Bulletin No: 2017.14 - Thursday, 23 March 2017
Notes on Daaji’s Travels, 16 to 19 February 2017, Mumbai

Thursday, 16 February 2017

Daaji arrived at Ahmedabad airport to begin his trip to Mumbai. He was sitting with a small group in the lounge when the flight was delayed. He was remembering his travels with Babuji Maharaj. It was Babuji’s flight to Delhi after the Surat Birthday Celebrations. Babuji was at the airport waiting for a flight to Delhi. The flight was supposed to go to Jaipur first and then to Delhi, and Daaji was also travelling with him.

Daaji was waitlisted at number 136, so normally there would have been no chance of him getting on the flight. Soon the airline announced that there were sand storms around Jaipur area and the flight would not be landing there. Many cancelled their trip and so eventually Daaji got a seat. Babuji looked at him with a smile and said, “You are happy now!” Daaji happily recalled other incidents about Babuji. These small stories took everyone somewhere!

The spiritual life is about remembrance in the heart and love for the Beloved.

It was supposed to be a short flight to Mumbai, but it took a long time to land. During the flight, a lady walked up to Daaji and said, “You look like my son’s friend Marg!” She was happy and surprised by this unexpected meeting.

Later in Mumbai, at 5:45 p.m. in the evening, it was nice weather, so after finishing his work, Daaji went out to sit in the garden. A small group of industrialists had come to meet him. Daaji spoke to them about spirituality and how an experiential approach is the most practical one which leaves one with no ambiguity. He also spoke about the idea of being and non-being. Then he offered the guests the immediate experience of meditation with him. After meditation, there was a short informal interaction with newcomers about consciousness and Yoga. He encouraged them all to meditate and explore further.

Here are some snippets from the session:

“Quality of work drastically changes for good in the spiritual environment.”

“Meditation improves our moral and work ethics.”

“Evolution is not a matter of choice. It has to happen.”

“Many people argue: why can’t an all-powerful God change humanity for good? How can you change without willingness? One should invite change willingly.

If I have to become like my cherished personality,

“… I have to imbibe those qualities. If I have to become like that individual personality, I have to imbibe creativity in me if I dream to become like God – that is point number one.

“Then there are other qualities that can be observed in Nature: I have to become simple and in tune with Nature. What is Nature? Take trees, for example: they take the minimum and give out the maximum. So, am I able to receive the minimum, or nothing at all, and give the maximum? That is God-like. So, even though I may not have happiness, I have to give that. I then become that, and I don't even care for it anymore. So the second principle, which comes from Nature, is efficiency – taking in the minimum and giving out the maximum.

“The third principle, also from Nature, can be seen when we observe the trees in the US, shedding their leaves just before the winter commences. They adjust themselves for the colder weather. The trees have to preserve all their energy and resources in their roots. They do not have the luxury of extra leaves on their branches. They shed them, sacrificing. In our case, are we able to adjust with the external in our relationships? To do so, we have to sacrifice some of our habits. It is better if we can adjust.

“The fourth thing is that Nature is its simplicity, NO complexities.

“The fifth thing that I find is automatism. For example, trees bear flowers automatically when the season comes. That automatic response is not there in us. Our response is, ‘What do I get out of this?’ Based on that we play with it.

“So these five things help us to be in tune with Nature and God.”

Friday, 17 February 2017

It was a quiet morning. Daaji came to the meditation room around 7:30 a.m. and conducted satsangh. Afterwards he answered questions from new seekers. Here are some excerpts:

Q: While meditating, I find that I am leaning either forward or sideways by the time I finish. So how do I know that I am meditating and not sleeping?

Daaji: I will start with the second part of your question. How to know whether you are meditating or sleeping? Often when we conduct such programs in universities, especially when there are 500 or 1000 students in a hall and generally they would be having fun. After meditation, they ask, “Sir, did we go to sleep?” So I respond, “Okay, let's do an experiment. Sit in a chair and I will not transmit to you. Now, try to go to sleep in the chair within 5 minutes. Can you do it?” So it is the relaxing effect produced by transmission that creates a state akin to yoga nidra. At the same time, if you pay attention, you are aware of what is happening outside, even though you are in a sleep-like state.

