Visit of Kamlesh D. Patel to Uttar Pradesh, Part 1
10th to 18th March 2016
Prelude, Kanha
While preparing to leave for UP, Daaji started talking about the idea, which he then developed during the early days of the tour, of how to use the Master’s help wisely, without needing to be dependent on him for everything.
Q: Is it good to think that we should seek Master’s help only for spirituality, not for worldly things?
KDP: The Master is a catalyst. So now you see what is the input and what is the product. You are there, your soul is there, and God is there. God is ever-willing, so if you create such an order of craving in your life, you will be able to make greater strides with Master as a catalyst.
Thursday, 10th March 2016, Hyderabad to Noida
On the evening of the 10th, Daaji arrived at Hyderabad airport to start his tour of UP with a small team of volunteers who provide support in all areas of the travel, e.g. media, logistics, administration and personal care. While waiting together in the departure lounge of the airport, they were told that the flight was slightly delayed, so sat to wait, and inevitably the conversation started.
Daaji shared some important concepts:
“Anger has some element of love in it, and that is why it cannot be destroyed. Sometimes it is a projection of love.” Quoting one film dialogue in response to a lover’s question as to why she hates him so much, Daaji said, “She responds, ‘I don’t love you enough even to hate you!’”
“In Sahaj Marg it is the mistaken understanding that people think it is good to hang around the Master. Instead, whatever job they are doing, they should do it diligently in Divine Consciousness.”
Friday, 11th – Sunday, 13th March 2016, Noida, Ghaziabad, Delhi, Gurgaon to Lucknow
On Friday, Daaji inaugurated the Noida ashram before the 7:30 a.m. group meditation, and afterwards gave a talk in English.
He started by saying, “It is so difficult to talk after such a sitting... not only that, song after song, listening to bhajans. With such a devotional vibration emanating, nostalgia for Babuji and memories of Shahjahanpur Ashram, it is difficult. … My hearty congratulations to all of you who have served to create this meditation hall. Let’s use it on an everyday basis. We have been bestowed with so many resources within our Mission to create such monuments. I have seen it in so many places. But I am sorry to say, most are not utilised the way they should be.
“We create such monuments, charge them with our Master’s charge, the divine charge, so that we can reap the benefits of such a charge. It is up to all of us now, to reap that benefit by immersing ourselves in that atmosphere, not just once in a while when the mood permits, or when you are in trouble to wash of certain uncleanliness that we have created. … I think you have all picked up the thread of what we should be doing. It depends on all of us how to move forward.”
In the talk, Daaji also spoke about aspects of our spiritual practice, including:
“Often we remain perplexed even by the great system of Sahaj Marg. What are we doing here? … Most of us are not so regular in our practice. That is the tragedy. And there are others of us who are so dedicated and practising so well, yet there is some lack. Meditation in itself is not going to release us from the burden that we carry life after life.”
“A mere thought that everything around me is absorbed in Godly remembrance, how difficult can that be? With that mighty inner spiritual condition, when we prayerfully make that suggestion, it changes everything, not only for us, but for everything that surrounds us as well. When that stillness is there, calmness and peace within our heart, are we radiating it in our busy world, and with our families?
“Otherwise, although we are able to create a meditative mind in meditation, without making it dynamic by interacting with this meditative mind in an active fashion, we remain short-changed.
“Each time, we have to cross higher and higher limits, greater and greater frontiers. We need not become so happy with the knowledge that God is everywhere, God is love, God is omnipresent. This is great knowledge; it is given to children. At the next stage, through practice, we are able to experience some essence of it, but now and then. A phase must come in life when this state becomes permanent. Then a phase must come where we are able to create this state wherever we are, around us, whether we are preceptors or not.”
After this talk, he had breakfast with all the abhyasis and then went for a walking tour of the facilities, visiting the library, the children’s centre, the training centre etc. and then in the afternoon, he travelled to Ghaziabad. Evening meditation was at 5:30 p.m., after which a Q & A session in Hindi followed. He then went for a walk through the ashram, advising the local team of some changes to be made in construction.
