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Serve with Anonymity

(by revered Kamlesh D. Patel, January 29, 2016, Chittoor, India)

Respected elders, and dear sisters and brothers,

If I were asked to choose the top five meditations of my lifetime, this would perhaps be one of my top five, and I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for such a moment.

You have seen the children who came this morning for the meditation. These little exposures in one school here, one school there; one district here, another district there; one state here, another state in India; this Sahaj Marg Spiritual Movement is happening in a very slow way, and that is good for us, as we also don’t want to go very fast now.

We have a real challenge in front of us: how to go forward with the expansion of Sahaj Marg? In one way we really want it to happen, and it is happening. In another way, when ten schools want a Heartfulness programme to experience our Sahaj Marg meditation, are we really prepared to deliver?

This is not only happening in India. For example, on an island off the coast of Africa called Madagascar, there are a few hundred schools where they want to take up our Heartfulness programme for their students. Eighteen thousand students will be enrolling in the programme, but we don’t even have a hundred preceptors to look after them. We have a big challenge.

Nine hundred schools in New Delhi are prepared to accept our Sahaj Marg meditation for children. Even if we allocate only one preceptor per school to sustain and nurture them, we need 900 preceptors. We don’t even have 900 abhyasis there. I know that we have a lot of members on the list, but what we are looking for is those sincere abhyasis who can take this movement forward. We don’t want abhyasis who only have the badges and ID cards; we need really dedicated and sincere abhyasis to serve this movement.


We have a real challenge in front of us:
how to go forward with the expansion of Sahaj Marg?


I would like to see all of the abhyasis of the Mission made preceptors, but what is required for this work?

We now conduct an examination for anyone who applies to be prepared as a preceptor. What sort of exam is it? It is an open book exam – we give you the books and the questions, so that you can read and refer to the books while answering. Now how difficult can that be? So if at all some of you who are willing to serve are not made preceptors, I think I have to blame myself only, as we cannot blame the organisation.

But the exam is not the only criterion. There are other things that are important:

  • The number one thing is that you must have the willingness to serve.
  • Second, you must be dedicated.
  • Third, you should have enough knowledge of Sahaj Marg.

When these three criteria are met we can move forward. So the idea of Centres Coordinators recommending their relatives or friends is wrong. The Masters like to see that our new candidates are influenced in the right way to fulfil these three criteria.

Another problem we face is that some abhyasis can be so uncivil in their approach. Even though they may know a little bit of Sahaj Marg, their mannerisms and their attitude are so poor that they don’t even come close to being human. How will they represent our Sahaj Marg Spiritual Movement and inspire others to join us?

We will not be able to fulfil our own spiritual goal, let alone help others, unless and until we remain calm, peaceful and dedicated from within. Our behaviour matters. To serve as a preceptor does not give us some sort of privilege to enter the Brighter World. In fact, I have observed again and again that when a person is made a preceptor, generally his or her progress is arrested for a long, long time until he or she wakes up and says, “No, this is not the way I should live my life.” Why? Because they feel they have achieved something, and the ego inflates instead of becoming less and less.

Becoming a preceptor does not mean that you have achieved something. Nothing has been achieved yet. It is an extra responsibility given. It is like volunteer work; whether you clean the toilet or whether you clean the abhyasi's heart, it is the same thing. Those who are cleaning toilets think themselves to be too low and they continue to receive Grace from above, while the preceptors think, “I am cleaning the abhyasis and I am superior to them.” How to redeem such cases? It is very difficult.

The idea is to become humble and true servants of the Master. Take this opportunity as God-given and work harder and harder, effacing yourself all the time. When humility oozes out of us, people will feel so good when they meditate with us and spend time with us.

If you would like to offer your services as a preceptor, do so when your heart is crying out to serve humanity. Do so when you are ready to take the Sahaj Marg message in a gentlemanly way without the ego in it, because when we serve we are serving with anonymity. This is the number one requirement. If you don’t want to remain anonymous, loving and behind the scenes, then this is not your place. We need sincere, humble, anonymous workers, although we want all of you to become preceptors.


When we serve we are serving with anonymity.
This is the number one requirement…
We need sincere, humble, anonymous workers.


The very thing that you think will put you on the fast track of evolution can actually slow you down. So be careful what you desire to become. Aspire to serve as a preceptor when your heart is crying out that, “Yes, I should help,” not to earn a title but to serve.

So I thank you once again for the beautiful sitting and for listening to these ideas on how we can all prepare ourselves for this noble work of service.