Allahabad, Kanpur and Unnao - U.P., India
16-Feb-2006 to 21-Feb-2006
Master arrived at Allahabad on the 16th after a long road journey. He conducted satsangh on the morning of 17th.
While speaking to preceptors, Master narrated a story about a saint who was crossing a river and had a young girl to ferry her across it. He asked her how come she was in this profession and the girl replied that her father had drowned in the river and hence to tend to the family she had to take up his job. The saint then asked her how her grandfather had died and then how her great-grandfather had died and on being told that all of them had drowned in the river and died, the saint asked her, “All the members of your family drowned in this river ferrying people across, are you not afraid of doing the same?” At this point the young lady asked the saint, how his father had died, and the saint replied that he was an elevated soul and died peacefully on his bed and had the same answer when asked about his grand-father and great-grandfather. The young lady then woman asked the saint how come he was not afraid to sleep on his bed since all his family members had died on it. Master then said that since death is inevitable we should just do our work rather than worrying about how the end will come. Master continued that if he were to worry over his health, he would not be here. He only thought about the work and did it.
When a preceptor asked him that he got very restless if he did not have any work, Master said that one has to do the work to the best of our ability and that we do not have to create any records here but just do the work entrusted to us properly. Good work will be rewarded with more work and it is like a river, which should be allowed to flow.
Master’s entourage left Allahabad at 8:30AM on the 19th and reached Fatehpur at 11:15AM. After Satsangh and lunch, the group to Kanpur arriving at 3:30PM. Master inaugurated the newly built cottage at Kanpur, which has been put up in a record time of 40 days. The whole ashram was decorated beautifully in the spirit of festivity and celebration. Master was returning to Kanpur after 4 years and was happy with the development of the center. Master conducted satsangh at 6PM. There were more then 2,500 abhyasis assembled at the venue.
After morning meditation, Master gave a speech in English. Master emphasized that Babuji Maharaj called us a family united by a common goal with no distinction of nationality, language, sex, etc. He said, “So remember, what brings you together here is that we have one goal, therefore we come to one organization, where as I said before we have one guide.” Master talked of love being the foundation of our satsanghs and went on to say, “So what develops with sadhana, with continuous meditation and cleaning, is that pure love for somebody who we do not know, who we do not see, who we cannot touch, the Divine Master, and that is the miracle of Sahaj Marg... Love is the miracle which opens all doors to outer world knowledge, beyond our senses, beyond our intellect, and so gives us that grand vision, transcendental vision, which can only be a revelation which we can never see by ourselves. So it is love that has to develop.”
Satsangh was followed by cultural program. While Master was walking away from the stage, children aged between 3 to 6 years started dancing on the stage to the song – “Teri hai zameen, Tera asmaan, sab hain tere, tu sabka” (The earth is yours, the sky is yours, all are yours and you are for everyone). Master turned around from the aisle and watched the entire performance standing there itself. Abhyasis sitting around could feel the flow of love between innocent children on the stage and Master at the other end of the aisle.
On 20th February, Master addressed the abhyasis after evening satsangh in Hindi. Master spoke about ashrams becoming smaller over a period of time and the need to move to larger ashrams as our Sahaj Marg family increases. Master also announced a project for a new larger Ashram in Kanpur. He had visited the site which is located abiut 10 kilometers away from the existing ashram, and urged abhyasis to participate in the project by buying plots and moving closer to the Ashram, even if it meant selling their houses in the city to move close to the Ashram and benefiting from its unique atmosphere.
Master also spoke about the growth in the Mission over the years, which started with all the abhyasis being able to sit and meditate at Babuji Maharaj’s house way back in 1964, to the current situation where we need larger ashrams for people to sit and meditate. He quoted Babuji Maharaj saying, that what we really need is a place to sit and do our puja (meditation) – shaanti (inner peace) and chayen (contentment).
Master left Kanpur at 10AM on 21st Feb and reached Unnao at 11:15AM. After making himself comfortable in the cottage, Master said that He had really liked the place and immediately proposed buying some adjoining land to enlarge the Ashram. After meditation, which all of us felt was very deep, Master gave a speech in Hindi in which he commended the centre-in-charge saying that the speciality of this ashram is not in the buildings of the ashram but in the special spiritual atmosphere, and this is very important. He said that one can create an atmosphere but what was really important and difficult was to maintain it and said that Babuji used to bemoan about what people did to the atmosphere that he had created. He also announced that he was considering establishing an SMSF retreat centre at Unnao. Master surveyed the property from corner to corner and walked across to the dining hall, and much to the delight of all the abhyasis gathered there he stood amongst the abhyasis and relished the lunch meal of Puri and Aloo Sabji being served. After taking rest at the cottage, Master proceeded to the Amausi airport enroute to Delhi, we he will halt for a day and then start the next stage of his tour by visiting the Jaipur in Rajasthan. The visit to Unnao was a good example of how abhyasis who serve with selfless devotion bring immense joy to the Master. Rev. Master has inaugurate five new ashram facilities during his tour of U.P.