On Saturday, Daaji conducted group meditation at 7:30 a.m. and then conducted a second meditation at 11 a.m. followed by a talk in Hindi. After this he started for Delhi.
During these last days Daaji was joyful, humorous and in a light mood, although sometimes irritated by silly questions.
On the morning of the 13th he conducted group meditation at the Gurgaon ashram at 7:30 a.m. and this was followed by two marriages. At breakfast he met with a new abhyasi who is a Sikh, and they had a conversation about the teachings of Guru Nanak and Sahaj Marg philosophy. He shared the concept that Guru Nanak told all his good disciples to disperse, and those who needed help to stay around him.
After lunch Daaji travelled to Lucknow by flight, and went straight to the ashram where he conducted 6:30 p.m. satsangh and settled in to stay at the cottage.
Monday 14th to Tuesday 15th March 2016, Lucknow
Daaji conducted group meditation at 7:30 a.m., followed by a talk in Hindi. He developed the themes that he spoke about in Noida and Ghaziabad, including:
Do your practice in such a way that you don’t need your Guru. Please take this in the right sense.
Make your home an ashram. Have satsangh daily.
He also spoke about Babuji’s concept from the first chapter of Reality at Dawn: spirituality is beyond religion; Reality is beyond spirituality; bliss is beyond Reality, and nothingness is beyond bliss. He spoke about the three bodies of a human being – the physical, the subtle and causal bodies. He spoke of the evolution of consciousness in the subtle body, through the support of the other three subtle bodies – the intellect, the ego, and the thinking faculty. He spoke of the development of discrimination (vivek), through the cleaning of the heart. He spoke of the points in the Heart Region – 1 to 5, and especially about the association of love and anger with point 3, and he spoke of points A to D around the heart.
This ability to discriminate he related to a situation. He said that he receives many emails from young girls who are confused about marriage and whom to marry. The ability to discriminate is essential in daily life to make such decisions.
Daaji also spoke about vishaya, a Hindi word meaning ‘subject’. He explained that the word is derived from vish, meaning ‘poison’. He said that engaging in discussion on all the complexities of subjects really is poison for our growth.
After conducting satsangh at 6:30 p.m. he spoke in Hindi about the Heartfulness opportunity that had materialised in UP for all the police training centres for approximately 70,000 trainees in 76 centres across the state:
How will we do this? We have to prepare ourselves. We need more Heartfulness volunteers and preceptors.
He invited all the youth to dinner, which was served in the ‘pangad’ tradition, with sanctity and discipline. This was followed by an informal discussion. Some of the youth told him that while living in the hostel they hesitate to meditate because of peer pressure.
Do you hesitate to take a bath? Do you hesitate to take food? So why hesitate?
Q: When did you join the Mission?
KDP: I was like you only, around the same age.
Q: When did you first meet Babuji?
KDP: In the summer of 1977. On the first visit to meet him in Shahjahanpur, it took almost three days to reach by train. The moment I touched the ground in Shahjahanpur, I felt I was lifted up 100 feet!
Q: How were you as a teenager?
KDP: I was told by my mother that when I was three-four years old, when my father went to the temple, I would snatch his dhoti to go along with him. My father gave me the Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gita to read, and then the Quran. I went to the mosque and also learnt the Muslim prayer, Namaz. But while I was learning the Quran, the teacher, Maulvi saab, of the mosque took a stick to my feet, so I stopped going there.
My teenager years were joyful. You would be jealous if I were to tell you how joyful they were.
After the mosque incident, around the age of 11, I had a serious fight with my sister, and after that my parents decided to send me to the Arya Samaj boarding school. The discipline was very tough. It was a school famous for youth needing discipline.
The youth then asked questions about the challenges they face with Heartfulness activities, and the discussion was very fruitful for all.
On the Tuesday morning, Daaji conducted satsangh at 7:30 a.m., followed by a talk in Hindi.
