The Speaking Tree | “And The Journey Continues...” – Rani Ramakrishnan reviews The Journey Continues

“The Journey Continues” by Sri M, is like an onion. It takes the reader through myriad of layers which is beyond fascinating. Deep within all the stories lies, the core, and am positive it will be revealed in bits and pieces with each reading. I am no expert in spirituality or spiritual matters, but am going to attempt to list down what this book meant to me. My view will only be one facet of the whole, and not the final as I have read this book only once and am sure I will unravel more layers for myself with further reading. I must confess I have questioned earlier why Babaji would be writing a book with stories of his past lives. Would it not, distract the spiritual seeker from the path? After all many books, have been written about past lives, with Brian Weiss being very popular. So, what is different here? Essentially, what I came out learning is, we are all on this Journey called Life together. This is a story of ALL of us. It is the journey of the soul. It is full of HOPE. It is a Walk Of Hope!! Babaji as I fondly call Sri M, has only given a glimpse of his past lives. It took all those roles that he adorned in the years and centuries before, to be where he is now. And I am excited for him that he is soon going to have no more roles to play after this life is over. I feel extremely elated in a strange way. This is where we all are going to go eventually. We are all the little rivulets that meander through all the earth, only to merge finally into the ocean. What a thrill. And just like Babaji has adorned glorious roles and terrible ones, we too may have done the same, which has gotten us thus far. Not many can handle their past lives with such grace as Babaji has done. Even though I am fascinated by my own past life, and would love to know, I do not know how I would react, if I learnt I was a criminal of the worst kind. What Babaji has revealed for me is, there are no saints or sinners. And if you are a saint in this life, rest assured you had to be a sinner in your past lives. So, who knows, the likes of Hitler and Osama Bin Laden, will be born as great saints in the centuries or years to unfold? I have always known that we all have a murderer or a robber, or a rapist in all of us, except by Grace of God it has not been manifested. Who knows if it was manifested in our previous births or the births yet to unfold? We always must be eternally prayerful that those thoughts never penetrate our psyche. The point am making is, this book is very liberating and fills me with hope. It makes me less judgmental of people. It gives me direction. Instead of cursing a person who does wrong things, might as well wish silently “may he know the divine shining in his heart” just like Sri Ramakrishna blessed the prostitute, played by Babaji in one of his previous life. This book is beyond just past lives. I know many will be excited that they have among them a person who has hugged Sri Krishna. We all might have all been touched by Great souls that traversed the earth, the difference is we just don’t know it. We all have the Great Krishna, or Divine residing deep within, we are not aware of it yet. We can intellectually visualize the divine, but am sure it’s nothing like what we imagine it to be. The story of the unknown yogi, who ran away from the dog and the man who was determined to pollute him with his touch, only to fall at the feet of Sri guru, is just mind blowing. I keep asking myself, what would I do if I were in the same situation? Even though Babaji has played the role of the prostitute, the lover, the warrior, the saint, he shows us, through these roles, the divine spark was always there. No matter how horrible and dark the life might have been, the divine oneness remained untouched and whole. And all it took was a little touch or a look for that spark to be ignited and become a soaring flame. How beautiful and hopeful is that? This book has taught me another thing, and that is the value of Patience. Everybody is in such a hurry to get “enlightenment” that I don’t know what that word means anymore. Patience and gracefully accepting without resisting is what Babaji has revealed through his stories. It is a tough road to travel. But rest assured, if not this life, then lives to follow we all will eventually get on track. It is but natural, for us to all eventually take this road less traveled at some point. This book has encapsulated all that Babaji has been teaching. I cannot for some reason express in words what it means, and so I shall leave it at that. More I try the more I fail. I hope this book gives all the readers the same feeling of liberation, Peace, joy and HOPE as it did for me. Namaste`