Prajnaparamita: My Master ShantiMayi gave this name to me: Prajnaparamita.
It means the wisdom goddess and also the mother of the Buddhas.
The literature of the Perfection of Wisdom, brought into the world by Shakyamuni Buddha, is represented by the figure of Prajnaparamita.

 
 
Question:  Are you a Guru or a Satguru?
 
Prajnaparamita: I don't see myself as anything. I cannot define myself.
Let's put it differently. My Master ShantiMayi said: "You bring them home."
The people who are with me they know this, they recognise this. But I can not say, I am this or that. I can not even limit myself by saying: "I am a Guru" or "I am a Satguru", this doesn't make any sense.
I just know that the togetherness with my students works beautifully - this I can say.
They are longing for home, they are committed to their deepest desire, and they find encouragement and inspiration in our togetherness.
This is how we go through life together, going home, home that no one ever left.

 
                      
  
 
Question:  Does there exist a free will, for example the free will, where I put my attention to?

 
Prajnaparamita: Don't bother so much about these philosophical subjects. When you want coffee, just make coffee. When you want to put on a pullover, put on a pullover. As long as you believe that you are somebody, that you are a person, it seems that you have a free will. So from this angle: Yes, there is a free will. I am making coffee, I am putting on a pullover.
But when you start forgetting about yourself, all of you melts into the divine will. Then you find that there is nobody to "have" a free will. And you realize that existence has always been expressing itself totally spontaneous by itself.
So it depends on the angle that we look from. As long as you assume that you are a person you seem to have a free will. Later, when you mature more and more, you just surrender to divine undivided presence, the will of God.

 
 
Question:  Could it be that the like or dislike of the personality of the Guru - how he or she behaves outside of the formal satsang - becomes a hindrance for the disciple, or even a form of resistance?

 
Prajnaparamita: Sure, then you can always say, it is in the disciple's mind, but this is a very tricky thing actually, because the Guru can always say: "It is a division that you make." This can even give the Guru an excuse to just do what he or she wants.
It all comes down to integrity, and the student feels it, no matter what is the split in his head. The student feels the integrity. Let's keep the concept of integrity in the game, especially in this very, very subtle, sensitive and profound realm of Guru-disciple.
It is so tender, and you get so vulnerable on your way. I take this concept of integrity out of the universe now and put it back into my pocket. I keep this concept. I think it is very important because there is so much confusion, there is so much misunderstanding and integrity is so easily put aside.

 
 
Question: Does it make sense to show one's inner conviction by acting it out, for example by going out on the street and demonstrating against war?

 
Prajnaparamita: If you feel you have to do, by all means do! Don't even bother whether it makes sense or whether it is useful. If you feel you have to do, do! Go! And again this depends very much from the angle you look. If your heart cries for the situation and you feel you need to do it, go!
Don't sabotage your unfoldment and honesty by hiding behind spiritual concepts like 'everything is perfect' and 'the world is as it should be'.
Do not use spiritual concepts for justification of your behaviour and actions. Be so honest and sincere and be aligned with your heart's truth and with what you have realised in your life right now. Be just honest! Everything at its own place and at its own time. Drop all these spiritual concepts, forget all that you have accumulated in this realm of spirituality. Let's forget it all and look deep into this moment! Live your truth, your highest wisdom, your highest love, your highest compassion! Yours! And not the one from the books! This again is integrity.

 
 
Question:  Are there more qualities apart from integrity that you find important to develop?
 
Prajnaparamita: Sure, qualities such as: generosity, sincerity, perseverance, patience and compassion. During our sadhana*, patience for instance needs to stretch out so wide, that time cannot be found anymore.
And how can we come to see life exactly as it is, if we cannot bear to see it in great honesty. And how can we transform judgements if not into compassion.
And how can we see the Oneness of all there is, without generosity as a result?
And how to cross the ocean of samsara* if we do not develop great perseverance to overcome all ignorance?

 

 

 
Question: What is your approach to Advaita Vedanta?
 
Prajnaparamita: Advaita Vedanta is my first love. This has given me so much! It will for ever be my sweetheart. But now I find in the outpouring that is happening in the satsangs, there is no approach, it is essence expressing itself. This is so universal, and if Advaita Vedanta needs to come out, it will come out. The expression is not confined in this way or that way, it is open and universal.
My Master ShantiMayi, herself being deeply interested in Mahayana Buddhism, has given wonderful intensives based on ancient texts and sutras*. Her students could drink from Ch' an and Zen and all these wonderful profound non-dualistic approaches.

But in essence there are no limitations, no borders, no this way and that approach.
All differences and separation that we might experience are mind made. And everybody has to travel his or her own unique path. One flourishes in the quality of discrimination, another flourishes in love, or devotion or service or just being there.
The sadhana is for everybody totally unique, very beautiful.
 
 
Question: Do you suggest to the people who are going the way with you to be vegetarian?
 
Prajnaparamita: No, not at all. They live as they want to live. There are no restrictions.
However, during our sadhana generally our life becomes more sattvic*, as smoking, drinking and meat loose their satisfaction. We tend to appreciate nature more than the disco, we tend to appreciate relaxation more than stress. This just happens by itself. Things drops off naturally. We abide more and more in natural presence, in simply being natural. So there are no devices, no dogmas, no rules, no don'ts, not at all!
Our togetherness is about freedom.
 
 
Question: You are giving Gayatri mantra initiation, and also other mantra initiations, what is the meaning of this? Is there a kind of disciple-hood created by this?
 
