Bulletin No: 2015.105 – Sunday September 6, 2015

Belarus Tour

Saturday, 22nd of August 2015, Panvel ashram, Mumbai

Kamlesh Bhai was about to begin a new journey to meet abhyasis from the CIS region at Minsk, Belarus. He flew from Ahmedabad, reaching Mumbai by noon, and stayed at Panvel ashram. He conducted satsangh and attended to many local matters, including guiding a team in designing a U-Connect program for a very large institute.

Why do we fight?

In the late evening, an abhyasi walked into the cottage and Kamlesh bhai enquired about him and encouraged him to study the Sahaj Marg literature. He asked, “What is Shat-Sampatti? Where is it written about in our literature?“ He was asking if we are even aware of what to look for in which book!

He was about to go to rest and suddenly tossed us some questions. “Why do human beings fight? Is it to establish the supremacy of the ego over other people? If so, then why do dogs or donkeys fight? They do not have ego like humans. Is it to establish territorial dominance? Is it just a survival instinct? Could it be ‘misunderstanding’ leading to fighting? Is it fear?”

The day ended with questions to think about.

Sunday, 22nd of August 2015, Panvel ashram, Mumbai

The Sahaj Marg Spiritual Movement – confidence and courage

Early in the morning, Kamlesh bhai was ready and started working. A small group of abhyasis sat around him silently. At 7:30 a.m., he conducted satsangh in the meditation hall, which was full. After satsangh, he gave a talk about the Sahaj Marg Spiritual Movement.

“This great Mission was established in 1945. Pujya Babuji sowed the seeds of spirituality during his lifetime, all over. Swami Vivekananda expressed his desire to Babuji Maharaj that whether people take Sahaj Marg in their life, or accept meditation as a way of life, it does not really matter, but we must bring about this awareness to every household, and they must know Sahaj Marg is there. As and when they need, they should feel confident that they will be accepted, they will be taught how to fine tune this life with the help of Sahaj Marg meditation.

“Yesterday evening I was sharing one lecture I read again from Swami Vivekananda, given in the year 1900 at South Pasadena, California. The gist of it is how the band of brothers, as they would call themselves, youthful vagabonds of those days, streetwalkers of Calcutta, went and surrendered themselves at the feet of Thakur Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, once and for all. He expressed how difficult those days were, how poverty stricken our land was, especially that part of the world. He said at times he would have his dinner at 9 p.m. and the next meal would come thirty-six hours later and that, too, rock solid bread. Chewing that bread, sometimes he would bleed; that was the description he gave there. ‘Nothing discouraged us,’ he said. ‘This band of brothers, we took on the message of our Thakur, and went from village to village like Parivrajakas, spreading the message all across the land.’

“’Because hundreds of us were united, we were determined, despite the reputation of young boys of those days. Nobody would listen to us. They would never give us a full loaf of bread. They would only give us left overs – one piece of bread here, one piece of bread there – and with that we would make our ends meet. Many a times, when one of our brothers went into Calcutta to the bazaar or begging for a little rice, a little dahl, and a little milk, he would borrow a dhoti from another brother and go, because he would only have a langoti. Yet, we survived. We took on this challenge, and we spread the message of our Thakur with spirit, with courage, and with the confidence that no matter what, we shall prevail.’

“When we have to convey this noble, spiritual message to the world, imagine how polite, how gentle we must be. They say there is no labour in love. You will never feel tired conveying, doing, expressing, all kinds of things, when you are in love. When you are not in love, even a simple thing hurts and everything becomes so difficult. It again shows our state of mind.

“In Sahaj Marg, the peace that we want to bring about in the world, the message that we want to share, must echo out from the family. We must give precedence to our own individual level of peace and harmony from within, extending then to our family circles, to our friends, and let it expand. Sahaj Marg will expand in more than one way, and the best way is only this.”

Speaking about the spiritual condition, he said, “The condition that has been given by our Masters, I must absorb it. I must become one with that. I must perceive it even in my fingers, in my hands, in my ears, in my skin, and only then get up from meditation. Go out in into the world with the same state, and let it flow out. When you are with a person who has not meditated, and you look at that person, you converse with that person, you hear him out, and you shake hands, your condition must ooze out. In the beginning you will have to make conscious efforts in pulling out that condition that is hiding inside; not to throw it out, but to share it with one and all. Only through this will it gain a momentum inside us, and that condition will multiply one hundred fold once it is made dynamic.”