Now, to the first part of your question: often we seem to lean forward or sideways. It is a very good state actually. It happens when the mind relaxes and our emotional heart surrenders. In that state of submission the head bows down, unknowingly, unconsciously. It is arising out of our subconscious submission to Divinity.

About mind

“We have to understand the function of the mind. We have a nose. What is the role of nose? It is to smell. Would you tell your nose to stop smelling things? “I would like to smell only a rose and not this gutter.” It can't be selective. The same thing happens with the eyes. The role of the eyes is to see things. The mind is also like that, you see. The mind is to think. To prevent its function from thinking is to go against its nature.

“So, in Yoga sadhana, we first train the mind to think on one object – the Divine presence. After that we go deeper, from thinking, which is a superficial function, to feeling. That is true meditation. When we shift from thinking to feeling that is the real meditation, where we no longer think of the divine presence but feel the presence. For that we need dedicated practice.”

Regularity in practice

“Here regularity comes again. Suppose if I have decided that my time for meditation is 7 o'clock in the morning, then I must meditate at that time. Even if I just close my eyes and attend to meditation for 5 minutes, it doesn't matter, as long as I ensure that this 7 o’clock does not pass without meditating.

“Imagine that you are an employer and you have 10,000 employees working for you. If they all come at their own timings, what will happen to your empire? Similarly, Nature has appointed some working agencies to look after us. When we don't follow the pattern, then the working agency is confused. ‘Ye bevakuf kab baithega (When will this fool sit for meditation)?’ and they go away disappointed because they had come with a package that could not be delivered!”

Sahaj Marg is a heavenly gift

Daaji sat at the dining table and talked about various aspects of spiritual life, attitude and practice. There were many interesting insights.

A new seeker asked, “Desires are the root cause of misery. Is the desire for God not a desire?” Daaji said that when one is ready to dedicate one’s life to God, where is the question of desire?

An abhyasi asked, “Our Mission is growing. We need a way to recognize our practitioners. How about introducing a specific way of greeting others, so that we know who they are?”

Daaji responded that our signature should be in our thoughts and actions. Why have a physical expression? He also said, “When we say namaste to someone and don’t mean it, then why say namaste? Suppose we really mean it in our hearts, then is it necessary to say it verbally?”

Daaji recalled an incident that happened several months ago. A Sadhwi who had left everything in pursuit of God came in contact with a Heartfulness trainer. She meditated with our trainer and experienced Yogic Transmission. She was awed by this experience and mentioned that this was the first meditation that was profound. She said, “Why did I leave home? I could have got this experience at home itself. Now I am 82 and my time is nearing. I am grateful that finally I have found such a path wherein I could feel the cherished state I was longing for and for which I left my loved ones.”

Daaji mentioned that many Rishis did years of sadhana without much success. The Sahaj Marg system has made it possible for all seekers to benefit from Transmission. He said, “Sahaj Marg is a heavenly gift to us.” He also said, “Babuji says that the higher authorities are working for our spiritual good. They are willing to fulfil even mundane things. Won’t they give higher conditions if we wish deeply for it?”

Take the Master as your own

He got up and moved towards the staircase to go to his room, but an elderly sister drew his attention so he went and sat in the hall. This sister sat very close to him and asked questions about the soul and it’s journey. He sat there and answered all her questions.

Brother Sanjay and sister Anu Bhatia had invited some of their friends home in Mumbai to a Heartfulness session. Brother Sanjay Bhatia gave a nice introduction to Heartfulness and introduced Daaji to the guests. Daaji invited them all to experience meditation, so everyone moved to the meditation hall where Daaji conducted meditation for about 30 minutes.

Here are some of the questions and answers from the session:

Q: Is there any time of the day to meditate? Second, do you have to do it daily, or if you skip a day does it still have the same impact? Is there a discipline maintained that it doesn't become effective until you do it every day? Can you share some day-to-day practical issues on how to practice?

Daaji: I think that Sahaj Marg has one of the most liberal approaches towards this endeavour. Whenever you feel like meditating is the best time. The day you don't feel like meditating drop it, because you cannot and should not meditate with a heart that is not ready to receive transmission. After all, we are diving in divine waves, not human waves.

So when you want to receive something so profound you must be receptive. You cannot do it on the go, though it is possible, but you yourself will not be satisfied. You need to give quality time to your Beloved. How much quality time do you need to give to such an activity? You have to see where your priorities lie. Discipline is needed to raise your life, you see. If it is there, it is wonderful. I generally recommend to students to fix the time for meditation. First bring time discipline into the picture. And if you feel like meditating again, that is extra.

