European Tour, Part 5
Monday, 18th of May 2015, Seminar in Timisoara, Romania
Arriving at the airport of Timisoara in the late evening of Sunday, 17th of May, Kamlesh bhai shared that he felt overjoyed to be here and that the airport reminded him of the one in his hometown of Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
He ate a light dinner in the ashram with local abhyasis, and then proceeded to the hotel since it was already very late.
The seminar started officially the next day, the 18th of May, with satsang at 7.30 a.m. More than two hundred abhyasis attended, mainly from Romania, with some from Serbia and Moldavia, this number exceeding the capacity of the ashram. So the seminar was held in a hotel conference hall nearby.
Tools for establishing an inner state of moderation
After the morning satsang, Kamlesh bhai expressed that Babuji Maharaj had considered two things to be very necessary: to have a keen interest for evolving fast, and to go on observing from within. Anything pulling us to one extreme would need a readjustment towards a balanced inner state. He said that constantly having these two attitudes helps us to develop a state of moderation within ourselves.
Tools for becoming simple, pure and humble
Later on that day, Kamlesh bhai explained that the goal for all is to become simple, pure and humble. Simplicity and purity emerge as complexities and impurities are removed through the process of cleaning. Humility emerges as the ego becomes more and more refined. This requires a prayerful state, which develops through prayer as well as through the practice of Maxim 10.
Tuesday, 19th of May 2015
Advice for beginners of the Sahaj Marg practice
To the joy of all, interested seekers kept coming to receive their first introductory sittings. On the 19th, after morning satsang, Kamlesh bhai explained that generally after a period of around four to six months of intense Sahaj Marg practice there comes a very important moment in our practice. He said that just before proceeding further on the spiritual path, generally we lose interest in meditation. Actually, this is a very promising sign, indicating the advent of spiritual growth. He advised that instead of stopping the practice at this crucial moment, we should take several sittings in a row from a preceptor, which will help to smoothen this phase and proceed to the next stage, where the practice is deepened even more.
Q & A: How to develop viveka, the capacity of discrimination
After the evening satsang, a question and answer session took place. One question was how to develop the capacity of discrimination, which is called viveka in Sanskrit. Kamlesh bhai explained that from within our heart, we try to discriminate between two things: whether something is right or wrong, beneficial or non-beneficial, whether it is going to help us to evolve spiritually or not. He said that the heart has become discriminative when it is able to answer all these questions. How to develop this capacity of discrimination? The more we listen to the heart and obey its signals, the more we become discriminative in life. The heart will never misguide us. Only we can misguide ourselves because of ego and because of very strong desires. By removing these two, we will have a heart that has the capacity of discrimination.
Space and loving discipline
During the whole seminar, the abhyasis gave lots of space to Kamlesh bhai and he could move freely to interact with all. When the questions and answer session was finished, he said goodbye to those who were leaving the same evening, encouraging all to continue the Sahaj Marg practice at home with a lot of enthusiasm and love.
Wednesday, 20th of May 2015, Timisoara to Vienna via Budapest
Share and care
The next day, Kamlesh bhai conducted satsang at 7.30 a.m. in the beautiful, small ashram of Timisoara. Afterwards he had breakfast in a joyful and relaxed atmosphere together with all abhyasis present. The brothers and sisters at the table with him were so attentive and caring for each and all that, after having finished their breakfast quickly in anticipation to accommodate others, they moved on to give space to the next batch. This procedure gave an occasion for all to spend some valuable time with Kamlesh bhai.
Bidding farewell to everybody, Kamlesh bhai left for Vienna at 10 a.m. There was joy and lightness in the air and a lot of promise for further spiritual growth in Romania.
On the way from Timisoara to Vienna, Kamlesh bhai stopped in Budapest, in Hungary, and conducted satsang for the local abhyasis. After some refreshments, he continued his travel to Vienna, where he arrived in the early evening.
Thursday, 21st of May 2015, Vienna, Austria
How to avoid strong likes and dislikes
The next day, the one-day seminar in Vienna started with satsang at 7.30 a.m. Kamlesh bhai conducted two more satsangs at 11.30 a.m. and 5 p.m. At the end of this intensive day, he clarified that strong likes and dislikes burden our heart and keep us away from an inner state of constancy. As a remedy, we should embrace anything that gives peace and that can help to evolve our consciousness, and abandon anything that disturbs peace and the expansion of consciousness.
Friday, 22nd of May 2015, Travel from Vienna to Vrads Sande ashram, Denmark
How to integrate the four suggestions in our daily life
The journey to the last destination of the European trip started early on the 22nd: the flight from Vienna took off at 7.15 a.m. and landed in Copenhagen, Denmark, at 9 a.m.
During the journey, Kamlesh bhai shared some advice on how we can integrate the four suggestions into daily life: each hour we may apply one suggestion and then, after one hour has passed, continue with the next one. Then again switch to the next suggestion after the next full hour, and so on.
He arrived at the Vrads Sande ashram in Denmark at around 2.30 p.m.
