COASTAL ANDHRA TOUR – PART I
Wednesday, 1st of April 2015, Manapakkam, Chennai
Preparing for the Journey
In the evening, respected Kamlesh bhai came to the meditation hall and met abhyasis. The question and answer session moved the condition of the assembly into a flow beyond words. During this session, Kamlesh bhai dealt with many practical aspects of life.
One abhyasi asked, “How to deal with criticism and people who criticise all the time?”
He said, “It is difficult to deal with such people. Why do you worry when you have Master with you? Think big: you are a disciple of the great Masters. Let the world do whatever it likes. When your conscience is clear, why worry?” He also added, “Take criticism seriously, without anger or sadness. Use it for correcting yourself, and welcome it.”
Some More Snippets from the Session
“Any act performed in the remembrance of God, with pious feelings, is a spiritual act. Talk to your mother as if you are talking to God.”
“Why are we here? Because God has put us together. We are going together somewhere.”
“Create harmony without demanding. When you demand, it does not work: instead of creating harmony, it creates disturbance.”
“The path of spirituality is for the bold and courageous. As you progress there will be tests.”
Later in the evening, he started preparing for a new journey. While packing he suddenly said, “Dil khol ke dekho, grace hi grace hai (Open your heart and see, there is grace and only grace)”. His enthusiasm was quite visible.
Thursday, 2nd of April 2015
Compete with Your Own Self
There was a flurry of activity early in the morning. Kamlesh bhai was ready by 6.30 a.m. and sat in meditation. He prayed to the Masters for this new journey to visit many centres along coastal Andhra Pradesh. He mentioned that revered Chariji Maharaj wanted to visit all these centres again, which did not happen for various reasons.
By 7.00 a.m. Kamlesh bhai started from his residence behind the ashram, and on the way there was an interesting discussion:
Q: Does competition, or a competitive mindset, help to bring out the best in a person during a performance?
“Ego should be used to compete against yourself – to excel better than yesterday – not against others. Do something better than what you, yourself, did yesterday.
“Compete with your own self and not with others. When all individuals in an organisation do better than their own best, then the organisation will accordingly improve. So, the individual’s excellence is in turning the competition inside. That will take the Mission, or the organisation, to the next level. If we fight amongst ourselves, then the organisation will never take off. Competition, in that way, is doing your best and surpassing your own records, individually. When the group is made up of such individuals, then the group will excel as one entity.
“In spirituality, our concern is with only one great, main reward, and that is for everybody. We do only one thing, and that is to merge into God ultimately. That happens only when we dissolve ourselves. And when we have dissolved ourselves, who is there to receive any reward? Competition is there only as an idea that I need to excel, with my efforts, over myself, each time becoming better and better. So, this constant vigilance is needed upon oneself – constantly introspecting and analysing oneself. How can I improve myself further and further? So I would say it is a continuous refinement of the individual.”
An abhyasi told Kamlesh bhai that in some places preceptors criticise abhyasis if their conditions are not good, or if they are not practising well. He laughed and said jokingly, “Then the abhyasis should say, ‘Sir, Master made you a preceptor: why don’t you change my condition?’”
Sullurpet
Remain Connected
Kamlesh bhai reached Sullurpet ashram by 9.00 a.m. and conducted satsang. Then he gave a short talk.
“I need not speak much today because the sitting, the meditation speaks for itself. I had one of the most profound experiences today during the satsang, and this was possible only because of the atmosphere that you have already created through your own personal sadhana.
…
“I am embarking upon this Andhra tour, as Master had always wanted to go from centre to centre like a parivrajaka [a wandering mendicant], and do some spiritual work. Because of his health, it was not possible. I urge you all to pray. In this Andhra tour, in this tour of India that we have started, you can also participate in some fashion, by praying to our Master, praying to our Hierarchy, praying to God that, “May such tours, may such travels, become fruitful, and may more and more people benefit.” While I am on the tour you need not all travel with me, but connect yourself mentally. … This will benefit both of us. It will smooth the spiritual work taken up by the Master, and it will also open up the way for all the abhyasis at large. So, please remain connected.”
He was very happy with the assembly. He later commented that the silent preparation and disciplined approach of this group created a special atmosphere where one could plunge in easily. The journey thus started on a high note.
Nellore
The Effect of the Satsang
Kamlesh bhai left Sullurpet around 10.00 a.m. and reached Nellore ashram by 11.45 a.m. He conducted satsang, after which he looked fresh and radiating. He said, “It is the effect of the satsang.” Here, too, a large assembly participated in silence and with discipline. He came back to the ashram by 5.45 p.m. and conducted satsang. The meditation was very deep. Then he gave a talk expressing his happiness about the condition of the group.
He worked till very late in the night, answering a long list of emails. He even gave a sitting late in the evening. His work is increasing enormously. How can we help him?
Friday, 3rd of April 2015
The Masters Must Be Rejoicing
By 7.30 a.m., around a thousand abhyasis had gathered in the new ashram. This ashram, Shri Ram Chandra Mission, Sulochana Sadan at Mannavarappadu, is around fifteen kilometres from Nellore city, and is adjacent to forestland with beautiful vegetation. Master inaugurated the new ashram, conducted satsang and gave a talk.
He said, “I am sure our beloved Masters, Chariji Sahib, Babuji Sahib, Pujya Lalaji Sahib, and the whole Hierarchy, must be rejoicing on this auspicious occasion of the opening of this new ashram at Nellore on the 3rd of April 2015. All the participants in this great venture need to be congratulated.”
He further talked about samskaras, ego and Newton’s law, and said, “We know that whatever we intend, think and act results in samskara. Even in the scientific world we have this Newtonian principle, Newton’s law, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. But we observe in spirituality that Newton’s law seems to fail. How? Every little thing that we do, through the process of spiritual work, has an enormous result. It is not equal it is enormous. When we pray for someone, for example, we should see the impact of that simple prayer: it ennobles someone’s life. On the contrary, what happens if you do something bad, for example, let us say even emotionally or mentally. Suppose you get angry with your wife. You use some unkind words, and you get angry and go to the extent of so many other things. Imagine what a few simple words can create. If it were only equal and opposite, you would have been fortunate. But the reaction such simple words can create in the other’s heart is horrifying.
“So we have to be very kind with our actions and words, because Newton’s law does not apply in spirituality. In spirituality every action multiplies manyfold. That is why Babuji Maharaj used to say that when you, as abhyasis, walk one step towards Master, he walks ten steps towards you. If it was only equal and opposite, then this law would not apply here.”
“Samskaras and ego are two different entities. Ego has nothing to do with samskaras. When we become wilful that, ‘I will not do this’, or ‘I will not treat my spouse properly’, it is wilfulness. This creates turbulence and chaos, and more samskaras. Ego is not the result of samskaras, but ego creates more samskaras.”
Later he met the local abhyasis, and urged one and all to work together to develop the ashram and its surroundings further.
Around 11.00 a.m. Kamlesh bhai conducted satsang in the new meditation hall. He again commented that it was a superb satsang. All in the assembly were granted the same condition. Does this condition have a name? Hesaid, “It was so good, there was nothing in it.” He was impressed by the silent participation, civility and discipline of one and all. They had really prepared well. The local team said, “It is all due to His work.”
Around 6.30 p.m. he visited many homes in the colony and conducted satsang. He was very happy and thankful to the great Masters.
Master Chariji used to say, “Discipline is love.” One could see, here, how a disciplined approach makes the Master happy and creates an atmosphere conducive for his work.
The Nellore visit ended and the journey along coastal Andhra continues.