So it is one thing to meditate actively on a daily basis. But the goal is to remain meditative in all our activities. Meditation is just the beginning. Try to remain meditative all throughout the day, when you are doing other things.

Q: I care for somebody and love that person and want to meditate to give him benefit, but he is a bit of an agnostic who doesn't wish to participate. When I am imagining the Divine Light, can I imagine it in his heart also, and if I do that would that benefit him?

Daaji: It will certainly benefit him, but as they say, you can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.

Q: I do not want to take the horse to the water; I want to take Light to the horse.

Daaji: It is not going to happen the way you want it, as the result depends upon the openness of the heart.

Q: Of my heart or his heart?

Daaji: Whoever is the receiver. Say you would like to give someone billions of dollars, but the other person does not value it. Or perhaps he thinks that you must have some ulterior motive for giving him billions.

Q: I want to qualify my question a little more.

Daaji: No. I understand you very well. You know someone and that person is agnostic, who would not like to participate in such activities, yet you would like him to benefit from such things. I get you very clearly. It does help to a certain extent but not to the fullest.

Q: I have a second part to my question: in this meditation, with Divinity and in spirituality, there are healing and curative powers. Is it possible to meditate and imagine Divine Light with a curative effect for people who may benefit from it?

Daaji: Surely, it does help, but we also go far beyond the curative impact of meditation. We remove the cause rather than the symptoms. We have many elements to this practice of Heartfulness. Meditation is what we did just now and relaxation is also one part of it.

There is another special technique called cleaning, which we do in the evening. It is also a masterful art. When we adopt that method in the evening, we use the following firm suggestion in a very subtle way: “All the complexities and impurities and any ailments from which I am suffering are leaving me.” It has an impact. In fact, it works wonders on so many stress disorders, stress-related panic disorders and sleep disorders, at the mental level. It also definitely works in a positive way on our overall health. But that is too superficial a thing to ask for. When your father is a multi-millionaire and you say, “Papa, I want 50 rupees,” he will think, “Why are you asking for such an amount? I can give you much more.” When you approach Divinity and ask for peace, He will laugh at us: “I can give you much more.”

Q: I meant healing, peace or purity for somebody else, would it help?

Daaji: It will help, but do something more.

Q: When we started meditation, my experience was that negative thoughts kept coming. That makes me feel scared that whatever thoughts are coming might also become true.

Daaji: Well, when the thoughts start arising like a tornado, gently open your eyes for few seconds and then close them again. That will relieve you for some time. The idea is not to suppress them. It is because they were hidden inside, they were in the subconscious, and now we have to make sure that the pus it out. Then you will feel good inside because all these things have gone. How in the first place are these thoughts coming out of me? Something is there, triggering it in my subconscious.

Now, you become aware of the thoughts during meditation. When you open your eyes, what happens to those thoughts? When you close your eyes, you become fully attentive. You are face to face with your own thoughts. That does not mean you don’t have thoughts when you are not meditating. They are there, but you are not attentive.

When we do cleaning, actually at times there will be a lot more thoughts. Many more thoughts will come. But at the end of meditation, you will feel quiet and stillness.

Q: Namaste. We often hear that we have a lot of potential within us but we probably use only to 15 – 20% of our minds. Does meditation of this kind help in increasing the effectiveness of the mind? How does one become more effective in this world?

Daaji: 15% of consciousness is too high. I think we hardly use 8%; even the most intelligent use only 8%. According to swami Vivekananda, the purpose of all these spiritual practices is in the expansion of our consciousness. Imagine we have our available consciousness, which is like a thin film of water, above and below which there are two giant oceans. So this fine film is sandwiched between the ocean of superconsciousness and the ocean of subconsciousness. Through meditation we are able to expand our consciousness beyond this thin layer of consciousness and make it fly in the sky of superconsciousness. We also teach you how to master yoga nidra, through which you can easily go into very deep levels of subconsciousness. This is how we can expand slowly into superconsciousness and subconsciousness, and the time is there in one hour to do all that. So in short, yes it does help.

