Report on April 30th Function at Baroda in 2009
Compiled by Sis Uma Prabhu, India with inputs from Bro Suresh Rajagopalan
“What exists between two human beings is affection. We call it sneh. We mistake sneh for love. But sneh is not love. One can love only God. That is the true love,” Revered Master says passionately. As he speaks, devotees gathered in his Baroda residence, sit transfixed. Completely unaware of hours ticking by, they wait in eager anticipation to collect his pearls of wisdom. The sweltering heat of the afternoon sun doesn’t seem to have dampened their spirits. Revered Master continues, “True love is free. It is not bound by space and time. Freedom is the hallmark of true love. However, it is only in the family that you learn to love and renounce. So marriage is necessary. You develop forbearance and tolerance.”
In another instance, while talking on the current political situation in the country, Revered Master says, “There is only one solution to this problem: the divine solution.” Commenting on human behavior in an informal setting he says, “God has not sent us without the necessary equipment. We have conscience. We don't cultivate conscience. Otherwise how can you explain a child of three which knocks down an expensive glass, and goes running to mummy, shrieking. It knows something has happened. So, that is there. Only thing - we kill it. Intelligence is there, we kill it. It is like this: “I don't want to know, because if I know, I have to do." So, knowledge brings with it zimmedaari [responsibility] of doing. And we are in a society where we don't want to do anything.”
While answering an abhyasis question, Revered Master says, “The relationships are not only of this life but from past lives in some cases. He elaborates, “You see suppose there is a life in which you have been associated very intimately, and there have been frictions which have not been resolved... That is why in the Bible it says, 'Settle your differences before sunset. Don't carry it into the night and the next morning.' And we are carrying it into future lives!"
Master arrived in Ahmadabad on April 25, while on his way to Baroda to celebrate the 111th birthday of Rev Babuji Maharaj. This was indeed an event of special significance. It was for the first time that a new model of state-wide function was taking shape, where Master was present; where abhyasis were present albeit in small numbers and therefore, had a better chance of interacting with the Master. The idea was to let the Master focus on the spiritual upliftment of the state.
On April 26, Master inaugurated his cottage at Ahmadabad. The larger-than-life meditation hall bathed in silence, as the baby sun peeped out of the white clouds, adding to the serenity of the place. Time stood still as Revered Master conducted satsang. Later, he inaugurated his cottage. A beautiful and a compact structure, the cottage has a traditional look: tiled roof, a courtyard in the centre of the house, a large living room with transparent foldable doors, and opening up to the spacious verandahs adorning swings. As evening descended, Master stepped outside for a walk. He met each and every abhyasi, who had lined up his path making loving inquiries. He left for Baroda on the morning of April 28 by road to participate in the birth anniversary celebrations.
Spread over three days, the celebrations were really mind-boggling. It was for the first time that air-conditioned and air-cooled comfort dorms were created to beat the killer heat. Also there were two huge ponds that could store over four crore litres of water to service abhyasis. On April 29, Brother Kamlesh Patel released new MP3s and DVDs. Brother Gurpreet regaled the Master and the audience with his devotion filled repertoire.
On April 30th, the mood was serene, as over 2,800 delegates congregated in the meditation hall to participate in the celebrations. Revered Master conducted the morning satsang at 6.30 am. Silence, Revered Master says very often, is the language of the heart. It is the language of the God. On April 30th, as we received his divine transmission, we sat stunned. Something touched us deep down. Hearts opened out. Silence melted and poured out in the form of tears. The droplets of salt water rolling out of our eyes, expressed effectively what a thousand words would have failed to communicate: gratitude for the Master.
Sis Diana Waycott released the second volume of “Whispers from the Brighter World”, on the occasion. In her emotion filled speech, Diana talked about her first exposure to the first volume of Whispers:
"Babuji,” she said, “is once again in our lives, guiding us, directing us, loving us, giving us such incredible assurance about why we are alive, what our purpose is, what the soul is, what this whole greater, vast existence of the soul is and its journey."
The second volume of Whispers she said was so much more than a book. “The potential that lies within the simple words that are on these pages, has the incredible capacity to open and transform each and every heart and to really bring mankind to a state of evolution that the Masters dream of, and know that is possible here on earth. The only food that we know the soul really wants is here in this incredible, small, little package."
"Now we have direct guidance and perception from the Brighter World, helping us to understand why each day unfolds as it does, why we behave the way we do, why others behave the way they do, how we can try to change ourselves, what our purpose is, what our direction is." Her eyes filled with tears, Diana encouraged everyone to delve into this and to take it completely to heart. For, she said, “it is a beautiful pathway that takes us to our goal, lovingly accompanied and led by our Master."
Master performed eight marriages on the day. Sister Ranjana Mehta sang two of Master’s all time favorites. Rare, hand picked photographs of Babuji were on display to commemorated this special event. The day ended with a spellbinding dance recital by K.Sowmya from Hyderabad.
On May 1, Brother P.R.Krishna spoke on “How to Internalize the Master”. In his overpowering rhetoric, Krishna said he had been thinking for a long time as to how to internalize this vast, magnificent, grand being we called Master into our tiny heart, which had never expanded, which did not have the capacity to absorb and which was not filled with light. Describing the heart as a “dark dungeon buried inside us”, Krishna said it was completely unsuited to receive this magnificent person that was our Master.
Some of us, he said, had been blessed to be closely associated with the Master either through blood relation or by some act of grace that brought us close to him. People however, believed mistakenly that this association gave them the opportunity to internalize the Master in the same way as “a magnet derives charge by rubbing against another magnet.” Nothing could be far from the truth, he added.
How do we then internalize the Master? Quoting the analogy that the Master often uses, Krishna said the only way to dispel darkness was by lighting a candle. “Master is like that candle, ever-shining, ever illuminating the world with the light of his love.” Human beings, he said, loved only to receive much more love in return, and were mortified if they failed to get it back. But the candle that was the Master burnt on and on, illuminating the world with the light of his love. A tree absorbs all the Carbon dioxide and gives out Oxygen. Master too was like a huge tree of love absorbing all the hatred in the world and giving out love. “We could either be the black body absorbing all that love he showered on us, keeping it hidden in our hearts. Or we could ourselves develop the capacity to love and make our hearts shine.”
Krishna appealed to abhyasis to become like the Master, partaking in the work that he had undertaken and cooperating with him receiving his transmission. “We have to become what we have to become and be what we have to be that is like the master, “ he said. Even if we did not magnify our hearts, we ought to be able to reflect at least one photon of light of love that we received from our Master, so that someone else benefited. If we were not able to do that we did not have the hope of ever internalizing the Master. Task therefore, was not how to internalize the Master but like a photon of light, to be the part of that vast ocean of light that was the Master.
Revered Master left for Chennai on the afternoon of April 4 via Ahmadabad.