“This Sahaj Marg Spiritual Movement that we are talking about; think of those great saints who sacrificed so much. I would request you all to read that lecture, printed in Volume 8 of the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, titled ‘My Life and Mission’. It is fascinating to see to what extent they were committed in bringing about changes in this world. In Sahaj Marg, we are trying in our own small way, but often we get carried way with increasing the numbers. That is not our goal. We need to touch many hearts. Don’t count those hearts. Even if we cover the entire world today, it will still be less because another dimension is waiting for us.”

“So many of our abhyasis get so excited with these U-Connect programs; fifty-thousand students, sixty-thousand students, fifteen-thousand students. Let us not be satisfied with these numbers. We need to touch their hearts and really make a true difference in their lives by making them experience the essence of Sahaj Marg. Even if once in their lifetime they feel it, it is good enough for us, we have served our purpose.”

After satsangh, Kamlesh bhai started working on the Heartfulness program design for a very large institution in Maharashtra with around 60,000 students. While discussing the program, he recalled a remark by the author Daniel Goleman that ‘emotional intelligence’ can only be developed by meditation. Emotional intelligence should increase empathy in a person. At one time, he had noticed that meditators had become competitive. He shared this observation with Chariji Maharaj and asked, “Why is it so?” Chariji Maharaj told him, “You think about it.” It was Kamlesh bhai’s observation that, “While many meditate, they may be meditating with different goals in mind. Once we understand that meditation is all about losing oneself completely in the source, then where is the chance for a competitive mind to flourish? How do we pray? What do we pray for? We should pray that, ‘My Lord! I am fine where I am. I don’t need to rush to where I want to reach. Let all my brothers and sisters go. Lord, take them with you.’ That should be our attitude. It is like the captains who are saviours on their ships. In case of any crisis or emergency on the high seas, they make sure that all are off the ship before they then finally leave the ship. That should be our role in spirituality.”

At around 10:30 a.m., he met new abhyasis and at 11:00 a.m. he conducted satsangh. At 4:30 p.m., he conducted satsangh in the main meditation hall and spoke in Hindi about the Sahaj Marg Spiritual Movement and explained how all abhyasis can participate in this. In the evening, Kamlesh bhai sat out and answered many questions raised by abhyasis. The session went on for an hour.

A very long Sunday ended with Kamlesh bhai taking a Lufthansa flight from Mumbai to Minsk via Frankfurt.

Monday, 24th of August 2015, Minsk, Belarus

Most of the day was spent in the flight. In the early morning, on the way to Frankfurt, Kamlesh bhai was reading and making notes. He was also reviewing his notes on the Sahaj Marg Spiritual Movement and showed Babuji’s message from early 2003, about the movement.

We reached Frankfurt by 7:45 a.m., and the connecting flight to Minsk boarded around 10:30 a.m. We landed at Minsk by 2:00 p.m. and a group of abhyasis received Kamlesh bhai at the airport and welcomed him the Russian way, offering bread and salt at reception.

We quickly left the airport and drove to our host’s home. On the way, our brothers were mentioning that Master’s visits have always generated some good or the other for the country. Kamlesh bhai said that he prays for the good life for all in Belarus. He reached the host’s home and worked for a while before resting.

Kamlesh bhai kept working till late at night. He worked on an article about how having a revengeful attitude destroys our inner being and ultimately moves us away from spiritual evolution.

Tuesday, 25th of August 2015, Minsk

Revenge is nothing but ignorance and stupidity

Kamlesh bhai had a good rest and started working early in the morning. Around 7:00 a.m. we left for the Minsk meditation centre, and on the way there was a discussion about the attitude of revenge and its effects.

Kamlesh bhai said, “Let's say you are angry with your wife and the rose bush in the garden was planted by her. You don't want to destroy that to get to her. Destroying the creation of loved ones is an extension of taking revenge in a very indirect way, which is nothing but a childish act. So, now you are confronting pride, ego and a childish attitude. A childish attitude is nothing but your own ignorance. It is stupidity.”

A: If one is occupied with such feelings or intentions, what can he do?

K: That is what we are trying to do, you know. We are cultivating humility inside us by putting God or the Master before us. Then, when that also does not happen in our actions then we try to clean it. If that also does not happen, when we are helpless, and we pray with a helpless heart: “O, my God, I need your help.” What else can you do?

He further said, “Why does a person get hurt? There could be a million reasons. But it is inside the person that reacts to things. There is so much imperfection outside, but why should anyone react to every little imperfection? That way, people could get angry towards the sun also, “It is too bright today!” How to take revenge on the sun? To take revenge on the sun, you would have to destroy the sun. In destroying the sun, you would destroy yourself. Whether it is the sun or the son, it is the same problem. You are destroying your own self, your very own.”

