Daaji's Travel Diaries - Paris, May 13 to 14, 2024, part 1

2024.34 - Tuesday, 18 June 2024

Dear ones,

After leaving Dubai, beloved Daaji landed in Paris. On the evening of May 13, at the Paris Heartfulness Center, Rue du Cardinal Lemoine, Daaji conducted group meditation and then spoke with the group of Heartfulness practitioners in the same vein as his parting talk in Dubai.

What should we do with spiritual fragrance?

He reiterated, “Money is important. How we spend that money and how we earn that money is very important. When we reflect on our spiritual life, we have been gifted so many riches—so many levels of consciousness day after day.” He also remarked, “The Masters teach us about the evolution of consciousness. What is the role of that evolved consciousness? How to make use of that evolved consciousness in our day- to-day life? Babuji Maharaj says it is good to play around with consciousness. Yogis do that, just like children play with toys, and youngsters with romance. So, Babuji was making fun of it, actually, and then he posed a question: What is supporting this consciousness? I would like you to think about that.”

Daaji also asked, as he had done in Dubai, “What is the role of Samadhi? What is the role of these various spiritual conditions we receive during every satsangh, during every moment we meditate, and whenever we think of the Master in constant remembrance? Somehow we are able to attract that spiritual fragrance toward us. What is the role of that? We have invited and we have earned, now, how are we going to spend it?"

Learn to center yourself

Early the next morning, at 7:30 a.m., Daaji conducted group meditation at the Institut du Monde Arabe, followed by a Q&A session. In response to the question, “Will there be a project for a Kanha in Europe one day?”, he answered, “Yes.”

In response to a question on whether a musician can transmit love, peace, compassion, joy, blissfulness, etc. through a performance of music to the audience, Daaji answered, “Yes, it is possible not only for music, but for all kinds of activities that we perform in our daily lives. If you’re a mother, a teacher, a professor, a researcher, a farmer, a sportsperson, just connect with your heart, connect with the center of your being, before you start any activity. Then it will become very creative and very effective.

“For every action we perform, not only in the material world but also in the spiritual world, we can evaluate how much faster we can do it, how much better we can do it, and how much more efficiently we can perform it. All this can happen when we are watchful of ourselves through inner centering. Centering is possible only through our meditative practices.

“Even though we practice day in and day out, sometimes we lose interest. I also felt it during my practice days. I still practice, but in the very early days I would meditate for one, two or three days morning and evening, but after two or three weeks I would lose interest. Then, the intensity, the inner passion to practice would slow down. I found it very effective to visit a preceptor and take a sitting. That always worked for me.

“So one fundamental thing is to center ourselves, and we can center ourselves more effectively when we are regular in our practice. Even when we are regular, we can accelerate it, make it more intense, by taking sittings from preceptors.

“I have received many letters from Heartfulness practitioners saying that personal face-to-face sittings are a lot better than remote sittings. This is because there is cooperation from both sides. The preceptor is able to read the condition of the practitioner better. The practitioner is able to converse and express their issues better, and openly receive the sitting. It is not just a matter of belief. For remote sittings, you need a great level of faith and belief. Until that level of faith arrives, I think we have to make use of face-to-face individual sittings, plus the group meditations.

“We have to really intensify the practice every day. I have observed something: If I practice with some intensity today, and tomorrow the same intensity, the third day the same intensity, the fourth day the same intensity of passion, it will not do. It has to become incremental. The problem is, as we rise higher and higher and we get used to the practice, the passion to practice reduces. And we are not able to maintain what we call the joy in the practice. We have to again and again find ways and means to feed that joy. That’s the trick. And no one can give us the key for that. We all need to develop it in our own way.”

Have confidence, enthusiasm, and the passion to serve

In response to a question about the extremes of arrogance and lack of self- confidence, Daaji said, “It is in the minds and hearts of most abhyasis that they are here to serve the Master. And Babuji Maharaj said, ‘I can serve you all and make you all masters.’ And why not our sister thinks that she can become the next master? If you don’t think like that then something is wrong with you. That passion to serve should be there, not to become, but to serve as a master.

“And what is a master? Master is one who has attained some level of perfection. There is never complete perfection, but some level of perfection. So, with that little light they possess they can guide others. That is what Babuji meant when he said, ‘I make masters not disciples.’ So welcome, and you will fulfill Babuji’s dream soon. There is no arrogance when you have the confidence that, ‘I can serve.’ Arrogance is only one manifestation of ego. Another is confidence, and the confidence should be there that ‘I want to become.’ Some level of enthusiasm, some level of craziness is required. ”

To know more about Daaji's day-to-day activities, visit - www.daaji.org/glimpses

In the next bulletin, we will share Daaji’s interview with Dr. Guila Clara Kessous, the UNESCO Artist for Peace, on the topic of art at the Institut du Monde Arabe