God teasing the Seeker

God teasing the Seeker

The Yatra of the Soul

God (or Source or Unknown or He or She or It or the Ultimate) has been teasing human being ever since the Creation began; but still human being is neither certain nor uncertain about His existence.  But the very word God exists, because He exists. But the teasing continues…

This teasing has produced several religions, several scriptures, numerous traditions and cultures; several approaches to experience Him; several Meditation methods today exist but yet God is still elusive. All these things take us somewhere; but still elusive.

On one side we all seem to agree that He cannot be known; (He is also called Unknown) He is beyond understanding; He is beyond mind, brain, intellect and ego. Yet there are tremendous efforts going on, to reconcile our head and heart, whether it is with the help of rational thinking or Science. Yet the Experience or rather Imperience (Inner Experience) is ever-receding.

The unavoidable, terrible, incredible, Longing that appears to be intrinsic to every soul, seems to be natural, keeps the seeker restless till it finds what it seeks. It is the driving force of everything that is happening to us – good, bad, ugly, noble everything.

In this predicament, human being pursuing his longing consciously or unconsciously begins his search from somewhere OR from wherever he/she is. Generally the seeker begins from where he/she is. Generally it is from the idea of God that one naturally inherits from the religion or tradition in which he/she is born.

Conscious seekers are called spiritual seekers. Rest are all unconscious seekers. The broad difference is: Conscious Seekers search within themselves and Unconscious seekers search without. Unconscious seekers are generally material-oriented and Conscious Seekers are more spiritual oriented individuals.

All knowledge that is available to humanity – terrestrial or esoteric, is the outcome of deep inner contemplation. This is the proof that  all knowledge is within the human being. Each soul pursues its evolution (inner and outer) appropriately from where he/she left in the previous incarnation.

Spirituality OR Conscious seeking is all about inner evolution. Therefore according to each one's evolutionary level, the soul gravitates towards the appropriate path for further evolution. It is important to note that there is no end to Evolution.

The journey of each soul is towards Infinite and unending. It is a goal that one never achieves and is ever-receding. But striving towards this Infinite makes the soul evolve.  This whole Existence is a great cosmic drama and each being is playing its role. Only few souls perhaps become conscious and are able to witness this mystical drama and trying to make all others also to make aware of this, to minimize the effect of pain that the world otherwise offers constantly.

Now, among so many souls existing, one such conscious soul was lead to a spiritual path  called Heartfulness-Sahaj Marg to pursue his longing. The teachings, directions to tread the path started making sense to pursue further and further without  getting much affected by the external circumstances.

Like every spiritual practice heartfulness meditation also gives many experiences. Experiences without the guidance of the adept often take you in the wrong direction. Experiences are like carrot before the donkey to make the soul move further, but they are not the end. Most of the initial experiences are imaginary and illusions, not of much consequence. It is only in the advance stages these experiences indicate something related to the spiritual progress. Till then they are to be noted in a journal and forgotten.

Regular practice and uninterrupted stream of thought of what the soul is pursuing (called longing) is the fuel to keep moving further This sort of practice should result in growth or evolution more than the experience, says Sahaj Marg. Any spiritual practice should teach us regulation of mind and transcending the mind. As one meditates, progressively the discriminatory faculty should become sharper and sharper and lead to highest Wisdom. The Ego should dissolve and become humble, become humility itself. Mind should mature from thinking of the Divine to Feeling of the Divine. And thus the soul’s consciousness progressively gets refined until it dissolves totally in the Infinite Pure Consciousness that transcends this Existence and Time. 

Every soul in this Creation is engaged in this infinite pilgrimage consciously or unconsciously.  And it is important to note that everything that happens to each soul does contributes ultimately to the overall progress of the soul’s journey towards Infinity and that is inevitable.

And that is the reason the need for the soul to align itself with the Divine as much as possible to complete the journey at the earliest. Even Nature cooperates with such souls and does everything to speed up the process. Thus the need to be tune with Nature inside and outside.

