Bulletin No: 2016.38 – Thursday April 28, 2016

STOP PRESS:

Dear sisters and brothers,

Although we are still to publish the remaining reports from Daaji’s UP tour in March and April[¹], we decided to jump the queue and give you a first-hand account of the activities at Kanha Shanti Vanam leading up to the bhandara for the birth anniversary of Pujya Babuji Maharaj.

Report on Daaji’s activities during the 19th to 24th April 2016, Kanha Shanti Vanam

Installation of Babuji Maharaj’s statue

Every day, Kanha Shanti Vanam changes in many senses. Infrastructure development work is progressing in all parts of the ashram. It is the auspicious day of 19th April 2016 – the anniversary of beloved Babuji’s passing. After a long and lengthy process, the statue is ready. Special equipment has been arranged to lift and install the magnificent bronze statue. It is 31 feet tall, and sits 75 feet above the ground, weighing 14 tonnes, facing north-east and diagonally overlooking the entire ashram. It is lovely.

Daaji was very happy with the whole process of installation and placement. He kept looking at this statue many times from his bedroom window.

On the 20th, a team of abhyasis went to conduct a Heartfulness session for judges in Hyderabad. Daaji was keeping track of the program and said, “We can clean, transmit prayerfully and let the Master’s take care of the work.” Heartfulness started like a trickle sometime ago, now it is forging ahead like a new river expanding with every bit of flow.

All at Kanha wait for evenings. It becomes cooler, as the heat from the summer sun goes and Daaji goes for long walks, inspecting various projects around the ashram.

On one of these afternoons, he shared some insights about consciousness:
“The external environment affects the individual consciousness and also consciousness affects the environment around us.”

While discussing brain and consciousness he said, “Consciousness is independent of memory. Memory serves as the context for our life here.”

Saturday, 23rd of April 2016

Around 7:25 a.m. Daaji inaugurated the Surat meditation hall and interacted with the group via a conference call and expressed his happiness. He told them to utilize the meditation hall every day.

Bringing the future forward

At 9:00 a.m. Daaji conducted satsangh and started the International Youth Seminar with an inaugural talk:

“Good morning everyone. I am happy to be here joining you all at this first International Youth Seminar. We have had so many youth seminars, but none so big, with participants from 34 countries. A few hundred NSS and NYKS student volunteers[²] are also here, so this is a very special occasion for all.”

He emphasized that one should lead a balanced life, attending to duties in both the material and spiritual aspects. He said, “Spiritual life is, of course, the most essential, but as far as possible we satisfy the basic material needs in order to support our spiritual life… We should not ignore our existence here at this level you see… People in their enthusiasm ignore material life: ‘Oh God is there. My Guru is there, and he will look after me.’ No, it is not going to happen! You cannot relinquish your responsibilities just like that.”

He further said, “In the Mahabharata, the Lord says to Arjun, ‘This is your war. You will have to fight it,’ although he says surrender is the key to success in a subsequent sloka …duties come first, personal duty towards oneself.”

Talking about the theme of the International Youth Seminar, ‘Bringing the Future Forward’, he said, “When we talk of bringing the future into the present, what does it really mean? I have been wondering this since yesterday. Actually this topic has been haunting me. … It only means how can we enjoy that consciousness that could be there at the end of our lives, or a few generations later, in the here and now. How to fast forward the finer levels of consciousness and enjoy them?”

He further elaborated on how our spiritual practice allows us to reach the sky of superconsciousness and at the same time plunge into the deepest levels of subconsciousness. “That is how we move in both directions. Through meditation we touch superconciousness, and coming to yoganidra, through cleaning and night-time prayer done with a lot of love for our Maker we are able to expand our subconciousness.

