separate entities that I could call upon and commune with. But all of that is shifting, to where I can’t say “where” they are and where I am, and if we have ever been separated. It seemed that they were, that there was a one-to-one connection with each. But now, the line between “them” and “me” has blurred - they and I are here, there, and everywhere. At times, I experience myself as my beloved Krishna. And as much as I adore his sweet form, he has become a shimmering formless entity that explodes out of the trees, the grass, the flowers, the bugs, the couch, the people I meet… And out of and within myself.
My mind wants to ask Krishna or Babaji something, but my heart fuses into them and the asking dies away. They say “ask”, and all I can ask for is “You, only You. Nothing else. Forever and ever, just You.”
You say Jnana and Bhakti lead to the same thing, but I don’t know how they are different. The more I surrender to my beloved Ishta, the greater the clarity, and ability to rest as awareness. The awareness is Krishna as are the phenomena arising in that awareness - never-ending explosions of the shimmering and formless within each other. How to tease out the heart from the intellect? Where is the point of one’s origin and the other’s end?
You say we have a choice, but I don’t see that I do, as explained in another thread: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13093
No, not even to pick an ice cream flavor! When I began asking “You and only You” and meaning it, Krishna took it quite seriously it seems. Everything I think is mine is shown not to be - including my “choices”. He appears quite literally “in my face” to remind me of our contract - only Him. Not even that asking is mine… Is there really a choice to see the core reality? Whose choice is it? 
Much love.
[quote=“Govinda”]
Well said!!! I agree that ultimately, there is only one doer and that is God. Likewise, the deeper we touch this state of unity, the more unreal our ordinary perception seems. And the only reason I use terms like “free will” or “personal choice”… is because when the mind is active in the world of doing and achieving, AKA life on planet earth, it needs a central focal point to inspire it to freely move beyond dualities and polarities. Arguably, this is using subtle aspects of duality to transcend all degrees of duality.
In such a state of individuated mind seeking Moksha, itself but a passing mirage, the Jiva requires direct intention to fully bloom. Intent is the freedom of will to act by one’s direct choices, and it is a Divine principle in the human organism. We do choose to awaken, even though there is no actual egoistic choice being made, for we are impelled by Higher Mind (Paramatman) to expand beyond this dreamscapes of our own creation and to intentionally merge within the Supreme Ishta. [OM]
We are each compelled to bloom by the nature of the Sacred stream flowing within us. So, I do see your perspective as quite valid and deeply honor your vantage point. There is line we cross, whereby the subject and the object of our devotion, know no distinction. Through incremental surrender and gradual attunement, we are wholly immersed in the object of our devotion and no membrane of separation is even possible, if we are still enough to freely merge as one singularity of conscious-awareness.
So, it’s kind of a paradoxical situation to speak about. We must forge our concentration to a refined level and degree, so that we can think of nothing but the Divine Being. Yet, the urge is so natural it’s like the honey bee instinctively going to the flower (where the nectar awaits). What else could it do? the bee,the blossom and the nectar are all one energy, one Sacred dance. In this light, I am in complete agreement with your stance. Intent and freedom of choice are just the thought bubbles arising. The playful masquerading of the Godhead, as it blooms within our shifting awareness.
Om Shanti, Govinda
Yes, yes!!
Could not agree more, dear Govinda. You are so gifted in your ability to express sweetly, gently and yet emphatically. Thank you for sharing this incredible gift with us all.
Neem Karoli Baba’s most emphatic teaching was/is: (in Hindi): “Sab Ek!” (It’s all One!) It only seems that my/your/their will and Divine will are different. So perfectly orchestrated by Ishwara, the master of yoga and maya; wouldn’t you agree?
Much love to you.
Reverend Govinda,
I did not understand your statement “All incarnations, in all places and in all eras are happening simultaneous”. What does it mean to say happening in different times are happening simultaneous? Can you please elaborate a little? I’m not asking out of mere curiosity. Ageing is my biggest worry and I would be relieved if I can understand how time doesn’t exist.
Namaste FakeYogi,
Reverend? Ah shucks, you flatter me (or tease me?). I’m just an ordinary Joe and a simple householder, living an ordinary life. Like everyone here, I am a pilgrim along the way, seeking Spiritus… which in and of itself, is an eternity in the making.
