Sahaj Marg

Space, Time and Profound Meditation!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 12:25:00 +0000

####Address to abhyasis from Hubli and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 18 May 2012, Chennai, India###

Dear sisters and brothers,

--The proof that distance does not matter is that you are all here. Some have come from Andaman and Nicobar, many are here from Hubli. And as my Master Babuji Maharaj used to say jokingly, “I am not from here. I am from nowhere,” because a liberated soul does not occupy space, nor does it exist in time. So you can say it is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. But we are conditioned to think of space and time from our Puranas, from our itihaasaas [epics], from movies, Puranic movies, where we see Narada saying “Narayana, Narayana,” and moving through, going to Vaikuntha [abode of Lord Vishnu] or ksheera saagara [ocean of milk] to talk to the Lord, and there you see him taking time. So we think that even after we are finished with this physical life, we are going to be slaves to space and time. Our literature, our itihaasaas, our culture has given us the wrong conditioning-----
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At the same time, I have been impressed by one fact: when we are sleeping – say during a marriage – fifty people in a hall, ladies, gentlemen, babies, grown-up children, one baby cries and its mother wakes up instantly. Its mother – not every mother. How does she know it’s her baby? How does she hear it? She is also sleeping. It is the bond between the mother and the baby. The father doesn’t care; often he is irritated. “Damn the baby!” he says, but the mother wakes up. It is that bond of love. And the mother says, “This child is dependent on me. If I don’t wake up, who will wake up and attend to it?” So what makes distance in space and time unimportant is love.
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If you love somebody, you don’t care where he or she is; you say, “He is always in my mind.” So unless you get something in your mind, or heart as we say, we are subject to the demands of space and time, the limitations of space and time. So, whether you are an abhyasi or not, whether you are a rishi or not, if you don’t love, there is distance.
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If there is hate, Babuji used to say, by some strange metamorphosis of space and time, there is no space and time. I had asked Babuji Maharaj about when the Lord was coming down and His conclave, college of maharishis, munis [saints] said, “Lord, we want to come with you. How can we be separate?” and He said, “Well, if you come, you will have to be there for some time because that is bhooloka [earth] where space and time predominate, they govern. They are life. So you can either stay there ten lives as my devotees, or three lives as my virodhis (as my enemies).” This was the dwaarapaalakaas – the gatekeepers to His Lord’s palace. They said, “Lord, we cannot stay away for ten janmas [lives]. We will come as your virodhis and finish it in three lives.” And the story says that that was Ravana and Kumbhakarna, Hiranyakashyapa and Hiranyaksha, Shishupala – all these people.
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So I asked Babuji Maharaj, “What is the secret of this hatred which divides you from the Lord only for three lives, whereas bhaktas [devotees], poor fellows who are always thinking of you and reciting your name, have to be away for ten lives?” He said, “I will tell you the secret. In hatred, there is constant remembrance. You are always remembering. ‘I will finish that fellow. I will cut his throat. Where is your Narayana? Is he in this pillar?’ Every second of every day you are thinking of the enemy.” I said, “Then it would appear that is better. Why should we be devoted and meditate and all this nonsense?” He laughed and said, “Yes, Parthasarathi, it is better, provided you can have that type of constant remembrance where there is no forgetting.”
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So, there is no distinction between friend and enemy also, because if you can think of the Lord every moment of time, which we call constant remembrance, your job is finished. In fact, Babuji said, “Once you are able to do constant remembrance for a week, you cannot stop it after that.” And then meditation is unimportant. Because meditation, like marriage, is to teach you to love the person to whom you are married. Meditation means I must remember Him not only during meditation but all the time. Do you remember your husband only during your wedding? Or you, your wives? Nitya smaran [constant remembrance] – “My wife, my wife, my wife. My wife must be expecting me, I am late.” Mere husbands and wives, you are able to think of so much, remain in constant remembrance. Then what happens? You have husbands and wives all over again, all over again, again and again – punarapi maranam, punarapi jananam [repeated death and rebirth]. “Yes, but why, Lord?” Because you remembered your husband; you should have remembered Him!
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So the secret is what I remember I have here [in the heart] and what I have here I attain. Of course, pativrata strees [devoted wives] can ask, “Does it mean we should forget our husbands?” Not at all! You remember them in a different way. Like if you are working in a computer firm, you remember what you have to do. People often ask a silly question, “Master, if I am in constant remembrance, how can I do my work?” Babuji said, “It is not a question of you doing the work or not doing the work. The work gets done.” Understand? The work gets done! If I am in constant remembrance, my work gets done. Who did it? Doesn’t matter. Work is to be done, whether you do it or somebody else does. You may not be even conscious that you did it, like you slap a mosquito in your sleep. Who did it?

