Bulletin No: 2016.46 – Friday June 3, 2016

Report on Daaji’s visit to the Vrads Sande Ashram, Denmark

Heartfulness Training Seminar, Part 2, 16th to 22nd of May 2016

Monday, 16th of May 2016

It was a free day: no meetings, no programs, only the quietness of our ashram, as many participants from the first batch had already gone home.

Daaji conducted satsangh at 7 a.m. following by a second satsangh at 11:30 a.m.

After lunch, he went for a walk around the ashram and informally spoke to abhyasis. He emphasised the importance of shifting from thinking to feeling, from brain to heart.

For the organisers it was a day of reviewing the first session, which had just ended. Once more our Masters' magic had worked well as we had hosted over five hundred people in a venue designed for fewer residents. So, how could we help feeling full of gratitude, being even more ready for the impending work to be done for the second batch of the seminar?

We did so by mustering our will, the will to do better, the will to go beyond our limits, the will to let our hearts unfurl more freely in our acts, in our words and in our thoughts. We were living in tune with the meditation; each meditation conveying a specific vibration and perfectly in tune with the day, the hour and the profound necessity of the moment.

At 5:30 p.m. Daaji again conducted satsangh after which registrations took place in the evening for the second batch.

This first European Heartfulness training seminar in English and French was organised into three batches with approximately 500 trainees in each batch. The two-day training programs provided opportunities to learn, reflect and practise the Heartfulness approach. Volunteering at the seminar in dishwashing, food preparation, clean-up etc. was a required component, where all were able to live Heartfulness, working in teams and perhaps even learning new domestic skills.

‘Thinking to feeling’ was the focus of the mandatory 4-hour core training sessions, which included the guided relaxation, meditation, cleaning and prayer modules. This gave direct experience of the modules and how and when to introduce deeper aspects of the meditation to seekers when they are ready.

In the A to Z sessions, participants worked in small groups discussing what needed to be done before, during and after a basic one-hour Heartfulness workshop. An essential emphasis was on ways and means to do follow-up with seekers. Sessions on Heartfulness for corporates, colleges and schools presented the different approaches that would work in these settings.

A hands-on practical session on how to find and navigate the on-line resources for different ways to present Heartfulness (http://heartfulness.org/cmspublic/HFN/) was gratefully received.

Participants were encouraged to take on what they felt they could contribute to the Heartfulness initiatives in their own centres – to take it one step at a time. Further training sessions are being planned.

Tuesday, 17th of May 2016

Daaji conducted satsangh at 7 a.m., 11.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m.

Activities gathered momentum as we welcomed the second batch of participants. The experience we had acquired during the first batch had borne its fruits: registering, explaining all about the various workshops, directing each person precisely and according to sensitivities, was completed harmoniously and with more refined and effective listening skills. We had been transformed, been supported, and therefore we were deeply cooperative.

Restlessness was what prevailed at the end of each of our meetings, an impatience to turn our understanding into actions, to make all our projects become reality, and to discover under our feet the fantastic path we were going to create while treading it.

The divine field

After the 11:30 satsangh, Daaji spoke, saying:
“I had some very interesting revelations during the sitting. This will appeal to a lot of people who are familiar with Newtonian and quantum physics. I have been trying to find better words than ‘God’ and ‘Divine Light’ to appeal to the world of non-believers, because nowadays the idea of Heartfulness and the idea of the presence of Divine Light, of God, seem to be at odds. Non-believers also like to meditate, and they also feel good, but they do not like to depend upon the base of Divine Light.

“In Sahaj Marg, something is created because, as Babuji Maharaj puts it, the will, the prayerful sankalpa, works behind the state of meditation. The state of meditation is not just created automatically; some efforts are made, something from the giver that resonates in the heart of the seeker.

“The idea of the quantum field is very appealing to those who like to use this terminology. It appeals to them in the same way that a different approach is adopted with people of a religious background. We are looking for an approach that will please their hearts. And this form will emerge from the quantum field as per one’s own beliefs and dogmas.”

“Newtonian physics will appeal to the people who are believers of religion, for example, where forms and dogmas appeal. For spiritual people, where we go beyond form into what you might call light, the quantum field will appeal.