He IS

 

Backdrop of Pujya Chariji’s 77th Birth Anniversary Celebrations at 

Hyderabad, July 24 2004

The Bird in the Picture – The Wandering Albatross.

The Wandering Albatross has the largest wingspan of any bird, and is named so, because it is a great traveller. Albatross is the living bird with the greatest wingspan, measuring almost 3.5 m. The body length is up to 1.35 m. Albatross bird roams on the windy oceans It spends most of its life in flight, landing only to breed and feed. Distances travelled each year are hard to measure, but one banded bird was recorded travelling 6000 km in twelve days. It can spend several months in the air, without ever touching land. Albatross lives up to 80 years of age.

About the Picture

The Bird in the Picture – The Wandering Albatross represents Beloved Master Pujyashri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachariji. He IS 77 in 2004 flying at 400 with huge wings serving humanity 22 untiringly in guiding them towards His Beloved Master Babuji Maharaj . The spiritual connotation of this Mahavakya is immense and profound. The purport of “ He IS” is left to the spiritual seekers to be meditated upon. 

He IS

(From Principles of Sahaj Marg, Vol.13 )

Reality is what IS. What was cannot be Reality, what is going to be cannot be Reality, because one has passed off, and t he other is not yet. This brought me to the important idea of the Master and God. Whether God is or not, is not the question. Is He ‘IS’ to you? If not, He is not. Therefore sensible spirituality takes up and foolish religion denies, a Master. Spirituality says, “This guy, whatever he may be, is Real. He is there. He ‘IS’ to you. What He is, is not the consideration. He IS. Accept Him. Through him, now try to realize that which He is putting before you as goal, with His guidance, with His help.”

- Parthasar athi Rajagopalachari

Serve to Deserve

 

(Backdrop of 104 th Birth Anniversary Celebrations of Pujya Babuji Maharaj, the Heartfulness Master at, Hyderabad, April 30, 2003)

Serve to Deserve

I hope all of you will understand the deeper significance. I don’t have to spell out the consequences of not serving. My Master Babuji Maharaj used to say – there is only one way of making Him happy. That was to do His work faithfully without thinking of your own self. Selfless service does not mean only that you don’t get money for it or reward for it. Selfless service means not to think of yourself at any time under any circumstances.

- Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari

Become like a candle

 

(Backdrop of 78th Birthday celebrations of Beloved Chariji Maharaj, the Heartfulness Master in 2005)

Become like a candle 

We should be the leader s of society, not just one but all of us. Each in our locality, in our section, in our office, like a candle in every dark room. It is enough. One candle removes the darkness. If you light more candles, that is only to increase the illumination. To clear t he darkness, to permit me to see, one candle is enough. So we must each one be like candles in our sections of society. Wherever we go there must be illumination, there must be some

fragrance of the spiritual growth. It was one of my Master’s standard statements that if you light the

candle, insects will automatically come towards it: “ Chirag jalao to kide apne aap ud ayenge.”

So we have to become such candles, humble, lowly; but remember that even the highest source of illumination is measured in ter ms of candle power. So in society, changes must be measured in terms of the individual’s man power. So it is not a small thing. It is as big as total darkness of a room being dispelled by one single candle. 

But we must have the courage to burn ourselves, as Babuji said, “The ultimate example of a spiritual sacrifice is the candle which burns itself to illuminate others” – self consuming – let us try to

become that. 

- Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari

Loving Detachment

 

Loving Detachment

It was Pujya Gurudev Daaji's suggestion that every abhyasi should write an article on the above subject after contemplating on it. This suggestion was part of the message given on the occasion of Basant on Feb 3, 2025 at Kanha Shanti Vanam, the Global Headquarters of Heartfulness.

Taking as an order from Beloved Gurudev, I attempt to share my little understanding so far about "Loving detachment".

According to the Masters of Sahaj Marg, humans should direct their love ONLY towards God. When human love is directed towards God it becomes an unconditional love or divine love. This love is very sacred and beyond the carnal love, the sibling love, the parental love, the brotherly love etc. these being at the lower end of the Love spectrum. 

