(The translation of a talk given in Hindi)
9 October 2011, Guwahati, India
Dear sisters and brothers,
You just heard the ‘seven states’ mentioned. I am from India, but from the South – from Madras. There we speak Tamil. My mother tongue is neither Hindi nor English. So, now I find myself having to speak in a learnt language. Seeing these people, it seems to me that Babuji Maharaj’s love is flowing here, as the river Brahmaputra flows. So, by his grace, we have come here to accept this land. Now its registration will take place, an ashram will be built.
An ashram means it is for the human being; if we are human, it is for us. This is not an ashram just for Assam, for Manipur or for Bengal. The ashrams of Shri Ram Chandra Mission are for all humanity. Anyone who is heavy-hearted, unhappy with his environment, or unhappy with what is going on in the world and wants liberation from it can come here to meditate, participate in the Mission, become an abhyasi and receive Babuji’s grace. This is why we go on building ashrams all over India. We now have approximately one hundred and twenty-five ashrams. In Assam, we have one in Tinsukia; this would be the second. We have one in Ziro, one in Kolkata in West Bengal, one in Siliguri. We are soon to have one in Gangtok, Sikkim. So, your whole-hearted cooperation is needed – forgetting that we are from here or there, or that our language is this or that, and remembering only that we are human beings. Then, all this can happen, and in the future, too, it can go on; whether for fifty, hundred or a thousand years, only He knows. When I heard the term ‘seven states’, I had the thought that music, too, has seven notes (what you call sa, re, ga, ma, pa, da, ni). With one note, there can be no music. Can you play saaaaa, all day and call it a song, call it music?
When God made our country, so many different people were brought together here that… why seven? There could be seventy – different languages, different cultures. We must not forget that just as nothing happens with a single note, or a single community, similarly, we need many people. As Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita: Just as in a string of pearls, a string holds the pearls together, I am the string and you are all the pearls. (Lord Krishna says, “Sutre maniganaa iva.”) So in Sahaj Marg, our effort is to maintain the practice just like the string that holds together pearls. Here, as we do the meditation and the cleaning, we grow into human beings irrespective of our name and language in this country. Music is the same for all; the seven notes are the same for all, whether people are from Japan or any other country. There is no eighth note beyond sa, re, ga, ma, pa, da, ni.
I pray that you may forget all these differences. You may be Manipuri; I too am Manipuri. Why not? It is a part of my country. Can we say that, “Is only he Mr. Parthasarathi?” He is also him, he is also him, and he is also him. All of them come together to make a human being. Nothing is possible without two hands, or two legs. We may consider feet to be lowly, and the hands to be great. We shake hands; we do not shake legs! But the handshake happens with the heart. The hand is only a sign, showing that I am behind this interaction. So we stretch out our hand to shake.
In Sahaj Marg, all preceptors know, and they tell abhyasis, too, that there are no differences here – differences of religion, differences of language, differences on any other basis. One human being! Among invaluable gems there are diamonds and pearls and gems of many other names. Each is more beautiful than the other. But when a necklace is made for the Lord, they are all present in it. Not just diamonds, not just pearls, not just green or red gems. Unless they are all in it, it is not beautiful. When a single garland is made up of many different flowers, there is perfume, there is colour. So, for those who have become Sahaj Marg abhyasis, I would like to say to them: Become human.
Fifty or sixty years ago in India there were religious clashes, hatred, fighting, murder and bloodshed. Many movies were made of them. However, the world has not changed, because seeing all this, listening to all this, the human being is not going to change. A human being will change only when his heart changes. Because the heart is one, isn’t it? We love only from this one heart. Imagine that you are in love with someone. Do you wonder where did this love come from? We all love only from the heart. We don’t love from our hands or from our feet; we love from the heart. So, in Sahaj Marg, we meditate upon the heart. In this heart that is beating, dub, dub, dub, there is the divine light upon which we meditate. And that is in every heart; whether you are a Christian, a Buddhist or a Hindu, it does not make any difference. Here one – there many; here love – there hatred. How can all this happen in the world? God does not want this.
I don’t know if you all read the messages from Babuji Maharaj on your computer every day. Every third or fourth message says that as long as people do not change, there will be destruction and bloodshed. Do you understand? People will die of hunger and of thirst. Babuji Maharaj says, “What can I do? What can God do?” God wants a world full of love, where people live as one, that they share whatever they have with others and live happily, peacefully. Our meditation does not imply that we live as sages and saints. My duty, as it is, is with you all. What will I do by progressing alone spiritually? If all of us progress, it will make me happy.
Prefects must tell abhyasis, “Brother, become human. By birth you are Assamese, I am Tamilian, he is a Sikh from Punjab, she is a mountain girl from Pithoragarh. But, see how many people are here!” And the one who will come after me as the president of the Mission – stand up – brother Kamlesh Patel is from Gujarat. Now, see how it started? It started in Uttar Pradesh. My beloved Babuji Maharaj was a Kayasth. And he chose me, who was from the South, who eats rice, speaks Tamil and is a Brahmin. And it goes on to Gujarat. The heart must be such that the one who is appropriate, who can work for us, who can do everything to serve us, must be chosen.
There was a television serial called Mahabharat, which I have seen a thousand times and will continue to see as long as I am alive. In it, at the beginning, Emperor Bharat has to announce his successor, the crown prince. Everybody believes that his son will become his successor. But Emperor Bharat (after whom India has been named Bharatvarsha) says, “Even though I have nine sons, I do not find any of them able enough to occupy the royal throne.” And he adopted someone outside his family who went on to become the king after him. And they say, “It is not by birth but because of one’s deeds that one is chosen.” Do you understand? One who is able must be chosen. Our country has been destroyed by caste differences. Is his God different from your God? Or is a Christian’s God different from a Japanese man’s God? Everyone says, “There is only one God, and my God is that one God. He is not yours. Beat him up!”
I do not want to say anything more. You all know why I am saying this and what I am saying. Sahaj Marg abhyasis must forget their differences and become human first, and spread this message with their heart, that we may be born anywhere… Even a puppy is born somewhere. One puppy born somewhere is put to death; another is reared in a wealthy home and lives like a king. Even among dogs there are differences. How did these differences come about? Not because of fate, but because of someone’s love. A man or a woman, who loves dogs, takes it home and rears it with love. We see that people who like dogs, if their dog dies they cry more than if one of their relatives had passed away; with difficulty they may shed a tear or two, and earn the name of having loved that person. People are born alone; they die alone. Remember, only He is always with you. So we must do as he says, learn what he teaches us, do what he wants done through us, and become that which he wants us to become.
This is the summary of what I wanted to say today. We can speak continuously for twenty-four days, like a discourse of the Ramayana, but I do not have the Ramayana; I only have the arrow of Shri Ram Chandra. As we protect the tiny flame of a lamp from the breeze, so should we protect this inner light, by Master’s grace, so that it may never get extinguished. As long as this inner light spreads, we are human. Once it is extinguished, we are only animals.
Blessings!