Talking about spiritual evolution, he said, “Often we think that our parents are to be blamed for whatever we have inherited as far as consciousness is concerned. But we should not blame them. Of course we have inherited certain genetic patterns… But when we come to the mental level, more flexibility is there. For example, sometimes parents have PhDs and are highly intellectual, but a child chooses to remain a duffer. Alternatively, some parents are not so educated, they may be farmers or rickshaw pullers, but there is ample opportunity of going beyond what they gave us, and we can become more and more mentally educated. Mindfully educated. Spirituality is the only way by which we can expand infinitely into other areas. Evolution in the physical and mental realms has limitation. In the spiritual realm the evolutionary possibilities are limitless.”

Talking about scientific laws, Daaji said, “One of Newton’s laws says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, but this is not the case in spirituality. In spirituality the reaction could be multifold or even a zero response. It depends on us. So these scientific laws, Newton’s law, quantum physics laws, don't apply in the spiritual world. The laws in the spiritual world are absolutely different.

“In the spiritual world the limits are established by us. Success in spirituality especially, and in education or any other field, depends upon whether we really want it:

First, are you interested?
Second, are you committed?
Third, do you have the intent for it?”

Intensify this action of bringing the future into the present

Talking about meditation, Daaji said, “When you see Lord Shiva or Lord Rama or Lord Krishna sitting in meditation, doesn't the heart question, ‘What are they meditating upon? Why are they meditating? If they are avatar purushas, where is the need for them to meditate?’ So even if we have perfection it is good to meditate. …. And there are many other reasons why you have to meditate, even after you reach the heights of spirituality. Through meditation, not only do you achieve the goal for yourself, you also meditate for the sake of others, to bring more changes. So the path continues.

“Meditation not only brings about evolution in our own hearts, peace and tranquillity, but it helps others also to change at some level, though they may not be actively meditating, by the simple fact that they are associated with us by blood or emotional relationship.”

He ended the talk with the call, “Intensify this moment or this action of bringing forward the future into the present, especially the expansion of consciousness. Thank you all and looking forward to meeting you all.”

Daaji came back to the cottage and attended to Kanha-related matters.

Q: What is barring our intellect?

KDP: Laziness. To implement understanding in life, wisdom is necessary.

Before 6:30 pm, he walked to the main meditation hall and conducted satsangh. It was a knockout.

While walking back to the cottage, he said, “Freedom from freedom, fana-e-fana, liberation from liberation, is possible when we are liberated from the lower self itself. As long as there is self there is ego attached to it. Truly we should be seeking liberation from oneself, not for the self but from the self.”

Reading the condition

In the late evening, Daaji mentioned that many complain that they cannot read the condition. He said, “Unless one has a heart full of love for the abhyasi, one cannot read. Only when love is there, then there is the possibility to work on a seeker. He gave an example of a person who is curious to know about the bank balance of another. Suppose you find that he is in debt. What will you do with this information, unless you have an intention to help him out of affection? Most of us are only curious to know, whereas we should be burning with love to help others. Then it becomes possible to read the condition.”

He also said, “The highest efficiency is when one is able to do the work without being conscious of it. For example, flautists or violin players or a typist can also do this.”

Sunday, 24th of April 2016

Daaji was up very early in the morning and working. Some days ago, he mentioned that Babuji Maharaj preferred to work in the night. In the early morning at around 6:25 a.m., he went for a walk.

“Spiritual work happens in silence. Masters are always attending to every individual's need. Seekers have to cooperate silently and seek within. Such hearts automatically attract their attention.”

Daaji conducted satsangh at 9:00 a.m.in the main hall for 55 minutes and then gave a talk for 35 minutes.

Destiny does not determine how your consciousness will flower

“Choosing is a very difficult problem you see. Often we think we are free to do anything – destiny is fixed and we have free will. I think these are contradictory things. That destiny is fixed is to a certain extent applicable to those people who are not pursuing a spiritual path, because destiny does not determine how your consciousness will flower.”

While talking about change and creating the environment for change he said, “Nobody can force change. Even God cannot make change happen without our voluntary, cheerful participation in the process of transformation. Especially in spirituality, the change has to be welcomed with an open heart, willingly, at times with crying eyes, ‘My Lord, please help me, I would like to change.’ Only then this transformation is possible.