Directing Love to the Divine or God or attaching oneself to the Divine within, naturally results in detachment of all unwanted thing on the way. This is also called the detached attachment to the divine. All bondages or attachments are loosened through this attachment to the Divine within. This I feel is the Loving detachment that happens as a consequence of heartfulness practices though we continue to love in a pure way. Real Love is free from all attachments.

This is naturally made to happen through simple and effective heartfulness practices of Meditation, Cleaning and Prayer.

Meditation teaches us how to hold on to the Divine Presence within and slowly it becomes our second nature.

Cleaning helps us to get rid of all the obstacles, attachments and reinforces the process of holding on to the Divine.

Prayer helps us to surrender to the Divine and thus refines the being handling the guilt that cannot be handled by Meditation and Cleaning. It thus reinforces the Loving detachment. 

Attachment to the Divine Presence within results in Loving detachment with all the other worldly attachments that are hinderances to God realization. In fact, we are detached from all these with an attitude pure Love that and thus refining the performance of handling them. In some way, we deal with worldly attachments with the absolute perspective of unconditional Love.

Some thoughts on Spirituality

 Some thoughts on Spirituality

Let's do some soul-searching: do we really need God? Or are we 'thinking' that we need God? We need to answer this very honestly to ourselves. Then begins the real journey of Spirituality. Do we really crave for Him? if yes, for what?

Some thoughts on Spirituality

Actually in my understanding of Spirituality, it is Universal, an approach to go beyond everything. There cannot be Spirituality without Meditation. And hence Spirituality is synonymous with Meditation; they go together.

Let's explore Meditation. nd its purpose. It is an evergreen topic and almost the buzz word of today as someone said.

The very purpose of any Meditation is to regulate the ever-wavering mind; It is all about regulating the thought traffic. Meditation is also about transcendence to go Beyond into higher realms of Consciousness, that can makes one a better and better human being and then turn into a Divine being. In fact, the mind helps one to evolve his/her Consciousness if regulated.

The purpose of life is To Evolve Everything in this Creation is evolving Consciously or Unconsciously. Evolution is a Natural process. Therefore Nature always supports Evolution. A Spiritual Process is one that helps one to Evolve Consciously; and one will discover the cooperation Nature immensely. A Spiritual process or an ideal method of Meditation helps the seeker to hasten this process of Evolution. And human being is the privileged creature that evolve consciously and attain greater evolutionary heights. There is no end for Evolution.

 

Gross, Subtle and Causal Bodies

The human system comprises of Gross, Subtle and Causal Bodies. Gross body is the physical body; Subtle Body or bodies mainly are Mind, Intellect, Ego and Consciousness. Causal body is the subtlest body without whose presence, the other two bodies do not exist.

 

What is that which evolves in this human system

Gross body or the physical body cannot evolve; it can only age. Its evolution if at all is very limited. Causal body or the Soul/Atma is already said to be pure and therefore nothing to evolve. Therefore it is only the Subtle body that evolves and has no limitations whatsoever.

 

Three States of Consciousness that a man dwells in

There are three levels in which a human being dwells generally:

1) Waking State (Jaagrudavastha)

2) Dream State (Swapnavastha)

3) Deep-sleep state (Sushupti avastha)

There are other states that can be achieved through yogic processes such as Meditation:

4) The Fourth State (Turiya)

5) The Turiyaateet

and beyond; there is no end.

  

Evolution of Consciousness

As said earlier, it is the subtle bodies that evolve viz., Mind Intellect, Ego and Consciousness. Chit, Manas, Buddhi, and Ahankar in Sanskrit. All these 4 Subtle bodies are collectively called Antahkaran in Sanskit. It is the evolution of Antahkaran that happens through systematic Meditation techniques under an able guide.

Chit or Consciousness can be understood as sky in which Mind (Manas), Intellect (Buddhi) and go (Ahankar) are embedded just as planets are embedded in sky. Therefore when the Mind, Intellect and Ego are purified, there is evolution in Consciousness to that extent.