Daaji: Thank you all for coming. I am very honoured actually, and I hope our paths will cross again. You can write to me any time you want to have a meditation session like this. Wherever I am, I will be able to work with you. This system was established in an organized way in1945, but prior to that it was already going on without any organization you see. The most beautiful thing about it is that the founder of the system always believed that God is not for sale, so the methodology to achieve God is also not for sale; it is for free. If God were for sale, how much would you pay? And if you could pay, why would you need God?

So with that, I just want to say that we are not here as Yoga merchants; instead we really want to serve you. You need not consider me as a Master. I am one of your brothers. Take me as a co-traveller on this spiritual journey, and on this spiritual pilgrimage we will travel together.

The session formally ended. All the guests appreciated the experience and many of them stayed back to interact with Daaji even after the session.

Saturday, 18 February 2017

Panvel Ashram

At 7:30 a.m. Daaji conducted satsangh and spent time with new seekers.

At around 10:30 a.m., he reached Panvel ashram and was welcomed by thousands of abhyasis. People were in a festive mood. At 11 a.m., Daaji conducted satsangh in the main meditation hall for about 25 minutes.

After lunch, he met many children. Many of them demonstrated the skills they had picked up in the Brighter Minds programs.

In the evening, at 6 p.m., Daaji again conducted satsangh in the main meditation hall. He was very happy with the condition of the group and the assembly received a huge compliment on their spiritual progress.

Sunday, 19 February 2017

Panvel Ashram

Daaji finished his email work and discussed with the Director of CREST about the Heartfulness Bachelor of Education program for trainee teachers, and gave his input on the course design.

At 9 a.m. Daaji conducted satsangh in the main meditation hall and answered some questions. Here are some snippets from the session:

Daaji explained that through point A meditation we reinforce the idea that all are my spiritual sisters and brothers. Superconsciousness develops by our practice of meditation on point A and cleaning of point B.

Daaji recalled a communication between Lalaji and Babuji. Lalaji was very happy with Babuji’s research on point A meditation and B cleaning method and its effectiveness. Lalaji had told Babuji that, “We will not assume the responsibility for the spiritual progress of those candidates who do not practice point A meditation and B cleaning.”

Q: Is the renunciation of the senses against the natural law?

Daaji: Nature wants everything to happen naturally in moderation.

Q: What is the meaning of being in tune with Nature?

Daaji: One of them is to become efficient like Nature herself, which is to consume the minimum and give the maximum. We get love as an input. What should be our output? Please think about it.

Simplicity, the very core of Nature, means no pretentions. So, let us imbibe that as well.

Acceptance … without it we suffer. By acceptance, we learn a lesson, though we may suffer. This acceptance is not in a defeatist way.

In meditation, we must drop everything. It is like a free fall. One should have an attitude that whatever the experience, I am ready to go through it. The mind should be gently diverted to the Divine Light in the heart”

Q: What are spiritual diseases?

Daaji: Grossness is spiritual sickness. Anything that prevents the free spirit is a disease.

Daaji ended the session by saying that our elders have given a simple formula: sat-chit-ananda. When the spirit is free, then anandam follows. Anything that prevents this natural state of anandam is a spiritual disease.

Daaji came back to the cottage and attended many meetings. A small group of children met him and one child looked quite serious, saying:

Child: I have a question for you.

Daaji: Please go ahead and ask.

Child: Master is in the heart. So why are people greedy to see him physically?

Daaji: That is my question and my problem also.

Daaji was so happy with this wise youngster. Later, the child’s father said that the whole morning he was upset watching those people who were demanding to see Master. Here again a small but profound incident showed that the wisdom of the heart does not depend on age or knowledge.

Daaji later spoke with an elderly abhyasi. Here are some snippets from the session:

“Remembrance is a burden, one should drown in love.”

“Is willpower necessary in pursuing anything in life? How about interest? If one has deep interest, then won’t will be there automatically?

Around 4 p.m., Daaji started from Panvel ashram to the airport for his next destination – Kanha Shanti Vanam, Hyderabad. In the lounge, there were some informal discussions on current affairs and the destruction of values in society, especially in India. It is a big question: where did we go wrong?

Now we search and crave for happiness. Pleasure has become the purpose of life. The essence of India was always to search for God, the purpose of existence was to realize and manifest Divinity in life.

He reached his new apartment at Kanha at 9:45 p.m., entered and said, “I dedicate this home to the Great Master.” He sat in his room and relaxed, then went to rest late in the night.