My sincerest of apologies if this is offensive or seen as pretentious and overly verbose. My heart is being sincere and I am only following he urgency of my own spiritual inspirations. I suppose I can come off as preaching or something along those lines? Admittedly so, and I plead guilty as charged! 'Tis a long wing blowing cosmic dust. 
But I will answer your question to the best of my ability and hope I do not stray too far off-topic for the subject of this thread, the radiant Master, Mahavatar Sri Babaji Maharaj. And I humbly confess, it is directly through his compassion and intervention, that I have seen any truth at all… or touched the Supreme Being within my innermost self.
That being said, my statement was somewhat metaphysical in it’s context and I don’t really mean to seem too esoteric about the timeless impression I have experienced in my Sadhana, nor spout off with some emphatic, absolute truth. But all of us are shifting our attention from the gross to the subtle, with every breath we consciously take and then release. Personal incarnation is the very same way as we are born, so too, we eventually all die. Only the indwelling Atman remains changeless and continues to experience alternate dimensions of existence.
From my own small understanding, when we fiercely fix our intent and our deepest focus upon the buzzing presence of the eternal here & now… we embrace a higher vibratory frequency of conscious-awareness, which naturally facilitates an effulgent blooming from within. This stops the mind and engenders an acute awareness of the complex inner workings of the subtle body existent on the inside of oneself.
When we follow this unabashedly, we find that higher and still higher frequencies of vibration are accessible and in such access, one sees and hears with greater clarity, the expression of myriad thought-forms. It is surely so, that we we bring our concentration to this interior point, we travel through a spiraling light portal of sorts. This concentrated momentum brings our internal awareness to that living, multidimensional vortex (which is happening everywhere, in all times and places). It exists as everything and everyone. It is indivisibly itself, experiencing this universe through it’s own miraculous diversity.
This is why I have previously said, the Divine Being is hidden ineffably, within the appearances of this and that. It however, remains silent, unmoving, pristinely still and wholly Indivisible… even as it dreams of of this existential paradigm into material, astral and causal bands and frequencies of reality. We are all reflections of this perfection, as all of our centers meet as one, when we are absorbed in our meditations and united as a singularity, within the Unified Field of Omniscient Being.
As we all have experienced in our own unique ways, all real spiritual states of being are free of the time-space-continuum. A very big part of this expansive shift in attention, is about freely accessing levels of consciousness, whereby we transcend the illusory nature of Maya. We are effectively drawn so deeply into the fulcrum of our centered concentration, that we shift our attention from the dichotomous Multiverse to the unified Omniverse. We transcend the appearances we subjectively witness, and wholly immerse ourselves into the very source of our own being, the source of all being… Brahman.
But from this perspective, as all things arise spontaneously from the Supreme Being, of what are they composed? All is indivisibly linked to the Sacred and all manifestation emanates are from the insubstantial formlessness, into the substantial and formed. So, all that is created from the Divine Spirit, is created out of itself. This universe is wholly and quintessentially made out of God-self.
So, manifestation is still the unbound glory of Brahman, regardless of vibration or form. Albeit, eventually all streams return back to the limitless sea and melt into Void it was born therefrom. We are each of us that. So too, we are but one singularity, expressed in myriad and multifarious ways.
When we effectively bring our consciousness to that place where all selves merge into one symphonic chorus, symmetrically interwoven… a deep interconnection and unity, we each cross from the mortal to the immortal view of our own existential being. We attune to the higher oscillation, as we follow the pull and vacuum of the uncoiling bloom of the Sahasrara, deep within the the very core of ourselves.
We awaken to new vistas and merge, only to discover the point where all selves become one entity, one process and one expression of the same Omniversal existence. Seems there’s reason that Ishvara starts with the letter “I”? For the I AM expression is the spark and emanation from the Bindu. [OM]
Quantum physics also eludes to the intangibility of existence, using critical thinking, reason and rational hypothesis, to confirm that an infinite degree of emptiness exists within all we perceive of as physical (with our 5 senses). Essentially, all sequential manifestations are at best, temporary bubbles awakening to their own frequency and vibration of existence. Yet, this will also pass and new experiences will bloom to replace their impressions.