“But Sahaj Marg is not restricted either to religion or spirituality. It tries to take us beyond all these things, and so this divine field eludes us, where one has to travel beyond form to formlessness, beyond qualities to the quality-less condition. Finally we go to where even bliss becomes so heavy and we renounce that, into ‘no-thingness’. What words can we use for these concepts, which will appeal to those who are not religious in their approach? Please think over this, and let us discuss it during the next few days.”

Daaji worked, met people and rested throughout the day. In the evening after dinner, he met with the thirty European preceptor candidates under preparation, and they had the opportunity to ask him questions.

Wednesday, 18th of May 2016

Daaji again conducted satsangh at 7 a.m., 11.30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. For the participants of the training seminar, each day was full: with their own practice, satsangh at 7 a.m., followed by breakfast, a program from 9 a.m. until just before the 11:30 a.m. satsangh, lunch, the afternoon sessions from 2:30 to 5 p.m., satsangh at 5:30 p.m., dinner, and volunteer activities at various times throughout the day.

In parallel, the preceptor candidates were also having sessions every afternoon throughout the week on the attitudes required for the preceptors’ work. On this penultimate afternoon, in preparation for their final sitting with Daaji the following morning, they also had a practical session on how to give sittings.

Thursday, 19th of May 2016

The preceptor candidates received their final preparatory sitting during the 7 a.m. satsangh. After breakfast, Daaji then met them and handed them their certificates and gave them prasad. It was a beautiful occasion, with subtle tears of joy shed by some of the candidates.

Interiorise

After the evening satsangh, Daaji again spoke:

“In Truth Eternal, Lalaji says that your Master, the practice, the prayer, and experiences can all stop you from progressing further. It is very appealing to me, as it is so true.

“I had accepted this theory for a long time, but today I got the proof from Lalaji’s work that as long as we externalise these aspects of the Master and the method and the experiences, then we are stuck, just like people are stuck with the form, dogmas and beliefs of religion.

“So in Sahaj Marg, and other spiritual practices, if you remain bogged down in your practice and say, ‘Our system is great, my experience is the best, and the sitting given by a specific preceptor is such a good sitting, my life is liberated.’ Now you are attaching yourself, you are forming bondage with your Master, you are forming bondage with your experience, and you are forming bondage with everything that should not be.

“You need to go on moving. Babuji Maharaj keeps on reminding us again and again that we must interiorise: ‘Interiorise yourself. That will take you to the next level.’

“However great the practice may be, and however great the Master may be, they will remain stumbling blocks if externalised. … You must transcend all these things. Don’t get stuck to his physical form.

“With experiences also: have wonderful experiences in meditation and go on writing them in your diary, but the next thing is to forget about them, interiorise them, digest them, and move to the next level. Get yourself ready for the next stage. So we need to transcend all that and wait for transformative experiences that take us to the next levels.

“No wonder at night time we are asked to pray, so that we can contemplate on the meaning of the prayer, compare our state, find our defects, try to solve them, and if there are any shortcoming from our part we offer prayer, seek help and go to sleep peacefully.

“The rest of the work is done subconsciously by what you call the great Master, or you may like to call it the quantum field. It takes care of it. We don’t know what it is, so why label it? It is unknown. We are seeking help from the Unknown. All the known things have helped us so far and now we seek help from the Unknown. And it really does a miraculous job, more than anything, more than meditation. It takes care of how well we sleep.”

Friday, 20th of May 2016

The communal day started as all the others, with satsangh at 7 a.m. As is his habit, however, by this time Daaji had already been up and working for a few hours. It was a day of arrival and departure between the second and third batches, as well as a day of review and feedback for the organisers of these pilot Heartfulness training programs. This involved both meetings and introspection in order to focus on improvement.

The preceptor candidates were enjoying breakfast after yesterday’s fast, in preparation for returning to their homes to start working. They also enjoyed one last question and answer session on aspects of the work with two experienced preceptors after breakfast.

Impressions and bhoga

In the evening after satsangh, Daaji spoke about impressions and bhoga:

“Had we not been forming impressions and samskaras in our lives, I don’t think Sahaj Marg would exist. The root cause of all our existential problems arises out of the impressions that we go on gathering. No matter what we do or what we think, ipso facto, to a certain extent, impressions are formed.

