Attempt to Express the Inexpressible Gratitude

 

This is my favourite Mudra of my First Master Pujyashri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachariji (July 24, 1927 - Dec 20, 2014). This picture was taken when he just concluded Meditation by saying ‘That’s all’ perhaps in Pune in 90s. One can feel the radiation of the deep Compassion and profound Love with which he is looking at his flock and humanity at large.

I started Sahaj Marg on March 23, 1990 at Hyderabad, India. I was introduced by a brother called MS Padmanabhan who was a guard in Indian Railways known to me. Shri Dr. Subba Rao was my Prefect who introduced me into the Mission with 4 Introductory-Meditation sessions. Within a month Dr. Subba Rao used to constantly tell me that I need to go to Chennai and meet Master at the earliest and also used to say, “Krishna, never leave His feet in your life.” I took it to heart. I was in the way of exploring various Gurus and Missions as a part of my inner quest to find my answers to innermost queries that I had a LOT that were bothering my mind at that time. In that spirit I decided to meet him and found an opportunity also. This was the Celebration of Babuji’s Birthday at Jaipur, Rajasthan on April 30, 1990. I reached Jaipur by April 27, 1990. Master was staying in the Palace and abhyasis were waiting to meet him where he was expected to sit. I was also waiting for him to come. I never had any idea of how he looks like as I have not seen any of his photographs. I only heard something about him from Dr. Subba Rao. I had no other acquaintance but him in the Mission.

He finally arrived, a towering tall personality, well-built, charismatic, and holy at the same time, his face radiating bright light, his presence mesmerising. He has not yet talked. He came and sat on a chair. I was sitting nearby but only looking at him with awe and wonder… no thoughts, no questions, not feeling like talking, a deep inner silence as if all my questions that were bothering for years were absolutely silenced or it was as if I found instant answers without his talking to all my queries spontaneously. There was immense peace experienced within that I never experienced before and my heart instantly was wedded to him and said, “Your search for something stops here and just be with him.” And when I heard him talk, I was floored by the Lion like voice that had tremendous Conviction, Clarity, Content, Wit and humour and the spiritual power to penetrate into and transform any heart with great ease. Naturally my heart committed itself to him; I had no choice; and decided that this life is for him and him only from this instant. That was my profound First Exposure to Beloved Chariji. And that great moment, that profound state of awe and wonder continues to unfold even now. For me this moment is as fresh as it happened today. And this is the moment that is carrying me still and has been protecting me in the turbulent periods of my spiritual career. I have been associated with this Master from 1990 to 2014 physically and of course eternally in the spiritual sense.

Ever since April 27, 1990 when I had the first Darshan of the great Master, my life has taken great turn. It was not the same and constantly improving in a natural way. He fixed my engagement with my better half Ramani, an abhyasi too in the Mission and solemnised our marriage on April 30, 1993 at Babuji Memorial Ashram, Manapakkam, Chennai. He named my son and daughter as Radhakrishna and Nalini. He gave me the opportunity of translating the Sahaj Marg literature into Telugu which still continues ever since 1992. He has been a great Protection in so many ways in my spiritual career. He allowed me to publish a book compiled by me (and supported by my dearest Brothers Ulhas and Shareef) titled “HeIS” that he liked very much. The book was released in July 24, 2004 at Thumukunta, Hyderabad. He also released another book compiled by me titled “Fire Eternal” during a Bhandara in Tiruppur. He approved my decision of taking to Voluntary retirement in Sep 2007 and said “ My blessings”. And I am experiencing his blessings very vividly. Made me a Prefect on Dec 16, 2012 at Manapakkam, Chennai. He also acknowledged my other compilations and expressed that they be preserved for possible future-printing titled “Pearls from Deep Within”, “So you see…”, and “Divine Showers”. He made me a member of Editorial Board for Sahaj Marg literature (in Telugu) in 2012. Approved backdrops designed and conceptualised by me for various Bhandaras of the Mission. The concepts were, “Serve to Deserve”, “He IS”, “Consume yourself and illuminate others” and “We should work All as One.” He also permitted me to be a faculty in the Centre for Research Education Sadhana and Training (CREST, Kharagpur) and allowed me to organize Telugu Training programs during 2011-2013. He has also permitted me to translate the Whispers from the Brighter World messages into Telugu in 2013.

His association physical, mental, emotional and spiritual through his Presence, his teachings, his Work trained me unconsciously on the various aspects and traits of my personality and Character and laid a great foundations in me that are slowly manifesting with the blessings of Pujya Daaji under whose guidance my training and my spiritual pursuit continues. All my training was more indirect than direct. He was gracious enough to answer a few of my personal letters to him that changed my life’s orientation.

