European Tour, Part 7
Sunday, 24th of May 2015, European seminar, Vrads Sande, Denmark
Nature slowly awakened with the rising sun, followed by the 7.30 a.m. satsang, as the heaters of the meditation tent were switched on and abhyasis settling down. Some who were already in meditation were immersed in the pure atmosphere of the Vrads Sande ashram.
After the satsang, Kamlesh bhai went to have his breakfast with everyone in the dining tent, and the joy and brotherhood kept expanding and becoming more concrete day by day. Brothers and sisters were serving the breakfast and hot drinks with heart-warming smiles and dedication, ensuring every single abhyasi was served.
A preceptor meeting started at 10 a.m. and lasted for over an hour. Here are some excerpts from Kamlesh bhai’s talk:
Surrender
“How to radiate that sweetness around, like you would see Babuji Maharaj or Master do? Even when they did not know people personally, they felt some level of intimacy, some level of confidence in them. How to become like that? It is not a big problem actually, as we all know what is in us that needs to be removed. We need some courage to get rid of our weaknesses and open up. The greatest thing about our Masters is that they have led a life of absolute surrender, not only to their Masters but to the entire universe.”
The sweetest thing
“We have the sweetest thing in the world – loving transmission. You can be melted away for hours and days. But we bitter coat it with our behaviour. It is the sweetest thing in the world and we make it look like a cheap thing because of our behaviour.”
In the meanwhile around the ashram, the abhyasis in the kitchen were already working again preparing lunch. It was nice to see people of all ages helping, and the children not only helped to cut the vegetables but also brought a joyful atmosphere by singing Indian songs that made all the abhyasis around stop chatting and take a moment to enjoy this essence of happiness that they delivered to all open hearts.
When Kamlesh bhai came back to the cottage, the coffee time was used for reflection on the preceptor meeting. After this, he conducted the 11.30 a.m. satsang.
We could feel the build up of satsangs and hence the condition of everyone changing. Abhyasis were smiling a lot and peace was a prominent feeling throughout. The excitement of the first days settled into a more calm and peaceful inner joy.
The middle of the day was very busy. Kamlesh bhai met with abhyasis and newly-made preceptors. After a short lunch, he took rest for some time.
The children outside didn't ever seem to lose their energy! They were running around, playing together in the children room, playing football on the grass and younger ones were pulling their parents around the ashram. The sound of the piano in the main house kept encouraging the courageous volunteers washing dishes and starting the dinner preparations.
From 3.30 to 4 p.m. there were two Heartfulness sessions for groups of children. Out of the forty children present, twenty-six were above age twelve.
Many of them fell asleep after the relaxation technique. The group of teenagers above twelve had an experimental meditation for five minutes on the heart. The feedback after this meditation included: suddenly fresh, calm, protected, floating, deeply relaxed and tiredness vanished. Papers with the printed relaxation technique were distributed in Danish, English and French so that the children could take them home and ask their parents to read it to them before sleep.
There was a satsang at 5 p.m., followed by a question and answer session. The abhyasis had been told two days earlier that any question that couldn't be answered by themselves through meditation could be written on a piece of paper and kept in the question box. Two sisters selected ten questions out of the forty or so and read them to Kamlesh bhai. The questions were very interesting, giving a very pleasant outcome. It was heartwarming to see that everyone accepted that certain questions had been selected and others not. There was a feeling of oneness and all benefited from Kamlesh bhai’s answers. Here are some excerpts:
Follow the heart
“To do or not to do. Follow the heart or not to follow the heart. We would like to follow it, but then this external pressure guides us in a different way. Always follow the heart, and for that you need courage. The world may be against us, but then we follow the heart we have to pay the price for it.”
“Often the situation arises because of this severe conflict between our desires and our aspirations. Heart is the supreme Master, I would say, and it always guides us correctly. Often it gives the signals when we are about to do the wrong things. When we are doing something correctly it does not tell us, ‘You’re doing okay.’ It will never tell us that.”
The right attitude
“I find it very interesting that we, as abhyasis, are very well equipped. We have been charged. We have been given the capacity to clean ourselves at the end of the day. We can clean the impressions that we accumulate during the daytime knowingly or unknowingly, whatever we collect. But think about what happens when I as an abhyasi create impression in others. Forget deliberately hurting others, but when my life, the way I talk, the way I behave with others, hurts others or creates other feelings, unnecessary signals of romance for example. You look at someone like this, and that triggers it. Perhaps you didn’t mean it; you are smiling and the other person get’s a wrong signal. “Oh, he’s interested in me,” or “She’s interested in me.” It creates impressions. So why play with it? It hurts others.”
After the question and answer session, Kamlesh bhai had dinner and went out for a walk to the village. It was a very long walk and was indeed refreshing and joyful. The group started out to be large, but as soon as abhyasis were told that it had to be reduced in size, the majority of abhyasis scattered in small groups and walked back to the ashram. It infused so much happiness to watch the teachings of the Masters being adopted by the abhyasis with simplicity and joy.
A few children joined along the way and talked with Kamlesh bhai during the walk. They were explaining to him the importance of walking and how the muscles work. Once they all reached the village they decided to visit abhyasis in their homes, but only the ones in which they could get ice cream! Unfortunately most of them were not home and consequently they ended up in the only home where a single abhyasi was found. It was a lovely time and Kamlesh bhai was explaining about vedic maths, entertaining the children, and moving on from the discussion about walking muscles to brain muscles. The gathering of around thirty abhyasis stayed there for a while, finally returning to the ashram just before 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, in the ashram, a small group of abhyasis and children gathered around a small fire at the back of the canteen in the children’s playground. They were singing and having a loving family time together, enjoying each other’s presence. The day ended with the warm voices of the singing in the playground and the laughter in the house of the village.
