Q & A With Hislop
ln continuation of Dr. Hislop’s talk, published in the December issue of Sai Sarathi, the following are some of the questions that the audience had the opportunity to ask him after his talk.
Q: Just hearing about your experiences with Baba is absolutely wonderful and you’ve already answered a lot of my questions, but I guess my burning desire is to hear about what Baba has said about animals, and our relation with them.
A: Swami’s relationship with animals (if we wish to take that as a model) is that He has great compassion for animals. He very often has a small dog that He keeps. We all know about Gita, who loves Swami with all her heart. And I said to Him one time, “Swami, people say Gita was an Indian princess who took birth again to be near you.” He said, “Non-sense!” (laughter) “Pure nonsense.” He said, “Gita was never human, but she will be a human being in her next birth.”
So, Swami sees animals as very little different from human beings. He says there’s nothing that doesn’t have awareness, nothing that doesn’t have life. But He is also very strict with animals. They have to behave themselves. There was a cobra living on the campus area of His ashram. And Swami told the cobra: “You can stay here, but don’t kill anything in this camp.” So, time went by and then people came to Swami and said, “Swami, the cobra ate a rat.” And Swami said, “kill it.” Just like that! So, animals also have to do their proper dharma (duty, right action). Dharma exists for animals as it does for man.
At Brindavan there’s a great big compound full of deer and geese. He also has all kinds of birds. So, He’s very much aware of the animal kingdom.
Q: You make a very important point about awareness, and I think I understood you to say that you could get rid of your karma by always realizing that you are awareness. Did I get that right?
A: You can get rid of your karma by keeping your mind on God at all times, then everything else fades away into insignificance.
Now, the Buddha’s monks also were worried about karma, and so, to a great assemblage of his monks one time, the Buddha gave this teaching: He said that your karma is like a string of beads that you are pulling behind you. They’re not following you; you are pulling the beads behind you and whenever you wish you can let loose of the string of beads and they will disappear. In the same way, at any moment, you can realize yourself that your true nature is Divinity, and everything that happens (whether karma plays itself out or not) will have nothing to do with you because you are free, you are the observer, you are the Lord.
Q: If you are aware of something you are doing that might not be exactly right, does karma still accumulate, even if you realize that you are God?
A: Swami says that if you engage in any evil action, you may be sure that sooner or later the consequences will follow. Now, was it due to foolishness on your part, just a stupid action, or was it a malevolent action? Swami says that intention is more important than the event itself. This is illustrated by the common story of the robber who stabs somebody and the surgeon who stabs somebody. One gets jail, the other gets rich.
Q: Dr. Hislop, has Swami said anything about creation and how He created and in what order?
A: Well, one time I was there, in Brindavan, and I was actually about to go home, so Swami moved His hand like that and turned His hand and there was a great big mass of sugar candy.
Swami said, “Look, look! You can see the water still there changing into the sugar!” So, Swami could see it—the actual act of creation going on—the sequence: space, fire, air, water, earth. So the last two in the sequence of creation—water and earth—were demonstrated right there before us on His hand. And then another, similar situation was that long ago He made a ring for me. We were having an interview with a bunch of nuns from Amayananda, and He made a ring, and I thought He made it for the nuns who were in there. Why I was there with a bunch of nuns, I don’t know, but I was sitting there. He must have invited me in. So, then He turned and gave it to me, this ring. It was a typical Indian ring with nine different stones and the composite metal of fine metals that they use in India.
So, at that time, we were staying in Bangalore. We went back to our hotel room and in the morning when I woke up, I wanted to admire the ring again, but the pearl was missing. Wasn’t there! So, my wife and I crawled under the bed and we looked every place. There was no stone. So, when we got back up to Brindavan, I said, “Swami I must have done something horribly wrong because Swami has already taken one of the stones away.” And Swami said, “No, no Hislop, it’s not that.” He said, “When I was creating the ring, the thought crossed my mind, is this an appropriate ring for His1op.” You see the importance of that? For a moment His concentration had fluctuated, and the process of creation is interfered with.
You see, Swami makes all these artifacts for people. Probably most of you who have been to Brindavan have one of these artifacts – maybe a ring or a watch or something. And the question is, how come, where do they come from? So, Swami says, “Well, I don’t import them, bring them from someplace else, my workers make them.” So, what does that mean? Well the thought is made up of atoms of energy of some sort. Thought is made up of energy and that energy is something that vibrates at various frequencies and so forth. Likewise, an object, this watch—where’d I put it? I haven’t lost it, have I? (laughter) No, here it is. Don’t tell Swami. I take it back. (laughter) And this is also made of material that also vibrates at various frequencies, various wave lengths. Now, with a master of creation like Swami, what’s so hard about Swami just changing the vibration of the air, for example, and the frequency of the atoms in the air to the frequency and vibratory rate of the metal of a ring? No problem at all for Swami.
Q: I know that prayer can have a tremendous effect, but I’m curious about what actually happens when we pray for another. Does Swami change his will for that person? And what is the most effective way to pray for another?
A: I asked Swami about prayer and He said, “Hislop, very important answer,” warning me that an important answer was coming up. He said that it’s very important to pray for what you need, or even for what you want, but the prayer should be in a good loud voice. That is, don’t just mumble or just think. I don’t know how loud. He meant you should shout. But that’s what He said, “a good loud voice”. And He said, for example, the mother knows very well that the small child is hungry or will be hungry, and that it must have food, but she doesn’t rush to feed the child until it cries out. It’s the same with Swami answering a prayer.
Furthermore, He said another very important statement. “Do not turn away in sad despair if God does not answer your request immediately. Keep praying until you have persuaded God to give you what you want.” That happens in a family, doesn’t it? The kid howls until he gets what he wants. It is the same in the relationship between you, the child, and the Lord, the Father.
I asked Swami, what is the proper way to pray? I said, “Swami, is there any particular time or circumstances that you should pray in, because people say that you should pray at a quiet time.” Swami said, “No, no, Hislop”. He said, “Maybe at first for you to feel comfortable you would do that, but that’s not at all necessary. You can pray to Swami in the middle of the street.”