Kamlesh bhai reached our Minsk ashram by 7:30 a.m. and conducted the first satsangh of this CIS gathering. After satsangh, he addressed the gathering, saying,

The most vital thing happens in utter silence

“Most beloved sisters and brothers,

“I am very delighted to be here in Minsk, and my heart was really overjoyed during the sitting at what I have witnessed. So many of you have achieved some remarkable heights and built up spiritually, and I am grateful to our beloved Masters who have granted us such spiritual states. Hearty congratulations to all of you! May such spiritual gifts go on being showered upon us, and may we all develop a capacity to accept more and more, and grow with it.”

He further talked about how one should prepare for a spiritual gathering:

“Wherever I used to attend such workshops and Master would come, days before I would scan through my mind and a scan through my heart, and see what was lacking, and then attend the seminar. It is kind of a shopping list of what to do and what not to do before Master’s arrival.”

“Questions that we have all come to the surface before such workshops. We would like to ask questions, we would like to resolve certain spiritual confusions that we have. We want to get certain spiritual states we have been aspiring for. So, when we watch, when we observe our first encounter with Master at such a gathering, and then we go to the next gathering, and then to the next gathering, questions go on reducing, our spiritual confusions go on reducing, and then, after some years of being with the system, we are left with no questions and no craving for any spiritual states.”

He mentioned that, “When the most vital thing is exchanged between two individuals, between a devotee and God, something magical happens, beyond words, beyond vibrations, in utter silence. This exchange of ideas, of thoughts between us, is backed with words, and a lot of translation happens. Many things are diluted. What is there in my heart? When I speak very little comes out. But the most vital thing, which is the transmission, the Grace from above, from the Source, how to translate it and receive? You cannot translate it in words? It is resolved, it is understood, it is felt in the deepest silence of our hearts. That is why they say, ‘Silence is the language of God’.”

The law of reciprocation

Around 10:00 a.m. Kamlesh bhai gave preparatory sittings to preceptor candidates and then conducted satsangh at 11:00 a.m.

Later in the day, he visited an abhyasi’s home and rested for a short while. During his rest, he talked about suffering and said, “Man suffers out of his ego, and woman suffers out of love. The world is a mirror and it disappoints you. Love, because of expectation, hurts you. There is no reciprocating love.” He was saying when one approaches world with ego then the world also reciprocates with ego equally or more. A degree of pride is there in both the world and man.

“On one side, the love part, reciprocation is not there, while in the ego part there is equal reciprocation or perhaps more. Men and woman both suffer.”

At 4:15 p.m., Kamlesh bhai conducted satsangh at his host’s place and then came back to the Minsk meditation centre.

A scientific approach to the practice

At 6:00 p.m. Kamlesh bhai conducted satsangh. After satsangh, he released the Russian edition of Efficacy of Raja Yoga and gave an inspiring talk. He said, “I am very delighted today to release a book entitled Efficacy of Raja Yoga written by Babuji Maharaj. He wrote this book in a super consciousness state. He mentions all about the points and regions we go through before we reach the destination.

We have all felt the efficacy, the benefits of transmission. In our Heartfulness meditation experiments we explain to new entrants into the system: “First experiment with the method like a placebo, without transmission, and later on try the same method with the transmission, and see the effect of transmission for yourself.”

While talking about the scientific approach to meditation, he said, “In Sahaj Marg there is no need for faith or belief on the very first day. We are like scientists; we experiment with this transmission and meditation in our own hearts, and see how we feel. These results of meditation are reproducible. In scientific experiments the results are reproducible under one circumstance. The moment you change the circumstances the results will be different.

“Here, in spiritual experiments, you are the judge, you are the experimenter, you can change the circumstances, and yet arrive at the same conclusion: ‘Yes, it does make me tranquil, it does make me peaceful, it does bring calmness within me.’

In science, for example, when you boil water it boils at a hundred degrees temperature, but is this a universal truth? I don’t think so. You can boil water in the mountains at 5000 feet, or 10,000 feet, at a lower temperature. Even in science there are no fixed rules. What about the melting point of water? It is the same principle: at zero degrees at sea level water will freeze, but if you put a little salt in it, it will not freeze at zero degrees. That is why we use salt when there is snow on the roads. So, this simple experiment of observing at what temperature water will boil or will freeze depends on external circumstances, and also on what is present in the water – salt or no salt.

“With consciousness, at what level we go to the state of samadhi depends on us. Will consciousness be sublimated at the very moment a preceptor says, ‘Please start meditation,’ or half way through, or at the end? It all depends on so many factors, but whatever the factors are, at the end of that meditation, even if you were disturbed all the way through, the end product will be beautiful. The end of every meditation will be lighter.

“So, what I am trying to say here is that there can be many experiments that we can play with, with a lot of joy, and all the results of spirituality are in this book.”