So space and time are the same thing looked at in different ways. And unless you are in constant remembrance, you cannot remove the effect of space and time. And as long as the idea of space and time continue to dominate our lives, we are part of this cycle of janma–punarjanma, janma–punarjanma [birth–rebirth, birth–rebirth], it goes on and on. There is no God who says, “You go back!” Why should God bother about all our souls? He says, “I have given you this and I have given you this: intelligence and heart. Use this wisely and you will find Me here. Once you have found Me here, you need nothing else.” You will walk and the road will create itself before you. You don’t walk on the road; the road creates itself before you. You think of something and it is done.

So the difference between man and God: man thinks, does, achieves – three distinct stages; God… and it is done, no thinking, no doing, no achieving – instant. So you find there are achieved souls (rishis, brahmarishis, whatnot); they think and they are there. It is not as we see in movies that Narada is moving through space and time, “Narayan, Narayan.” That is movie-makers. And they have disillusioned us so much that we continue to think that even Narada needs space and time. So children ask, “How does he fly in the sky?” You understand?

So the sooner you are able to meditate in such a way… After all you are told to meditate on the divine light in the heart. How many of us meditate on the divine light in the heart? I dare to say, perhaps one in a thousand. We think we are meditating on the light in the heart. As brother Somakumar was saying and which I would like to expand a little: when the prefect says, “That’s all,” nine hundred and ninety-nine out of one thousand instantly their eyes are open. It has nothing to do with the depth of meditation and going deep and all that (of course, it has), but it is because most of you are waiting for the prefect to say, “That’s all.” “Thank heavens, it is over!” Most of us are waiting for the sitting to be terminated, therefore we are not meditating; we are waiting for “That’s all”. What sort of meditation is this? What sort of progress do you expect? There would be no progress. It is all wasted effort. You might as well be in the cafe drinking coffee or in a movie, enjoying the picture. If you meditate, you must meditate. Can you sit on a bicycle and expect it to move without pedals? So meditation is an activity.

When Babuji was in Europe for the first time, many foreign abhyasis asked him, “Babuji, but you do nothing when you meditate.” So he smiled his simple smile and said, “I am telling you, you do nothing when you are awake and you are working because you are like an animal which is going round and round, drawing water from the well or grinding cement.” (Chakkar as we say in Hindi.) You are creatures of habit. The alarm rings, you get up; you wash; you walk out; you take the lift, go down; take the bus or your car and go to work. You have no thought. Those who follow procedures have no thinking to do. Take A from B, take C from D, make C-A-D as ‘cad’. Of course some of them are very highly paid in the IT industry, forty lakhs, fifty lakhs, two crores, four crores. They don’t think. The best typist is one who does not think. During your training you must have mastered the keyboard. You just see the word and go on typing – ‘Susheela’, S-U-S-H… if you stop you cannot type. Isn’t it?

What do we do in meditation? If you stop meditating, which means your attention is taken away from the light in the heart, you have to start all over again. Someone asked Babuji, “Why do you insist on one hour for meditation?” He said, “If you start meditating properly, really going into your heart, meditating on the divine light in the heart, you will find that it takes years of practice before you can stay on that object of meditation for one second. Most of the time you are trying.” It is like a man putting a bucket into the well, pulling it out to see if there is water, putting it in some more. And the water is so deep inside, as Somakumar was saying. You can’t put the bucket ten feet, then twelve feet, and fifteen feet and every time see if there is water in it. Forget everything. You let go of the rope; it goes down, splashes into the well – the equivalent of my achieving the ability to look into my heart, locate the light, and meditate on it.

To meditate means to think of the same thing continuously – not frequently, not occasionally; it means continuously. If you think of love, a mother doesn’t think of her baby occasionally. Whatever she may be doing, even something like gappa-maroing [gossiping] with other women, one ear is always there. “Quawk” and she is there. You have to be a mother to know that. That is constant remembrance.