Even so, we are challenged to step beyond the observations of the mind and the intellect. We are urged by the Divine itself, to shift our awareness to the Spiritus. these bubbles of thought are carried by a current which is both timeless and ageless. This same current flows throughout the matrix of all beings, all places and within all parallel universes. I have been taught by his Holiness, Sri Babaji Maharaj, that our calling is to directly immerse ourselves within THAT spiritual oceanic presence.
For it is the only true reality and it has existed all along, deep within each of us. It exists in seemingly inert matter. It remains unbound within the vacuum of empty space and it is simultaneously, who we truly are in our most basic & sublimest state of being. So, through the Yogic sciences, we embrace this immense force, as we embrace our own existence. We merge within the fulcrum of this eternal state of Holiness and interconnect with all that has ever happened, is now happening and will ever potentially happen in the theoretical future.
Esoterically speaking… we pierce the finite membranes as we fuse attention upon the Infinite and so, freely immerse ourselves within the Sacred Web, the Unified Field of Being, the vortexial portal of Divine Light, the ineffable point of the Bindu. How’s that for a run-on sentence?
Well, in regards to the reality which underlies all the ebb and flow of manifest existence, as it appears for a sequential cycle and then also exits this material universe… there is essentially no real time. Neither is there any lasting individuality amongst sentient beings. Energy changes ceaselessly and definitive forms: sprout, blossom and eventually decay into non-existence, once more merging within the insubstantial.
Just as time is an utter mirage, our temporary egos are equally most illusory. The body is a dream we each experience for a span, and who we are on the inside will exist when it returns to so much cosmic dust. From a purely spiritual vantage point, the past and the future all happen in the same present moment. It’s only our observation and quantification, that defines any difference or finite reality, save those of our own passing mirages (dream sequences in their own right).
When I am prone to subjectivity it as possessing any quantifiable, aspects or characteristics, definition… or with any humanly describable aspect or recognizable quality at all, I am humbled by it’s sheer perfection.
Again, it feels to me like a wave of limitless energy, which is just the surface of an immensely deep oceanic presence, which is whooly still and Absolute. The dancing surface and the still depths are one singular phenomenon. There is no dichotomy when viewed through the spiritual eye, the Ajna. All frequencies of vibration are one scintillating note, when listened to by the spiritual ear, also the Ajna.
Most naturally, as Lord Krishna clearly eludes to in the Bhagavad Gita, all action is the Lila of God. All lifeforms are refracted aspects of the Godhead. Ideas stem from the One to become the many rays and thought-forms. Thus, the Divine exists within all things and creates all realities in one single moment. This explodes Holy emanations radiating out of the Supreme Effulgence of the Bindu. [OM]
I cannot pinpoint it within any dualistic framework or definition. But it’s innate/insubstantial beauty is reminiscent of love. A love without condition or cause… for it is free of any separation of witness and that which is witnessed. Is it any wonder the Bhaktis have found the most direct path to the Godhead, is that of Divine love?
Such an attention absorbs the self and unites the subject and the object of rapt devotion. I am reminded of the blissfulness and enraptured states of entrancement, experienced by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Sri Anandamayi Ma, Sri Neem Karoli Baba Maharaj, Sri Sant Keshavadas and Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath. I seriously doubt that these high folks were living at all within the constraints of the time-space-continuum. There is no greater romance!!!
As Sri Anandamayi Ma so simply and eloquently states to the duly impressed Swami Paramahansa Yogananda:
“Father, there is little to tell. My consciousness has never associated itself with this temporary body. Before I came on this earth, Father, I was the same. As a little girl, I was the same. I grew into womanhood, but still I was the same. When the family in which I had been born made arrangements to have this body married, 'I was the same… And, Father, in front of you now, I am the same. Ever afterward, though the dance of creation change around me in the hall of eternity, I shall be the same.”
OM Shanti, Govinda
Very interesting, the now 
As to teachers well I like to look at leafs 
I found a newly listed great book written by one of Mahavatar Babaji’s disciples.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09J77BKM1/