I longed for a personal relationship with him physically as a student/disciple which I feel has not happened. Though my First Moment was driving my spiritual pursuit, I had some disappointments with him in some way or the other because of my lack of necessary understanding that I now feel. I was especially annoyed when he apparently used to pamper certain people when there were more people who were ready to die for him, I felt. But the tremendous training that I am benefitted with outweighs considerably more than the disappointments. And now all the disappointments are also dissolved after Daaji shared the pain that Chariji has undergone in his lifetime.

And towards 2014, when he was seriously ill, my heart started feeling the pain of separation and the worry that I could not complete my spiritual journey during his time gripped me. It was unbearable and could not share it with anybody. That is the time I was blessed with a dream where Pujya Chariji hugged me and said, “I know you are a hard worker.” I said, “I want ONLY you, I desire nothing else.” To this he said, “it shall happen, don’t worry.” And handed over me to Revered Daaji. It was an effortless smooth transition that I never expected happened later after his Mahasamadhi on Dec 20, 2014 at Chennai. A renewed spiritual consciousness took over me and is still unfolding in front me under the guidance Beloved Daaji whom I have accepted heartily as My Gurudev that I used to address Pujya Chariji in my correspondence. And my journey thus continues…

 

 

Regulation of Mind through Heartfulness Practices

Most of us if not everybody are not conscious of the need to regulate our minds until life knocks on our heads hard. We get on in life with the default state of mind that we somehow got from birth. But Life teaches us the need to regulate or discipline our minds at some stage of life. We are lucky if that stage arrives at an early stage of our life. However the effect of the current upheavals that the world is undergoing like never before in the history of mankind is somehow making the humans introspective and turn inwards to search for answers to the existential questions such as “Why am I born?”; “What is the purpose of human life?”; “Who am I”; “Why there is so much suffering around?” “How to be happy under all circumstances?”etc. Our Science and technological advancements have no answers and the questions stare at us day in and day out more intensely than ever before perhaps. Scientists today are engaged in the research on Consciousness like never before; and it is no surprise that there is more inclination towards Meditation, Yoga and the Evolution of Consciousness today.

Fortunately, it is better late than never that we are trying to be more aware of our inner Self, Mind and Consciousness. Our Rishis of yore and Spiritual Giants born in this country discovered innovative ways of discovering our Selves. Heartfulness System of Meditation is one such effective systems prevailing in India 100 years old tradition. Regulating Mind is the most important ingredient in the process of Evolution of Consciousness.

Mind is a critical component of Consciousness and the main cause of one’s fall if it is not regulated and also becomes the cause for our emancipation if regulated. The words Mind and Consciousness will be used interchangeably in this context. Consciousness technically has four main components: The Mind, Intellect, Ego and Consciousness called Manas, Buddhi, Ahankar and Chit in Sanskrit language. In the present context regulation of Mind includes all other components also. All these are invisible entities/faculties inside our human system.

The question comes how to handle these invisible faculties that are responsible for our life. If one observes keenly, the life of a human being revolves around these four things. And they are polluted by our fears, worries, negativity and impurities such as Desire, Anger, Jealousy, Miserliness, Pride/Arrogance, hatred etc. These impurities create complexities that our mind is stuck with. Complexities are complicated thought patterns created due to the impurities that we have accumulated over a period of time. Now the job is to restore the original purity of these faculties and NOT to reject them. The whole attitude should be to NOT to treat Manas, Buddhi, Ahankar as enemies but befriend them and put them to right use for our evolution.

The Heartfulness practices were received from above by the Great Rishi Shri Ram Chandra  (of Shajahanpur, UP, India) of 20^th century when he was in the highest Yogic State of Consciousness. They are very simple practices designed to suit the needs of the busy modern man. They can be easily integrated into our modern day life. In fact one of the cardinal teaching says, one should balance the material and spiritual aspects of life for the successful flight of the soul to soar high; and one should not ignore one for the other.

What is Heartfulness at the outset? Heartfulness is all about heart essentially; the centre of our Consciousness; a place where we experience everything; the seat of the Divine; where one experiences Feelings and Inspirations; the compass of our life; the source of inner guidance, the Conscience; and so many other things that we would discover as we tread the path.

The Simple Heartfulness Practices include Relaxation of body and mind (that relaxes and prepares one for Meditation); Meditation in the morning; Cleaning Process in the evening; and Prayer as a Yogic process at night just before going to bed.