“Otherwise it will be whitewashing: ‘Oh what did you feel today in meditation?’. ‘Wow I felt calm, I felt peaceful.’ It’s whitewashing. It’s good, but where is the transformative change? I must be able to sow the seeds of cause to have the impact on the effect during a later part of my life, or if possible now. We know cause and effect; every cause results in an effect. Now, when we dream of sainthood, when something lofty, something Godly, is contemplated by us, then we must sow the seeds accordingly. We must create the cause for it.

How am I going to cause this particular impact of Godliness? Through my actions.
How will my actions be determined? Through my thought process.
How am I going to regulate my thought process? Only through meditation.

”Meditation is the key to actually deciphering so many things in life. I have been practising since 1976 and before that I was doing a few things here and there, but not of much avail. The moment meditation started under Babuji Maharaj, from 1976, most of my inner guidance even for the material world has come during meditation.”

Action and inaction can both create samskaras

“Samskaras are nothing but impression which we form in our mind through repeated actions, habits and thoughts. As a result, we create an environment within us that attracts various kinds of things.

“Often, samskaras are also formed by inactions: something that I should have done, and I did not do.

“Samskaras are like water flowing in the river. You may even be capable of removing this water all together bucket by bucket perhaps, who knows, or you can put a mega powerful pump and empty the river. Samskaras are removed like that; water is removed from the river yet there is still the riverbed. The riverbed can be compared with our tendencies, such that when it rains again, when similar circumstances are created, they provoke the samskaras to form again. Water finds its own way again, flowing through the same riverbed again. Habits crop up again within the same veins of tendencies.

“How to destroy the riverbed? Bulldoze it. How are we going to bulldoze the tendencies, which are so deeply rooted in us, cultivating such a condition within us through practice that the inner canvas of consciousness remains unaffected, like the sky? The sky of consciousness is never affected by clouds. They come, float, the colours are changing, and the sky remains as it is. Things happen but the sky remains as it is.”

“So we need to cultivate such a condition. With the help of our Master, we can easily do it the day we decide to surrender once and for all. Surrender little by little is of no use. No one can dry up the river bucket by bucket. By that time the monsoon will come and fill it up again. So we need to create such a state.

“It is easy to say, but if you are really dying for it, craving for it passionately, it will happen. Because not only do we like to achieve that perfect balance, but God also would like to see us exactly like him. So there is not only desire from our hearts propelling us towards the pure state, but the Godly pull is also there. ‘Yes, this person is coming towards me, let me help him, let me fill him up.’ He is actually more restless for us to merge in him than our desire is to be with him. He is ever waiting for us with open arms. If we have a simple desire that, ‘Yes, I would like to create a pure state,’ he will create such circumstances in life that we remain purer. The decision we have to make.”

Cleaning

Talking about cleaning, Daaji said, “At the end, one should be able to feel the whole body sanctified, like a temple: ‘My body has become the abode of God,’ nothing less. When this idea prevails in my heart how can I abuse my body or let it become polluted with whatever things we do in life? On one hand you want to maintain the purity, so how can your consciousness allow you to pollute it? Think about this very seriously. There is no point doing cleaning and the next moment spoiling it.

“Cleaning has to be done soon after you enter the house, after you wash your face and your feet and sit down. I often give the example of a labourer or a person who goes to the gym, who says as soon as he comes home, “Mummy, let me hug you.” He is sweating and he wants to hug his mother or wife while he stinks. So how can we, with our polluted state of mind, having collected so many impressions, interact with other family members? Clean yourself first. It is more important than washing your body with water. When you have pure consciousness you will be able to interact with your family members with joy.”

“When you are feeling guilty for every little thing, even loving words from your father and mother will irritate you, so remove this guilt. There is no samskara heavier than that of guilt. Guilt arises because I should not have done something, or because I did not do something I should have done. There are only those two things. Guilt is the worst of all samskaras and it is difficult to remove.”