“Sahaj Marg teaches us to prepare ourselves in such a way that whatever we do we do not collect impressions. And even if we do collect them, we are able to get rid of them. We are able to have a fresh perspective and be new before we go to sleep.

“When you are talking with someone and say, ‘Oh, I know this,’ it shows that you have knowledge. Your mind runs around trying to locate cognates. For example, when somebody is talking about snakes, your mind will explore the subject: ‘Oh, okay, this is something I have seen.’ But sometimes there are things we have not seen, and yet we seem to have cognition of them.

“These cognates are not to be taken so lightly. For example, we may not be farmers, but farming appeals to us. These cognates are there in our deeper core, which are our impressions. They resonate with us and we seem to understand them so well. When a person understands something so well, he is known as knowledgeable.

“If, on the other hand, a person says, ‘No I don’t have any idea whatsoever what you are talking about,’ it reflects ignorance. It is as simple as that. Now this only proves that we need to remain afresh all the time. Otherwise our cognition, or re-cognition, of any situation will be tainted by our previous cognates, our previous impressions, our previous samskaras.

“In my early days, when hundreds of abhyasis travelled together for three days in the train to Shahjahanpur, we would talk, have satsangh, and often end up talking about problems. Some of the preceptors would say, ‘Don’t bother with him; he created his own samskaras, so let him suffer. Don’t try to interfere with his samskaras.’ I think that is not a nice thing, and it is not to be done. We need to be part of a family where we are there for each other.

“We cannot let our sisters and brothers suffer. Though the world might say we need detachment – you know this sannyasa business – that is again a misunderstood concept of love. Love demands nothing. When you are helping somebody you help them out of the love that you have for the Master whom we share, the God we share, the Source we share. If you don’t do it, who else will? When you are in trouble, when your son or daughter is in trouble, who will support you?

“I find there are more and more problems our families are facing in everyday life. We need to support each other in some way, at least by listening. If we don’t, there will not be the kind of unity that we are aspiring to have. Unity is going to be, or should be, our motto, our hallmark. Unity will be recognised, as Babuji says, as the cardinal feature of Sahaj Marg abhyasis. And this unity will arise only out of the harmony, love and care that we share with each other, out of heartfelt brotherhood.

“Otherwise, what is the point of meditating, and cleaning yourself, of letting the love develop to its maximum for God, but doing nothing whatsoever for each other? It is easy to say, ‘Let him go through his bhoga,’ but then what is our role as sisters and brothers towards each other?

“Please think over this. It is not that we are trying to interfere and infiltrate into someone else’s life, but if someone asks for help, if you can, extend it. If you can’t, pray for them.

“That is all I wanted to share with you. I hope you take this lightly, please. Don’t be so serious. The world has not ended. We can fly together with smiles.”

Saturday, 21st, and Sunday, 22nd, of May 2016

Saturday started with a different feel. There was change in the air, like when the wind changed in Mary Poppins. It was the first day of the third batch.

The participants for this batch were able to immerse themselves directly into a light and delightful atmosphere that was highly spiritual. The work felt accomplished, the hearts that had been there for several days were purified and the collective mind had been soothed.

Those who arrived for this last batch could not fail to recognise the atmosphere: a vibration liberated from the complexity of the external world. Their souls collected the fruit of the task accomplished during the previous days and they enjoyed the spiritual nectar for which they had come.

Those new preceptors who were still present were permitted to give sittings on this day, and many took advantage of the seminar to give their first sittings to willing recipients.

Satsangh was again at 7 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Immediately after the evening satsangh, Daaji announced with obvious sadness that he had to leave a day early, and he left for Copenhagen en route to the USA immediately afterwards.

The following day, Sunday, was the last day of the third batch, and participants continued to be busy with their workshop activities and satsangh.

For all of us, the end of the seminar stood for a beginning, because a fervent heart knows no end but only a simple and smooth continuity immersed in eternity. Though Daaji, already so dear to most of us, had left earlier than scheduled, nobody felt abandoned. In each participant there remained the light but enduring mark of the immense love he bears and dispatches.

May we all with a loving heart accompany him in his Mission, and travel in his company as far as the reach of our limits!