Religion not opposed to Science

 Religion not opposed to Science

"In the opinion of the house, Religion is not opposed to Science." I participated in the debate competition organized by Vivekananda Seva Samiti on the above topic, on the dias of Sri Rama Krishna Math, Hyderabad in Feb 1984 for college sudents. I spoke for the topic. The following is the gist of what I spoke. I was presented with a book bt Swami Ranganathananda at the end of the program.

Respected elders and my dear friends, 

Before proceeding with the argument that "Religion is not opposed to Science" I would like to place before you my ideas about Religion and Science.

We cannot deny that there is "something" within every being apart from the material composition of the body which is not the body; that which is the source of thoughts and ideas and that which suffers both pains and pleasures. This "something" is what we call the "soul".

Religion says that this soul is divine, infinite truth and immortal. And this soul is clouded by the physical body with worldly passions and ignorance. And true religion is the realization of this divine nature existing in every individual by shattering ignorance and renunciating the worldly comforts. What do we get realizing God? We live in eternal bliss. It would be appropriate to quote Swami Vivekananda who defines religion as, "Religion is realization, not talk nor doctorine, however beautiful they may be; it is being and becoming; it is the whole soul changed into what it believes. That is religion." This realization is based on a set of spiritual laws concerning the cause, nature and purpose of the universe.

And what is science? Science is the systemaitised study of facts about man and his environment. And the existence of the universe is a fact. Every fact has a cause behind it and some laws governing it. Therefore there must be some cause behind this universe. So Science as many scientists define is a sincere pursuit of this truth. The objectives of Religion and Science being the same, we cannot say that religion is opposed to science.

Even though the objectives are same, their ways of approaching the truth are different. The way of approach of Science is that, it proceeds from known facts to the unknown ones. It is basically concerned with the physical and material world. It rests on theories and experiments. When experiments coincide with theories, they are transformed into laws or principles. These laws aor principles are in turn applied in everyday life which have led to so many discoveries and inventions which are responsible for easy and comfortable life, that a present man is leading now. Religion is directly concerned with cause which it believes it to be the inner world. It is also based on theories and experiments. Having been successful with the experiments, the theories were developed into laws known as spiritual laws. These can be verified only through experience. These spiritual laws inculcate in man the basic qualities of man such as discipline, concentration, control of senses, moral and ethical values. These qualities make a man think systematically and create in man the devotion for cause which gives a fragile man significance and value. And systematic thinking helps man to penetrate into the very depths of the facts around him and to extract maximum information about them. These are pre-requisites for any man to strive in any discipline. Thus we can say that religion accelerates the pace of science. 

Religion has been describing God with different kind of phrases such as God is beginningless and endless, He is infinite, immortal etc. These things make a man hard to imagine the nature of God and thus becomes averse to religion and orients towards science. Since analogies reduce confusion and make understanding easy, we can observe some. Some scientist rightly points out that, "anything that science discovers is beyond the reach of direct observation; we cannot see energy; nor the gravitational force nor the molecules of gases nor the explosions in the nerve cells. It is only the premises of science and not conclusions which are not directly observed. In mathematics, we find that a number line extends from - infinity to + infinity, which means that the line is beginningless and endless. In physics, it has been proved that the sum total of cosmic energy is constant. That is it cannot be changed. It is neither created nor destroyed. Thus energy is immortal. And anything immortal is divine. Now, we can understand the nature of the soul. 

Hence I conclude that the truths which were being cherished in the bosom of religion for ages are now being explained in a more authoritative language and Religion is only glad about it.  Therefore Religion is not opposed to Science in any way as long as it is the sincere pursuit of the truth.

Three Qualifications of a Student to succeed in God-Realization

Three Qualifications of a Student to succeed in God-Realization

(My notes when I was 21 years old)

Reference do not remember, perhaps Swami Vivekannada)

Three things are necessary for the student who wishes to succeed to realize God.