What makes Heartfulness stand apart from other prevailing practices is Transmission of divine energy or Pranahuti in Sanskrit and the yogic process of Cleaning. Transmission is a subtler than the subtlest energy prevailing in Nature; a vibration less vibration that has the power of transforming a human being at the fundamental level that percolates to the surface as we progress. The Yogic process of Cleaning is something that removes the past impressions that includes negativity; also removes the heavy emotional baggage associated with the impressions thus making us feel lighter and lighter. Anybody with a brief practice with an open mind can experience the effects of Transmission and Cleaning.

The Relaxation process removes the stress accumulated at various parts of the human body, relaxes the mind to an extent and makes the practicants ready for Meditation. The purpose of Meditation is to regulate or discipline the Mind; The purpose of Cleaning is to get rid of the past and negativity and also to deepen the Meditations; The practice of Prayer on a daily basis helps one to get rid of guilt feelings that causes heaviness in the heart and also helps one to develop selflessness, humility, an attitude of surrender to the Lord.

As cited above, the Mind, Intellect, Ego and Consciousness are the invisible entities/faculties whose state defines the life of a human being. They are also called the Subtle Bodies, or the Sookshma Sharir in Sanskrit. The idea of any Yogic and Spiritual system is to restore the purity and simplicity of these faculties that are corrupted by complexities and impurities also called Karma, Vasanas, Samskaras in Sanskrit created by our wrong thinking and actions. In other words all the subtle bodies are stressed out and Yoga is the process of de-stressing everything about the human system at all levels.

Normal interactions with the external world done with “I” consciousness forms impressions on the heart and gradually solidify into tendencies or Samskaras which in turn would settle on these subtle bodies and misdirect/misrule the subtle bodies that effect human life in total. These impressions/samskaras can be removed by the Heartfulness Yogic process of Cleaning. Deeper impressions can also be cleaned with intense Cleaning procedures. Anybody with a brief practice can experience the lightness or the buoyancy that is experienced at the end of the Cleaning session; and a sense of simplicity and purity starts prevailing. This Yogic process removes the hold of the past on us and allows to approach life with freshness and thus one can avoid developing Prejudice the greatest evil in human being that arrests our growth. This practice also improves one’s will-power and self-confidence.

Meditation according to Heartfulness is continuously thinking about the source of divine light present already in the heart of the human being. Thought is supposed to be highest thing or kingly thing in the human system. We use the thought power in this Heartfulness Yoga to restore the Purity and Simplicity in us. As we meditate, the thought evolves/matures into feeling; that is we start with the thought of “the source of divine light in the heart” and as we hold onto this thought for some time we start feeling the Presence of this Source of Divine light. Over a period of time one starts to almost get rid of thoughts and attains an almost thoughtless situation (it is important to remember that this is not the goal of meditation). After every Meditation one feels a state of Peace and also there is a shift in consciousness. Meditation facilitates the expansion of consciousness to soar higher into the sky of Super Consciousness and also dive deep into the sea of Sub-Consciousness. A peaceful heart performs at its peak in every endeavour. Expansion of Consciousness helps one to become more accommodative, more tolerant, accept the challenges in the right spirit and thus solve effectively.

And the Prayer is something that connects us with our innermost Self, the real Self, the higher Self, the Lord. And it is practiced at the end of the day just before going to bed; that is the last activity of the day. There is a four-line prayer prescribed the Heartfulness System which when repeated mentally twice or thrice with an attitude of humility, love and devotion and meditate on the meaning of the prayer, creates a vacuum or emptiness in the heart, that would instantly connect to the higher Self and one starts receiving the transmission from the Source indicating the connectivity. The practice of this prayer on a daily basis over a period of time changes the inner environment into prayerful state always attracting the Grace of the Lord. The qualities that one develops through this are humility, selflessness, an attitude of surrender, love, patience, empathy etc.

In the final analysis, the Mind whose function is to think and the breeding ground of thoughts becomes full of divine thoughts, the most refined thoughts; Intellect evolves into Intuition and then into Wisdom; Ego transforms or gets refined into Humility or Love. And the Consciousness evolves into a Divine Consciousness. And this is termed as the Evolution of Consciousness to the highest.

The practice of all the above practices on a daily basis develops a meditative state in one’s self and acts as an armour that protects us from forming fresh samskaras or impressions. This meditative state is also called Constant Remembrance that finally matures into Love Divine, the unconditional Love and finally ends up in attaining the state of the highest human perfection that is open to any human being.

Thank you.