I once asked Babuji why one eye of his was always looking down. His left eye always seems to be looking down. I said, “Your right eye is here [looking forward] and your left eye is here [looking down]. Why?” He said, “This is looking at the world; this is looking at my heart.” I said, “Why?” He said, “I have to look at the world because I am working on it. I have to look to my heart to make sure that everything is going right.” You follow? This [the heart] is what tells you whether you are going right or wrong, whether you are going at all or not. Now if you just look with both eyes at everything, you are only seeing what nature has to offer: a cat climbing up the wall, a squirrel running away from it, a boy and a girl standing at the street corner. Isn’t it? So Babuji said, “We have got to have at least one eye permanently fixed here [the heart].” I had experiences during meditation when I saw Babuji looking at me, but I only saw one eye of his. I said, “Babuji, why only one eye?” He said, “Are you not happy that one eye of mine is looking at you all the time? The other eye is for the rest of the world.”

So, we have to understand what ‘profound meditation’ means, by meditating, by not waiting for the prefects to say, “That’s all,” by not waiting for the child to make a cry so that you can get up and run away, by not waiting for a phone call. Nowadays this is a disease, this cell phone. I hear people here, I tell them, “No phones, please, no cell phones,” but they will bring. I say, “If it rings, thousand rupees fine.” They put it on silent mode; brrrr, it goes. Now, if that is so important, why don’t you stay outside and forget meditation? If for you the next telephone call is so important that you don’t care about meditation but are waiting for it to ring – and you have no compunction, you are so lacking in discipline that you are willing to open your eye and look at the number so that you can call later – better thing would be for you to be outside. Isn’t it? Now, we are attending neither to the phone nor to your meditation. You are obeying neither your wife or whatever it is, nor your guru. You are between two worlds.

So this business of meditation is not so simple as it sounds. I hear prefects talking of it, Masters talking of it, books are printed, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. You cannot taste the pudding by reading the recipe or by watching your wife cook or by buying it from a famous confectioner. You have to put that thing in your mouth; instantly you know whether it is good or bad.

So, unless you meditate, books are useless, prefects are useless, gurus are useless. They are useful to you only if you are willing to meditate; then you need books to see what the ten maxims say, what discipline means, what obedience is, and how important it is.

I pray that you will all appreciate these things, not just come and listen to a seminar and go back and say, “It was nice. Manapakkam has good facilities. Food also is good.” I hope you will all remember all this and I pray that you will succeed. Thank you.

!! The Mission !!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:51:00 +0000

Do you mean to say that God has nothing better to do than to watch millions of humanity through eons of time, looking at each one and seeing what he is doing and what she is doing, and then condemning us and punishing us? On the one side we say, "God is Love"! On the other side we say that He is condemning, He is punishing, and He is sending us to hell this way or to heaven this way. If you permit me to say it, if you pardon me for saying it, it is one of the most childish conceptions of God. And, unfortunately, no religion is free from it. Love is the greatest force. It must be humbly offered up to Him who alone is its true object-God or Master, whichever you may like to call Him. You must love Him in such a way that your love knocks on the door of His heart, telling Him that the lover is waiting outside. Then He begins to love you, and when this happens, all your problems of life are solved! Love Him who loves all." This is the greatest revelation of my Divine Master.The Mission is the spiritual organization which He has created with His loving hands to shelter and succour us. His Divine teachings, and the efficacious, practical system of sadhana, the system of Sahaj Marg, perfected by our Divine Master, is there for our spiritual benefit, to enable us to reach the spiritual goal of human perfection, and Divinisation to the highest level ever open to humanity. It is His sublime Grace and Divine love that has made available to us such an easy method of practice which can lead us to that goal safely and speedily. It becomes our bounden duty to practise it assiduously, with one-pointed devotion, with our hearts full of "Love for Him who loves all," with unswerving faith, to enable Him, our Beloved Master, to lead us up to Himself!

Excerpts taken from The Principles of Sahaj Marg, Volume III - Shri P.Rajagopalachari

!! Anger - control of !!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:40:00 +0000

“Question: [Pujya Babuji] “What is poison for spirituality?” “Answer: [Rev. Lalaji Maharaj] “Anger”.