Prajnaparamita: The Gayatri mantra is a mantra that is very much alive in the Sacha* lineage, the ancient lineage of my Master ShantiMayi and her Master Maharajji, a chain of Masters going back in time for many many centuries. The Sacha lineage is a Bodhisattva lineage. Bodhisattva means enlightenment being, one that lives for the awakening of all at all times. And a true bodhisattva realizes that there are no bodhisattvas and no sentient beings to be enlightened. And here is no conflict, this attitude is reflecting a deep insight into the union of opposites, where logic has come to an end.
Chanting Gayatri Mantra is an outpouring of this Bodhisattva sentiment. It is a prayer unto the Self to unveil itself and come to manifest as pure wisdom in our life and everybody's life. I learnt the Gayatri mantra from ShantiMayi. It is one of the oldest divine hymns known to humanity.
Gayatri mantra is touching so deeply, healing so deeply. It protects you, it helps you in your transformation, it blesses you, it brings peace.
So I took on this wonderful tradition of chanting the Gayatri mantra with my students.
We just do because we love to do and we do not concern ourselves with any expectation or result.
And initiation into this sacred mantra doesn't hold any obligation for the receiver; it is a gift.

Then there is another initiation, which is the Guru mantra initiation. That is actually sealing of what a student and I already know, that we travel this road together. This is for my students who deeply wish to be with me as their Dharma* teacher.
Then we seal this desire with an initiation. This is a very special occasion, a spiritual marriage between Guru and disciple. The Guru mantra is a silent mantra. After the initiation it is never more spoken aloud.
So Gayatri is wide open for everybody, and Guru mantra is really for the ones that want me as their guide on their way home. The Guru mantra is very much an empowerment and a big support, a profound connection between the student and me, between the student and the whole Sacha lineage.
 
 

Question: You are offering Satsang also in India. Is it easier there for the participants to connect with your silence and truth because of the fragrance of meditation and silence spread by the long tradition of gurus?
 
Prajnaparamita: I always go to India, I go to see ShantiMayi there and her Master Maharajji in his ashram in the foothills of the Himalayas. So again last winter I planned to go, and some of my students asked: "Can I come with you?" And I said: "By all means, sure." All of a sudden there was a whole group that wanted to come with me. I inspired them to go to ShantiMayi's satsangs and to go to Maharajji's darshan*, so that they could drink from their wisdom and grace and from the Sacha lineage in the form of ShantiMayi and in the form of Maharajji. It was most precious and wonderful for all of us.
And on the days that ShantiMayi was not giving satsang I would give satsang for my students and all who wanted to come. For me it was special, something was sealed I found, to sit there with them at the holy Ganga river.
I have been there for so many years, and I got so much from India, and I got so much from my Masters. All this ancient wisdom came from there.
So this was for me a tender moment, to be there with my students. It was very, very beautiful.
And my students got a lot from ShantiMayi, from Maharajji, from Ganga, from bathing in this deeply inspiring spiritual energy. They returned home with big treasure boxes, emptied out, filled up to the brim.
 
 
Question: Can you say something about what is called lineage of Masters? Is it that there is a canal opened by one Master?
 
Prajnaparamita: It is very mysterious, also to me. I feel tremendous support; I feel this whole lineage behind me, supporting me, expressing itself in the togetherness with my students.
Also I feel support and blessings from my first Advaita Master. And although I left my first Master, our love has never been broken. For this I feel so grateful. It seems like everything is empowering everything, somehow.
 
 

 

Question: So you have been with different Gurus?
 
Prajnaparamita: There is not really another Guru; Guru is a principle, that principle that brings one from darkness to light. This principle is easiest recognized in the ones who have realized themselves as omni-presence. Guru is One, a principle embodied in various bodies.
The Master is there to help you awaken the Master in you, to awaken this Guru-principle in you. Please, align yourself to a living Master, who can show you the way and the pitfalls and the obstacles. A living Master who can push you and pull you and inspire you and empower you. You can never betray your deceased Master by aligning yourself again to 'another' Master. Guru is One! And your deceased Master will always, always, always support you.
I hope this can be an inspiration for the ones who think that they can not do that, because they feel that they betray their love. No, you don't! Don't betray your heart's desire instead!

 

Just find truth, find freedom, and don't put anything in between. Don't make any condition, any "yes, but...", just go for truth. Make this your highest goal, just go, don't hesitate, and don't wait! Guru is One, and the living Guru is such a fantastic help to awaken the inner Master in you - Oneness!

GO! Let's live by the great mantra and inspiration from the Heart Sutra*: Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha: go, go beyond, go beyond the highest, beyond the highest realisation.
Selfrealisation is no ultimate state of being. Be prepared to deepen forever, to widen forever, to be more subtle, more refined, more and more sensitive, there is no end......
 

 

*Sadhana: spiritual practice
*Samsara: journeying ; the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, to which every human being is subject so long as we live in ignorance and have not realized
divine essence.
*Sutras: thread; summarizing a text for the purpose of practical application in short pithy statements.
*Sattvic: being, true essence; characteristics of purity, harmony and clarity.
*Sacha: the inconceivable truth in all; the Sacha lineage is supporting the impersonal and total enlightenment of all beings.
*Dharma: a comprehensive term used to refer to that which determines our true essence.
*Darshan: view, sight; paying respect to a holy being or a sacred site and receive blessings and purification from that presence.
*Heart Sutra: a 1500 year old Sanskrit text, which is the essence of what developed into the Zen- and Ch'an traditions.