At 5:30 p.m. he met with the Heartfulness youth volunteers for an informal talk, to listen to their experience with the work. He asked them to read the Mission’s literature, and then afterwards to read other books also, so that they could improve their understanding and ability to relate to others and share what Sahaj Marg has to offer. It was a very joyful session.
He conducted satsangh at 6:30 p.m. after which the Secretary of the Mission, U.S. Bajpai, gave a motivational talk on Heartfulness.
While at Lucknow, he visited the residence of late sister Kasturi and paid his respects to the family members. Since then, Kasturi’s sister Kesar gave a remote sitting to the abhyasis of Lucknow on the 3rd of April 2016.
Wednesday,16th March 2016, Lucknow to Kanpur
Daaji conducted satsangh at 7:30 a.m. followed by a talk in Hindi, in which he again spoke about vishaya being poison for us.
After lunch, he travelled to Unnao, and on arrival had snacks with all the abhyasis. He was happy with the atmosphere, and the light, rural, simple lifestyle. In the afternoon he conducted satsangh, and then visited the dormitories that are being constructed in the ashram. After this he travelled on to Kanpur, where, in the evening, he inaugurated a new Heartfulness Centre in town, conducting satsangh there.
Everywhere he went he spoke about taking Heartfulness to the next level, and he also gave a talk to the preceptors on ‘How to Work’. This talk, in a mixture of Hindi and English, is available on the preceptors’ page of the website.
Thursday, 17th March 2016, Kanpur to Allahabad
After breakfast, Daaji travelled to Allahabad, and conducted satsangh at 6:30 p.m. in the ashram. He then called all youth for a Question and Answer session at 8 p.m.
The hot topic of the session was conflict with their parents, how parents do not allow them to do things, don’t understand, and have so much resistance to their lifestyle.
KDP: Respect them, understand what they say and follow them. You will never understand until you become a parent. Your parents keep cautioning you so that you do not make mistakes, and the subsequent guilt that results from making those mistakes. It is their love that is reflected in their expressions in many forms, sometimes anger, sometimes dead silence, sometimes sympathetic words, sometimes bribes!
Gain their confidence, because then they will trust that you will not do anything wrong. Listen to them, as they have interest in your betterment.
Daaji then spoke to them about the importance of going to bed at a reasonable hour and sleeping well in order to be effective and meditate well.
When we meditate, we should not limit ourselves. We should not think, “I will do this for 20 or 30 minutes.” Let it unfold naturally.
What we do is get up late, eat breakfast, get dressed etc, and what suffers is meditation. It is the least important priority for us, whereas it should be the most important. Wake up early to give proper time for meditation. Enough time prior to meditation somehow allows us to go deep.
Q: I am completing an MBA. I don’t want to work outside, I want to serve the Mission.
KDP: We don’t have jobs for MBAs, we need abhyasis. If you don’t want a job, why did you do an MBA? Did you do an MBA only to become more eligible for marriage!
Q: I want to leave everything as I no longer want to lead a worldly life. What to do?
KDP: Why? In earlier times it was commonplace, but nowadays if you start begging, people will not give. Are you ready to beg?
Q: Yes, I am a Brahmin.
KDP: Do you know what Brahmin means? One who knows Brahmavidya. Even if you are born into a Brahmin family, that does not make you a Brahmin. Sahaj Marg does not encourage sannyas. If you wish to do it, I wish you all the best.
Daaji finished the session by conducting satsangh for the group.
Friday, 18th March 2016, Allahabad to Varanasi
Daaji conducted 6:30 a.m. satsangh, and after breakfast took rest, changing his plans to travel in the afternoon to Varanasi. En route, he stopped in Gopigunj, conducted satsangh there at 3:30 p.m. followed by snacks with all the abhyasis, during which he spoke to the couples:
If you find something good, accept it immediately and start working on that.
He then travelled onwards to Varanasi, arriving at 6:30 p.m., settled in his hotel and went immediately to the ashram to conduct satsangh at 7:30 p.m.
This is a summary of the first stage of Daaji’s UP tour, which has set the state on fire with Heartfulness, joy and enthusiasm. To be continued.