First: Give up all ideas of enjoyment in this world and the next. Care only for God and Truth. We are here to know Truth, not for any enjoyment. Leave that to brutes who enjoy as we never care. Man is a thinking being and must struggle on until he conquers death, until he sees the light. He must not spend himself in vain talking that bears no fruit. Worship of society and popular opinion is idolatory. The soul has no sex, no country, no place, no time.

Second: Intense desire to know Truth and God. Be eager for them, long for them as a drowning man longs for breath. Want only God, take nothing else, let not "seeming" cheat you any longer. Turn from all and seek only God.

Third: The six trainings: 

First: Restraining the mind going outwards.

Second: Restraining the senses

Third: Turning the mind inward.

Fourth: Suffering everything without murmuring.

Fifth: Fastening the mind to one idea.

Sixth: Think constantly of your real nature.

Get rid of superstition. Do not hypnotise yourself into a belief in your own inferiority. Day and night, tell yourself what you really are, until you realise, actually realise, your oneness with God.

A New Humanity - Daaji

 

A New Humanity - Daaji
Sunday, January 28, 2024, Kanha Shanti Vanam

Namaste everyone.

We are to embark on a new, a great celebration that will trigger a reinforcement of what our Hierarchies have been dreaming of—a new humanity. One cannot remain jailed in this human form. Transcend, become humane; then you already know the next step, which is Their responsibility, to become divine. Further, they promise from Divinity to Absolute. This is the journey of Sahaj Marg, our Heartfulness Way.

Babuji says: in order to prepare ourselves for that, all sincere seekers of Divinity, those who are really keen on transforming themselves, may become joyful, blissful carriers of spirituality and participate more intensely. We begin with this: he says, insist with those abhyasis who are sincere and seeking to transform themselves as best as possible, without exerting too much, take a few individual face-to-face sittings with preceptors before the bhandara, starting today. One sitting today, two sittings tomorrow, and it goes on, even if you take sittings during the bhandara. Meditate, take more sittings, but don’t exert yourself to the point of exhaustion. One or two sittings a day is enough, half an hour only.   Before you do this exercise, try to study your inner spiritual state and your emotional state. Babuji also conveys: hang your miseries, your pain, on his shoulders. He says, I’m willing to take all your pains and miseries. Give them to me. Free yourself from all that. How will you do that? Is it as easy as saying, “Babuji, have these problems of mine?” Yes it is. Try it and see what happens.   I’m mesmerized by this message. That is Their generosity and that is Their promise, also. Thank you.

Inventure and Imperience

 

Inventure and Imperience

There are now two new beautiful additions to the Spiritual literature of the world and vocabulary, that more pointedly indicate all about spirituality - Inventure and Imperience. 

Spirituality is all about inner adventure which is now called Inventure, the word coined by Revered Master Kamlesh D Patel (known affectionately as Daaji), the Global Guide of Heartfulness Meditation. 

Spirituality is also all about the inner experience, that is now termed as Imperience again coined by a great philosopher and advanced Preceptor of Heartfulness Meditation. 

Adventure is so called, (generally means the external journey), because it is a journey taken up boldly to discover something we know not what; prepared or geared up to face any challenge that can happen on the way; the results can be thrilling and revealing; even the right goal is discovered as one moves on. Inventure is also exactly like that except that the journey is within the inner recesses of our mind and heart. There is a bottomless-pit within each one of us, full of challenges. The ONLY difference if at all is there is that there can be someone who invisibly facilitates this journey called Yatra; and this invisible help is called Guru. 

Spiritual imperiences are infinite and indicators of our movement, revelations and expansion of consciousness and thus result in the real spiritual evolution of the individual. 