Revered Master elaborated in detail: “What effect is brought about thereby (anger)? The system acquires heaviness; and pressure is generated. As a result, the free and sublime current of spirituality fails to penetrate and blow through the system; and thought is not able to get rid of the burden outweighing it. Now the question arises as to how one can acquire freedom from it (anger and its effect). The prescription is here: one should consider oneself as humble and subservient (to Master). This should become a matter of trust and perfect belief; and one should remain practising it so as to get that same hue of humility and subservience penetrate every organ of one’s whole system. Every where this control of anger has been praised. Is not the anecdote worth mentioning that sage Durvasa was the guest of Lord Krishna, and went back fully happy there from? Has there ever been a Personality thus far, to stand in comparison with Lord Krishna? Everywhere, a cool heart alone has acquired praise; and just that kind of heart is needed in the sphere of spirituality. This heart is such a tender and light object that starts withering in even a little change in the flow of the breeze”.

[06-09-1945: pg. 56-57 (A.B.II - III)]

!! Make a Difference !!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:38:00 +0000

====================================A man was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along he began to see another man in the distance.As he grew nearer he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something up, and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things out into the ocean.As our friend approached even closer he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had washed up onto the beach, and one at a time, he was throwing them back into the ocean.The first man was puzzled. He approached the man and said, "Good Evening Friend, I was wondering what are you doing?" And he replied, "I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide right now and all these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don't throw them back into the sea, they will die from the lack of oxygen.""I understand," my friend replied "but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach and you couldn't possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many and don't you realize that this is happening on hundreds of beaches up and down this coast ... can't you see that that you can't possibly make a difference?The local native smiled, bent down, picked up yet another starfish ... and as he threw it back out into the sea, he replied, "It made a difference to that one!"You may feel like you cannot make a difference in the world today, but you CAN make a difference in one life at a time.===================================

Some Pearls to Pick ! ( Devotion )

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:22:00 +0000

* A devotee is one who loves his Guru intensely. He always keeps himself internally connected with his Guru. Men of this type possess all those qualities that should be present in a disciple.

* We practiceBhakti or devotion in order to achieve communion with the Supreme Master.

* We should practice devotion without our eyes being fixed upon any worldly object or without caring for the satisfaction of our desires.

* There is a difference between the submission of slavery and the submission of devotion. A devotee is not a slave, though he submits.

* Devotion to the Master, love for the Master means to be like a baby who wants to be nowhere except in its mother's hands.

* Service may be taken as the stepping stone towards devotion.

* Spirituality is a very easy thing, and its achievement does not take much time. One should only increase faith and devotion. And devotion is generated by remembering again and again.<=> = = <=>"Devotion means connection with the real Being."***

(Taken from sahaj marg Education Publications- Series 6 )

About Moderation...!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:03:00 +0000

“I was trying out moderation when I came round to the extract below from Babuji’s book "Reality at dawn". It made me so happy that I wanted to share it with my brothers and sisters.” JDDNN“One of the essentials in the making of a man engaged in spiritual pursuit is moderation. It is a very wide term and covers every phase of human activity. It means balance in all senses and faculties, nothing more or less than what is naturally required at the time for any specific purpose without its slightest impression on the mind. Generally, today, we find moderation disturbed in almost all cases. The reason mainly is that we attach undue importance to whatever thing comes to our view and we strengthen it by the force of our thought with the result that it grows stronger over all others. We cultivate this habit and apply it to different things with varying intensity. The result that follows is nothing but disturbance and mental conflict and it is the root cause of all ourtroubles and miseries. Realization is not possible unless moderation and balance are restored. It corre-sponds closely with the very real thing which existed at the time of creation, when everything was in a perfectly balanced state. Now after the lapse of time, degeneration crept in. Our senses and faculties lost the balanceand everything went into disorder. What we have to do now is to control our senses and faculties in order to restore moderation in them. To cultivate moderation we have to pay special attention to external ways of life too, e.g., gentle and polite language, courteous dealing, sym-pathy and love with fellow beings, reverence to elders, unrevengeful nature and so on. These habits are greatly helpful in our making. Moderation is a characteristic of nature. If we gain complete moderation we are in a way in conformity with na-ture and it is the very essence of spirituality.“(Complete Works of Ram Chandra: Reality at Dawn p.p. 41-42.)

How to Develop Sensitivity...!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:19:00 +0000

I asked Master how to develop sensitivity. Master said, "Develop awareness. Always try to be alert to what is happening, and sensitivity will develop. Many people meditate. But I am sorry to say many of them don't know what is going on in the system during meditation. Why is this? Because they do not watch for what is going on. One has to be alert to the transmission and its action on the system. Then the real joy of meditation begins. Now I tell you one thing. Whether a person has experiences or not, the transmission will work and complete the job. But the real happiness comes when we know what we have got. So sensitivity is necessary. Another benefit is that as you become more sensitive progress becomes faster, because when you know what is being done you can co-operate with the Master actively. So this is a great benefit."