Subtle impressions

“In the presence of Babuji Maharaj, Master once gave a talk to a European audience during their travels, I think in 1976. It is there in the book, Sahaj Marg in Europe. So he gives an example of smoking cigarettes. When you are smoking you can throw the ash and cigarette butt in the ashtray, which is a grosser form of impurity, but the finer form of impurity, which floats in the air, is the smoke. You can empty the ashtray, but who is going to remove the smoke from the room? Even when you open the windows and door it still remains for a very long time; it stinks. So subtler impressions, very refined impressions, linger on for a very long time. Especially now, we are moving into what we call good samskaras. ‘Oh, I did such a wonderful thing! I helped that person, so I should be rewarded for that.’ Some good things we do with an expectation that the Master will be happy; perhaps he will make me a preceptor.”

Daaji reminded us that it is possible to end all this samskara business by creating the living dead condition, and thereby letting Turiyatit prevail. See the impact of it. Simply by desiring to have this living dead condition creates that condition. Desire for it, ask for it, aspire for it.”

Imbibing qualities of the Master

“There is one method we have been talking about, where you meditate between midnight and 2 a.m. If you wake up then, meditate for 15 to 20 minutes, as follows:

Meditation:
Sit with this thought that all spiritual qualities of my Guru are entering into me.

He ended the talk saying, “In Sahaj Marg, practice may contribute hardly 2 to 3% of our success. The rest depends upon our attitude, how we practice, and how we conduct our life. So the crucial aspect of meditation is our attitude before, during and after the practice.”

At 6:00 p.m., Daaji distributed preceptor certificates to 70 new preceptors prepared during his recent North India tour, and then went to the main meditation hall to conduct satsangh.

After satsangh he fielded a question & answer session with the youth, and the questions were mainly focused on core spiritual aspects, e.g. consciousness, transmission, spiritual conditions, free will, samskaras and desires.

Q: How can we understand the difference between Samadhi and Sahaj Samadhi, and how can one feel the difference between these two when we meditate?

KDP: Traditional Samadhi, according to Patanjali, is defined as a stone-like condition, pashanyatulya, where you become unconscious of your surroundings. But before we go into that, what is actually meant by Samadhi? Samadhi is a Sanskrit word and there is a beauty in Sanskrit because many words can be combined to make one word.

The word Samadhi is made from two words, sam and adhi. Adhi means something that prevailed before, ‘the original’, before the creation came into existence. Sam means ‘balance’ or ‘similar to’ so Samadhi is the state similar to the original state of balance, something that prevailed before the creation came into existence.

In Sahaj Marg, when we meditate, we have a peculiar Samadhi state, which is unlike the stone-like condition. Ours is somewhere in between, that is, you are in the state of Samadhi but you are fully aware. You are aware of everything around as well as being in the state of absorbency. Even when you open your eyes after meditation, this state continues.

If you are careful, you can take this Samadhi state and make it more dynamic. During your daily activities, wandering about doing things, studying or working, looking after things, that same state can touch the hearts of others. The way you conduct yourselves with others reflects that state that you have in the heart. If you don't have it, you cannot spread that state to others. You cannot make it dynamic.

In Sahaj Marg meditation, the delta brain wave state is available right from the first sitting. You need not wait for 15 thousand hours of practice. A second remarkable thing is that while you are absorbed deeply inside, and delta waves are recorded, you will also be aware of your surroundings – if somebody is yawning or sneezing you will know about it, while you are enjoying such a relaxed state which prevails during the deep sleep recorded as delta waves.

According to Babuji Saheb, in our traditional yoga shastras this is known as the fourth state, also called the Turiya condition. When this Turiya condition is mastered and we keep this condition even during our wakeful hours, then it becomes Turiyatit. In the morning, when I was talking about how not to form impressions from our actions, this is related to the Turiyatit condition. The only way to stop the formation of samskaras is to create the ‘living dead’ state, and then it is possible.