Some important Milestones and Revelations - Daaji

 

Pujya Daaji (Kamlesh D Patel)

Global Guide, Heartfulness

 

After Pujyashri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachariji, (the then President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission),  attained Mahasamadhi on December 20, 2014 Pujya Daaji took over the reins of Shri Ram Chandra Mission as the Fourth Master in the lineage. Immediately he took over the responsibilities of his role of Dissemination and Expansion of the Mission.  Here are few of the milestones of his work so far and some of the important Revelations in brief. We shall deal with each of them in more detail in subsequent blogs. All the readers are requested to spend quality time meditating on each his works in their own way and try to appreciate the Vision and contribution of this great Master in such a short time.

2015 Jan

Christened The Sahaj Marg Spiritual Movement that started in 1945 as Heartfulness Movement  to make it  Global.

Feb 22, 2015 (Empowering Prefects, India with New permissions from Hierarchy of Masters)

New Permissions for Preceptors World across empowerment by the great Hierarchy of Masters; Sittings can be given to multiple people vis-à-vis one-on-one sittings earlier. Absentia Sittings, Remote Sittings, Group introductions etc were introduced. This was announced first to Preceptors of US in Jan 2015.

2017 – installed the Statue of Babuji Maharaj in Kanha Shanti Vanam on the Star building

2019 – Introduced Dhyanotsavs

Introduced Dhyanotsavs starting with Karimnagar, Telangana, India in Feb 2019, a public event offering the simple Heartfulness practices to the general public.

October 19, 2019 (Mergence of Tukdoji Mahraj into our hierarchy of Masters)

“… I am more than delighted to see Revered Tukdoji becoming part of Hierarchy of Masters starting with Lord Krishna, Lalaji, Babuji, Swami Vivekananda, Paramahansa Shri Rama Krishna, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Kabir Sahab, Buddhaji, Nanak Saab & now …” – Daaji Tukdoji Maharaj is called Rashtra Sant of Maharashtra with a huge following near Nagpur. He happens to have boen also on April 30^th.

2020 – Kanha Shanti Vanam inauguration

Kanha Shanti Vanam, the World’s Largest Meditation Hall, was  inaugurated  by the then President of India, Shri Ramnath Kovind ji on Basant, Feb 2, 2020.

2020 Covid Time, introduced Dil Se programs

Pujya Daaji started interacting with abhyasis of various states and countries through Zoom Network under the Dil Se series.

Awarded Honorary Doctorate

Pujya Daaji was conferred with Honorary Doctorate by the Venkateswara University, Tirupati and is now Dr. Kamlesh D Patel.

August 29, 2021 (Janmashtami)

Pujya Daaji revealed the Seven Shlokas that were uttered by Lord Krishna in the battle field of Mahabharata as revealed by Babuji Maharaj. Also 3 Shlokas in addition after the war to Arjuna, on the first day; (Daaji calls them 7 Gems titles as Gitopadesh)

Oct 31, 2021 (Golden Liquid Cleaning Technique Revelation)

Pujya Daaji revealed new Golden Liquid Claeaning technique after Satsangh.

Jan 26, 2023 – Padma Bhushan Awarded

Pujya Daaji was awarded with Third highest Civilian Award Padma Bhushan on Jan 26, 2023 in the field of Spirituality by the Government of India.

June 21, 2023 – Introduced YogaMahotsavs

The Mission has organized YogMahotsavs all across the country and a few countries abroad teaching Yoga, Pranayama, Mudras and simple Heartfulness Meditation practices.

July-Aug 2023 Ekatma Abhiyaan in MP

With the support of the Govt of Madhya Pradesh, India, the Volunteers of Heartfulness attempted to teach meditation to 1.2 crore people of this state over a period of one month. 

August 13^th, 2023

… All the new understandings, newer revelations are shared in writings, in talks, writings through books, writing through messages, writings through the articles in Patrikas – Daaji

https://www.youtube.com/live/_Pakvd0EKXs?si=dL3uz6PrrsHp2phi

Sep 2, 2023

Pujya Daaji has revealed in a recent interview that the name of the Rishi who practiced Pranahuti 72 generations before Raja Dasharath was Rishabhnath.

https://youtu.be/WQgTATFvgOQ?si=HFNwzoRQ0TFGD38M