Taken from the book "My Master", chapter "The Environment" pg.16-17

– By Chariji
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REMEMBERING IS NOT THINKING ABOUT....!!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:45:00 +0000

“REMEMBERING IS NOT THINKING ABOUT. Unfortunately, there is this confusion between remembering and thinking about a thing. They are supposed to synonymous, but they are not. I can think of food without being hungry, but when I am hungry my stomach remembers food. This is what hunger really is… I think of my Master, but am I remembering Him? So you see, when there is too much talk of Babuji, there is too little remembering of Babuji. Remembrance is a silent activity. Something which goes on inside, which is simmering inside like water simmering on the fire, and boils. This creates longing, craving and that gives us the motivating force which becomes the gravity which will push me towards Him”.

(-P Rajagopalachari, “Salient features of Sahaj Marg”, Vol.2, P: 27)
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A JOURNEY TO THE GURU !

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:24:00 +0000

When we start the regular practice of meditation on our heart as prescribed by Shri Babuji Maharaj the flow of Divine Power in our inner gradually transforms or modifies our living to that of an introvert. Subsequently we gradually experience the progressive signs of the transformation of our inner being, viz., presence of the Divine Light, feeling of lightness, inner happiness and the presence of MASTER in our self. without our conscious effort feel the influence of Divine master. When we listen to His speech it is not an intellectual appreciation of His sweet voice, nor the satisfaction of the depth of His advice but the sublime experience of the voice of love from the Celestial atmosphere from our Divine Mother. We understand that our reaching the Holy Feet of Master , the meeting point or the distanceless point is not really reaching the goal or arriving at the Ultimate but actually the beginning or commencement of our approach, journey to the Guru.To cover this distance, to attain the Goal of Realization of the Ultimate we have to cross different spiritual steps such as dissolving of physical, subtle and causal bodies in the Divine and merging of the soul ( Atma tatva ) into Paramatma Tatva, with the Divine Grace of Chariji.In common parlance we use the word ‘ distance ‘ to express the spiritual gap between two separate places. It may be the point of starting the journey and the desired destination. Accordingly the distance becomes the aim or the focus when we start the journey but as we progress on the path, it narrows down and is finally reduced to nil when we reach the destination.In spirituality, the term ‘ distance ‘ is used in quiet a different sense. Here it does not refer to a spatial gap. Instead, it refers to the difference between the physical form of the Guru and His Divine Form. While the physical form can be seen through our physical eyes, the Divine form can be seen through the inner eyes.

Discipline.............!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:19:00 +0000

A letter to an abhyasi on discipline, from Master: In spirituality, we do not wish to benefit from spirituality but to evolve spiritually. There is a big difference between the two. Regarding the remarks in the next big paragraph of your letter, may I say that there is some confusion, because one does not discipline one’s heart but uses the heart to discipline oneself. When we look to the head or the brain or the intellect for discipline, it can mislead us by saying so many things such as, «everybody is doing it», and so on. Therefore Babuji Maharaj, my Master, said, When in doubt, refer to your heart. So the heart is the instrument, which guides us and disciplines us, and in this you are entirely correct. Discipline is the elementary step of surrender. (Taken from Salient Feature of Sahaj Marg, Series :4)

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Love and discipline go together. It is love alone which can give, the ability to correct, the ability to teach the right way, and the ability to discipline. Such love comes out and shines only when it is backed by self-discipline of the one who is giving this corrective discipline. Taken from “Revealing the Personality”, chapter “Discipline”, pg 105,116 -Rev. Chariji...!

