Daaji's Travel Diaries - Paris, May 15, 2024, part 4

2024.37 - Wednesday, 26 June 2024

Dear friends,

On his last day in Paris, Daaji was invited by India's Permanent Representative and Ambassador to UNESCO, Shri Vishal Sharma at his residency. He was introduced to eight additional permanent representatives from their respective nations to UNESCO. After lunch, Daaji started by presenting a Brighter Minds demonstration. He spoke at length about meditation and Brighter Minds' brain development programs, and their effects. He presented the Ambassador with an exclusive edition of his most recent book, Spiritual Anatomy.

In the evening, Daaji attended the pre-launch event of the Master Yoga Exhibition at UNESCO and met its various partners. They were treated by some profound insights on yoga, unity, and spirituality. Daaji started by saying that, “Under the leadership of the Prime Minister of India, Sri Narendra Modi, many things are happening in the field of yoga. People used to feel shy talking about it, but with his intervention things are flowing easily. Yoga is something non- religious, and non-spiritual also I would say, as what is so spiritual about Asana and Pranayama? Even donkeys and monkeys have their Asanas. They also have their breathing patterns, but yoga is not only for that. Monkeys and donkeys would do better yoga than us if Asanas were everything. Asanas are just one of the elements to maintain physical health, especially the flexibility of our muscles and bones.

“There’s much more to yoga. Patanjali described eight elements, the limbs. These are not sequential steps. If you take them sequentially and say, ‘I'm going to first master step 1, Yama, then step 2, Niyama, then Asanas, then Pranayama, etc.,’ you’ll be lost. You will never attain Samadhi. Your life will be finished just doing Yama and Niyama. So, my Master advocated that we should begin with meditation, and with the increased ability to discern that results from meditation. Then, one is able to follow Yama and Niyama masterfully.”

Daaji also said, “If you ponder over the role of the heart, it is very simple. It is always there to warn you. Suppose you want to go to a party, and your wife says, ‘No, don't go,’ or your husband says, ‘Don't go,’ ask your heart what it is suggesting. When you’re about to do something not so kosher, as they say in the Jewish tradition, not so nice, listen to your heart. If your name is Mr. Brown and you say, ‘I am Mr. Patel,’ what will happen to your heart? It will pound heavily and faster. Recollect your days as a teenager when your mother asked you, ‘Where were you, my baby?’ You say, ‘I was doing my homework with friends,’ when you were not, and see what your heart was telling you at that time. Your heart would have been pumping fast and heavy.

“So the role of the heart is mainly to warn us. Many people ask, ‘How to know whether it’s my heart speaking or my mind speaking?’ Everyone knows when the heart speaks, but we put a stone on our heart and say, ‘I will not listen to my heart.’ The more we don't listen to the heart, the quieter it becomes. Eventually, it stops giving us signals. The more we listen, the more our conscience will improve, and our freedom to enjoy life will also improve. We become lighter and lighter, as if our consciousness is rising. The more guilt, the more stones on the heart, the heavier we become. We can no longer rise higher with our consciousness because it’s too heavy.

“Heaven and hell are only this. The joyful expanded state, which matches the brahmagati state, is heavenly. I doubt there is a physical place. It’s an emotional psychological state of being happy.

“So yama means to kill all the negative things and niyama is exactly the opposite—to embrace what is good for our evolution. They are very simple principles, and both can be followed in a very natural way through meditation.

“When you are meditating with your eyes closed for half an hour, inviting God’s grace without any conditions, see what happens to your heart. The heart speaks clearer and clearer. It will guide you every moment what to do, and especially what not to do. We then have to muscle up the courage. Consciousness is all about that. One of the aspects is to become more and more aware of things. Consciousness is simply defined as the degree of awareness; to that extent, it also means the degree of unawareness.

“Suppose I become aware that my friend is sick or in trouble, is it enough? It's not enough. My responses must resonate with the other person’s needs. How must I respond in the correct measure? Not too much and not too little.”

In the concluding part of his speech, Daaji said, “It’s a good beginning under the leadership of Modi ji. But the task is not yet finished. People are only busy with asanas. Through UNESCO, Heartfulness (Shri Ram Chandra Mission) and many allied partners will be showcasing this Master Yoga Exhibition from June 14 to June 23, with the climax on June 21. Emphasis is on all the elements of yoga, the complete package. Otherwise there cannot be success. One has to first understand the purpose of yoga, the definition of yoga—what is yoga? In his Yoga Sutras, Patanjali defines yoga as chitta vritti nirodha.

“How to curb the tendencies of our hearts? How to pacify our tendencies? Are these tendencies in our control? We know that none of them are in our control. So how to curb them? How to pacify them and stay quiet? The time comes when we don't have to struggle with tendencies; the way we think, the way we behave, the way we conduct our lifestyle are all in tune with the plan of the soul. If that doesn’t happen, then our practice is counterproductive. Through correct thinking and right understanding, we can curb these tendencies.

“How can correct thinking happen? Only through meditation. How can understanding develop? Again through meditation. So this time we will have a great emphasis on meditation internationally. And the ultimate purpose is unity. But unity is not just vertical—my atman with para-atman, my little soul with the cosmic soul, the raindrop with the ocean. They have to merge. The raindrop falling in the ocean is the climax of yoga, becoming the ocean, but that’s not enough. I have to work horizontally too. We may evolve, but Buddha says, ‘I will hang around in this dimension until all the jivas [embodied souls] are freed from dukkha [suffering].’

“Individual freedom sounds very exhilarating, but when you see your loved ones in a state of misery, what is the use of individual freedom? Well, let’s begin with ourselves, and see if we can unshackle ourselves through these practices. At least bring the individual level of peace so that families can be at peace, communities can be at peace, and there can be unity at a global level. So there is a far-ranging application of yoga. ”

After this, Mr. K.G. Praveen Kumar, the Indian Consul, spoke about the universality of yoga, and offered his salutations and appreciation to Daaji and Heartfulness for all the work being done to promote yoga around the world.

After this event, Daaji went back to his hotel. The next morning, he had breakfast with some abhyasis at the 15th-floor restaurant of his hotel. The breakfast venue offered a spectacular view of the River Seine, the Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame Cathedral reconstruction, and several other landmarks that make Paris such an enchanting city. After this, Daaji prepared to leave for London.

In the next bulletin, we will bring you happenings and talks from Daaji’s London visit.

For Daaji's day-to-day experiences, please visit - www.daaji.org/glimpses