Q: Are consciousness and awareness two different words and what is pure consciousness?

KDP: Well many times in psychology, awareness and consciousness are used interchangeably. Consciousness is an entire spectrum, e.g. consciousness during waking hours, consciousness during light sleep, consciousness when we are dreaming, consciousness in deep sleep, consciousness in Samadhi, etc. In this spectrum we have subconsciousness, superconsciousness and available consciousness, with which we are able to interact with the world. They have different frequencies; we can say for the sake of understanding from the highest to the lowest.

We enjoy this wakeful moment, but our consciousness is very limited. According to psychologists we use hardly 8% of our consciousness, and Swami Vivekananda stated in one of his lectures that the available consciousness we have is like a fine film of water sandwiched between two giant oceans of superconsciousness and subconsciousness.

The aim of all spiritual practice is to allow this available consciousness to soar higher into the superconscious sky and at the same time allow it to plunge into the ocean of the subconscious. How is this possible? We have the method, we meditate and we touch superconsciousness. When prayerfully we close our eyes, not because we are tired and going to sleep, but consciously praying to God, “Please my Lord, help me. Please forgive me for all the things that I have done wrongly.” Scan through the daily activities and say, “Okay, I did this wrong, I could have done this better. Next time I will not let this thing happen like this.” Make a few resolutions and sleep peacefully.

When we perform our actions perfectly, the heart is happy and there is no tension. Only when we become sloppy about our actions do we not complete them properly. We postpone them for next time. Such half-finished actions, half-hearted actions, don't bestow peace at any moment. So before going to sleep, make sure you have finished all your work. Whatever it may be, don’t postpone it for the next day. Then you can sleep peacefully. And when you have this calmness and depth in your sleep, and when you are connecting yourself with God during sleep, it is an experience in itself. Please try it.

Our Babuji Maharaj used to say that if you can shed two tears from your eyes during prayer, God will surely listen to you. The heart must melt when we offer prayer.

Q: How do I know my consciousness is expanding? What are the effects that I can observe?

KDP: Let’s try to understand the spectrum of consciousness. From angelic, divine consciousness to human consciousness. Within humans there are so many levels also between one person and another. Even between so-called very closely related family members there is a wide difference in consciousness. And then there are animals with a variety of natures. They have different levels of consciousness. Plants and trees and stones also have different levels.

I will give one simple example. If you know how to ride a horse, then it will appeal to you very much. When you ride a sensitive horse, you can just click with your heel and he will fly. Sometimes it just tadak! You touch him and he starts moving. With some horses, even if you have a whip, you can keep on hitting them and they will not move. Sometimes the shadow of the whip is enough for the horse to charge and run. So how well do we response to every situation?”

Suppose your mother says, “Darling, did you do this?” and you take two hours to answer. What sorts of consciousness do you have? It is worse than that stubborn horse! Why do you even give a chance to your mother to ask you a question? So this is the play of consciousness. Imagine that it is possible to be so attentive, so responsive, that even before somebody asks you, you have the answer.

What is it that prevents consciousness from expanding? If you study it carefully, it is love that makes consciousness expand. When I do things that I am fully involved in, my whole mind is absorbed. And thus action after action, activities after activities, I am able to train my mind to perform things skilfully. As Lord Krishna says in the Gita, “Yogah karmasu kaushlam (skill in action).” A person who is inwardly attached with God is able to perform his actions very skilfully, nicely. So a person with such divine consciousness will have fewer and fewer defects in his or her work. Consciousness is reflected in our actions.

The Q & A session went on for almost an hour, after which he came back to the cottage and continued his work. A long day filled with many meetings and activities ended.

^{1. Shri Kamlesh D. Patel has requested that we call him Daaji as an informal term of endearment in official publications. It is a Gujarati word, denoting father’s younger brother.}

^{2. NSS is National Service Scheme and NYKS is Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan – both run by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, for college students.}