Words from Masters ....!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:11:00 +0000

progress means: 1. willingness to become what I have to become; 2. subjecting myself to the forces that are going to help me; 3. avoiding all that is going to pull me back. –Chariji

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“I may assure you that you can win laurels in the spiritual field if only you turn your attention towards God, and proceed with will, faith and confidence, no matter how adversely you may be placed, surrounded by all the worries and miseries of a household life.”–Babuji

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“I do not ask you to detach yourself from the world, but only to attend to everything with a conscious idea of the Divine.”–Lalaji

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“One thing alone is sufficient: try to love. Generate that love for the Infinity, for the Divine, for God, Master, whatever you may call it, in your heart”.–Chariji

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“the wrongs committed. Beg forgiveness in asupplicant mood, resolving not to allow repetition of the same. every abhyasi, wherever he or she might happen to be at the time, should stop work and meditate for 15 minutes, thinking that all brothers and sisters are being filled up with love and devotion and that real faith is growing stronger in them. It shall be of immense value to them, which their practical experience only shall reveal”.–Babuji

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“We should practice first, then try to understand.A growing lightness of mind and spirit is the surest test of spiritual progress.Where to find a Guru? Where to find a system? There are so many. Well, let your intuition guide you. As Babuji Maharaj has said, it is simple. A sincere prayer will bring the guru to your door. If you have one goal, it is easy to find guidance”-Chariji.

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Balance—the Crux of Life

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:09:00 +0000

Renunciation is not a sign of weakness that “I cannot cope with this world. Let me flee.” One who renounces life in the true spiritual way is not running away from anything. He is running towards something—giving up all these shackles, these bondages of humanity and seeking, perhaps in isolation, perhaps in a group of similar-minded people, a way out of this world into something beyond, something noble, something transcendental, something divine. That is the purpose which Sahaj Marg is also doing here. This is what we try to do in our assemblies; this is what we talk about; these are the principles, the truths by which we should try to live with all our hearts because just by thinking, we can’t do anything. “Oh, yes, I couldn’t wake up today at six, tomorrow morning I shall.” Tomorrow morning you don’t wake up at six. You say, “Oh, it doesn’t matter.” And then you never wake up at six. And the consequence would be, one day you will not wake up at all. In the Mahabharata there is a famous scene where one man says, “I have all the time in the world.” And Krishna laughs. He says, “I am the one who has all the time in the world. You know how much time you have?” And he laughs and says, “Krishna, you are stupid, you are a maayaavi—you are a magician. You won’t exist much longer. But I shall, you know.”—thumping his chest. And before those eighteen days are out, he is dead. He laughs best who laughs last. He lives longest who is alive till the end, et cetera, et cetera, you know. We are not children to be told fairy tales. We are adults; we must have the guts to listen to what we are told. We must have the strength of purpose to follow good advice and we must have the eagerness, the passion for our goal, to take us there. I pray to my Master to bless you with all these qualities. Thank you.(A talk given by Shri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari on 20th January, 2006 in Malaysia )

GURU.............

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:07:00 +0000

---The Ultimate guru or Master is only God. But there are people who function under the direct guidance of God, using the power of God. So they function in His capacity, but they don't function as God.----In a sense the guru, for that is how we call the spiritual guide in the Indian tradition, is the bridge from here to the hereafter; from this human life into the eternal spiritual existence; from this mundane world to the Brighter world.----It is clear that without the help of an external force — you may call him a master, or a guru, or anything you like — the removal of the burdens of the past is impossible by our own effort.---So spiritual law says: Wait in your home, pray to the Ultimate and say, “Please, I am in this mess which I have created myself. I do not know how to get out of it. Send me somebody to help me.” That somebody comes in the shape of a Master, the guru.---It is not enough to have a Master. It is vitally necessary to internalise His presence within us, to seat him upon the throne in our hearts from where He can guide the course of our existence to its destination.---It is significant that in Sufism the Master is called “Friend”! The Guru or Master is indeed the sole friend that we have.---A guru may be capable of loving you like a mother. He must be capable of disciplining you like a father, must be capable of instructing you in spirituality, looking for your progress, guiding you to the destination.---Guru shall always remain obscure, unknown to the public. So it is duty to seek them out.---The Master is an object of possession of which a true abhyasi [practicant] can never be dispossessed. The Real Master is something other than the physical Master we perceive. This Real Being is indestructible and eternal. Once we possess Him, we can never lose Him. It is up to us to tie Him to ourselves so closely that we can never be parted from Him unto all Eternity.(for more pls visit www.srcm.org)

Sahaja Yoga: The Living Tradition of Sahaj Marg

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:31:00 +0000

#*#Sahaja Yoga: The Living Tradition of Sahaj Marg

The Raja Yoga system known as "Sahaj Marg" is still relatively obscure in the West, even among Yoga aficionados. This is largely due to the fact that Sahaj Marg has been a low-key, word-of-mouth practice. Works by the lineage of Sahaj Marg Masters, published under the auspices of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission (SRCM), are difficult to locate, and beyond the abhyasis or practitioners of Sahaj Marg, few are aware that SRCM centers have been established worldwide since the Mission was founded in India fifty years ago.