After this event, we started back to the host’s home, and there was a brief stop at ‘Minsk maurya’, a large lake. A small group went for a long walk with him and the sunset was beautiful. Kamlesh bhai enjoyed this little trip and took some nice photos. On the way back home, he was talking about the points and said, “What is the quality of the 4th point? Coolness, a cool temperament, a loving heart, courage and fearlessness. You don't have it today. It is the opposite happening. There is anger, and you become fearful for every little thing. “What will happen to me?” Not what will happen to us. There are thirteen points; that is good, as per Sahaj Marg, but there are many more points. Lower points are there, and there are many in between; thousands, millions of them, an infinite number. These thirteen are the main ones for us to transcend.”

Back home, he ate dinner and kept working till late in the evening. He shared an insight about divine consciousness and constant remembrance. He said, “Being in divine consciousness is natural, effortless and the person remains oblivious to this state, while in constant remembrance there is effort involved. Of course, it is this constant remembrance which eventually culminates into the permanency of being in divine consciousness, which Lord Krishna talks about in chapter twelve of the Gita.”

Wednesday, 26th of August 2015, Minsk

The day started with good rain, bringing typical cold weather to Minsk. So rain followed here too!

On the way to the Minsk meditation centre Kamlesh bhai talked about the water element and its nature. It is just like in the outside nature, “cool, refreshing, and when you are in the company of such people, it is like you are sitting by a lake side, in comfort, loving and flexible. Earth’s quality is solid and inflexible, and these people stick to practicality.” He also said, “Only when you lose yourself, do you get these qualities.”

An abhyasi asked, “But is it not an instinct of the human being to preserve the self?”

Kamlesh bhai said, “I would not think of preserving a ‘drop’; I would think of becoming the ocean. When you dissolve in yourself, you dip into the ocean. The drop becomes the ocean.”

He reached Minsk ashram and conducted satsangh at 7:30 a.m. Later in the day, around 2:30 p.m., Kamlesh bhai visited the city centre.

At 6:00 p.m. he conducted satsangh and gave a talk about spiritual evolution from the scientific perspective. He said, “I’d like to put before you the concept of genetic mutation in Sahaj Marg. It is a bit tricky how to explain science through spirituality or spirituality through science, as they rest on two different principles; one is experiential and the other is experimental. Nevertheless, experiments must result in some sort of experience. Even if it is outside we can interiorise it. Before we go further, I would like to speak a little bit about epigenetics. It is a field of biology where they study genetic patterns, especially the effect of external circumstances on genetic patterns.” He explained through several examples how external circumstances play a major role in the development of children as well as our own physiological differences.

Kamlesh bhai said, “In Sahaj Marg, when so many of us come together every week, sometimes every day, meditating together, it creates a very special field, a very special atmosphere, and that also affects us in a very positive way. Children born in Sahaj Marg families, I have observed for so many years since I started this system in 1976, are of a different nature. Even for satsangh, parents may be feeling lazy on Sunday morning, but children will wake up early in the morning and say ‘Dad, wake up! We have to go for satsangh.’ Even though children don’t meditate, they have this craving, the hunger for the spiritual atmosphere, unconsciously. They look forward to going to ashrams or meditation centres.”

While talking about evolution and mutation, he narrated the following, “Babuji Maharaj told me in 1980, ‘I am changing the genetic pattern of the human race.’ I was a pharmacy student at that time, and hearing this from Babuji I was laughing. What is this old man talking about? He must be hallucinating perhaps. How is it possible for an old man sitting in Shahjahanpur to think of genetic mutation? He does not even know what genetics is. He does not know what mutation is. How is he talking about mutation? But my faith and my trust in him were so great that, though I laughed inside, the very next moment I admired him, ‘Yes. Since he is thinking it, he will do it.’

“Unfortunately he passed away in1983, so then I said, ‘Let us see how is he going to do it from above.’ You are perhaps familiar with the Whispers – those messages from the Brighter World. They started coming, and we got to know about them in 2005. I was reading those messages and I had a doubt, but all my doubts disappeared when I read this sentence again in these messages: ‘I am changing the genetic pattern of the human race.’ This could not have been known by the medium, who joined the mission in 1988 or 1989. And he gave some hints here and there – not complete hints in one message, one day he spoke something, the other day he spoke something else, and after three years he said something else. We have to tie up these loose ends. He tells us, ‘Please meditate regularly. This is how you will help me in bringing about this special egregore. Once a critical mass or critical level of this egregore is reached, that very moment will become the tipping point for the genetic change.’”

The day ended with further discussions about evolution, genetic mutation and spiritual conditions.