What is Sahaj Marg? There are no easy answers to this question, just as there are none for questions like "What is Zen?" or "What is Sufism?" Sahaj Marg (which may be translated as "Natural Path" or "Simple Way") has no surface and its habitat is Infinity; thus by definition Sahaj Marg resists definition. Given the hopelessness of description, then, we must remain content with classifying, comparing, and giving historical accounts. These are outer matters and have little to do with the essence of Sahaj Marg, for spiritual Sadhana is not only a "study" but also a "practice," and as such can be understood only through actual experiment.

Though its method may seem novel to some, those acquainted with the great Dharmic traditions will find Sahaj Marg a natural extension of the continuing refinement and accommodation that living yoga has always emphasized. Sahaj Marg is a practical method designed to give the direct experience of realization, right here, right now, in the midst of our daily situations. This has always been the heart of all spiritual traditions, as Vivekananda observed: "Religion consists in realization. We all know as a fact that nothing will satisfy us until we realize the Truth for ourselves. However much we may argue, however much we may hear, but one thing will satisfy us, and that is our own realization; and such an experience is possible for every one of us, if we will only try."

WHERE RELIGION ENDS

All religions begin with the experience of God, the realization of a single person such as Christ or Buddha or Mohammed. After the founders pass on, their followers codify their teachings, and if these teachings are deep and true and helpful enough to stand the test of time, eventually they crystallize into a religion. But the original experience of its founder remains the bedrock of each religion, and to the degree that his followers can partake of that experience themselves, the religion remains valid and transformative, rather than degenerating into a set of mechanical rituals or a dry body of moral rules and social expectations.

We should not denigrate religion, for religions are regulating systems for societies and the preparatory schools for spirituality. My Master is of the opinion that while it is a wonderful thing to be born into a religion, it is a tragedy to die in a religion. We must transcend mere belief and conformity, and experience the Truth of the scriptures for ourselves. My Master told me that Christ, for instance, to keep his experience alive and to pass the light along, had to transmit this experience to someone, a human being who then would be the temporary vehicle of the essence of his Master, until he in turn passed it on to the most fit of his own disciples, who would pass it on again, and so on, down through the ages. Whether Christ actually transmitted this to Peter we do not know, but the Catholic Church has at least recognized the necessity for a living Master and the reality of such transmission in the doctrines of apostolic succession and the office of the pope as vicar of Christ.

Sahaj Marg also affirms the necessity of a realized Master in human form to assist most people in their journey Home. A true Master comes to serve, not rule, for as my Master's own Master taught, "God is the real Guru or Master and we get light from Him alone. But as it is extremely difficult for a man of ordinary talents to draw inspiration from God directly, we seek the help of one of our fellow beings who has established his connection with the Almighty." In Sahaj Marg, "Master" simply refers to one who has mastered himself, and who has the ability to make Masters like himself. Thus, though the Masters of the Sahaj Marg lineage are each unique in terms of physique, personality, taste, and temperament, in their most essential Nature they are one and the same person.

2. TRADITION AND TRANSFORMATION

Sahaj Marg is usually presented as a refinement of Raja Yoga. Ultimately, however, it must be understood as a distillation of the yogas of Jnana, Karma, and Bhakti as well. As outlined in the Bhagavad Gita, these four primary yogas (there are dozens of other yogas in India and the West) are suited for varying natures. Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of love and devotion, is designed for those with strong devotional or emotional temperaments; Jnana Yoga, or the path of discriminating intelligence, is said to be the path for intellectuals and philosophers; Karma Yoga is for those with active natures who are inclined toward activity and service; and lastly, Raja Yoga (called the "King" of yogas, as it involves the mind or "king" of the body) uses an experiential approach through which the yogi directly realizes oneness with the Absolute.

The fallacy common to the Aristotelian Western mind is to separate these paths into four rigidly exclusive systems. The fact of experience is different, for at a certain level these four paths all intersect and blend: Jnana or knowledge pushed to its extreme becomes Bhakti or love, which at its fullness is wisdom; Karma Yoga in its highest form is but the expression of Jnana and Bhakti. The sincere practice of Raja Yoga very quickly dissolves into the other three, since only a fool would attempt this practice without a qualified guide, and soon the techniques of Raja Yoga are lost in the greater truth that is the love for the Master, a merger in Him which is expressed by the great dictum of the Bhaktas, the All-embracing Tat Tvam Asi, ("That art thou"), and propelled equally by the discriminating wisdom of negation expressed by the Jnana Yogis as Neti, Neti ("Not this, Not this").

These four yogas arrive at a place where all paths end and merge, which we may call whatever we please, since words don't matter at this point: the kingdom of God, the Source, the Center, or the Impersonal Absolute. This is why Vivekananda advised yogis to be like a bird, have Bhakti Yoga as one wing, Jnana Yoga as the other wing, and Raja Yoga as the guiding tailfeathers. We could extend his metaphor and imagine the manifestation of flying as Karma Yoga.

Sahaj Marg reminds us that yoga, and in particular Raja Yoga, is a not and never was a frozen practice, fixed at some point in the distant past and codified by Patanjali around the Second Century AD in his Yoga Sutras. Even the highest concepts and most honored methods must evolve as the situations of men change. Methods which were suitable for a bull-cart society may not be so suitable in the vastly different world of the late 20th Century. The Way to the living God is not a Procrustian bed that forces all to fit into its fossil methods or die trying. One of the reasons the Divine descends again and again in the form of Masters is to provide us with an approach that is more natural to our time and place, to enliven the great traditions and honor the spirit of the methods by bringing a flexible and workable revision to the letter of those traditions. After all, the purpose of any method is to bring men and women back to the Source from which they have come. A method has no value beyond that. Indeed, as Buddha taught, the method may be dispensed with once that goal is accomplished, just as the boat is left behind once the river has been crossed.

Those acquainted with Raja Yoga will be familiar with Patanjali's Eight Limbs, the Ashtanga steps of Raja Yoga. These have usually been viewed as steps leading to the final union of self with Self, of human with divine -- which is what the word yoga, or "yoke," implies. Whether Patanjali ever intended his "Eight Limbs" to be considered as sequential and consequential stages is debatable, but Sahaj Marg takes a simultaneous and global approach to the practice of Raja Yoga. A classic image of the practice of Raja Yoga is that of climbing the rungs of a ladder: First one works on Yama and Niyama (the moral and ethical limbs), then Asana (posture), then Pranayama (movement of energy through breath), then Pratyahara (withdrawal from senses), and then Dharana (concentration) and Dhyana (meditation) to culminate finally in Samadhi (absorption). An image more apt for the practice of Raja Yoga under Sahaj Marg might be that of a sphere expanding from its center, for Sahaj Marg begins at Patanjali's Seventh Limb, Dhyana or meditation, and allows the rest of the practice to grow naturally from this seed.

2. THE CIRCUMFERENCE IS NOWHERE

Contrary to some notions, Sahaj Marg teaches that meditation is easy and requires no preliminary steps for anyone who has a normal state of mental health -- in fact, Sahaj Marg teaches that only by meditating can we learn to meditate! The psychologically dangerous aspect of Pranayama has been superseded in Sahaj Marg by Pranahuti (prana-ahuti, literally "offering Prana"), by which an individual can transmit spiritual reality directly from the center of his or her existence to the center of another individual's existence.

Pranahuti should not be confused with the more familiar spiritual transmission known as Shaktipat. Pranahuti is an extremely subtle transmission, described as a "forceless force" or "powerless power," and is devoid of all qualities, including even the Shakti (power) that informs Shaktipata. Nor is Pranahuti equivalent to what is termed Diksha, since Pranahuti does not confer or connote initiation by the Guru. In short, it is the utilization of Divine energy for the transformation and evolution of human beings into Divine beings. Pranahuti is a very gentle process and is imperceptible to all but the most sensitive recipients, although anyone can sense its effects as they gradually unfold over time. As my Master told me, normally we do not feel Pranahuti; we feel only its results.

The yogic transmission of subtle or Divine energy by one whose own life-force, or Prana, is realized at such a high vibratory level that it can awaken the dormant Prana in others across any distance by the merest thought or Sankalpa was known to adepts in the distant past, but had fallen into a sort of honored disuetude until it was re- discovered as a useful technique for 20th Century by Shri Ram Chandra of Fatehgarh (1873-1931). Lalaji, as he is affectionately known, is said to have attained realization of the Absolute in a period of just seven months, to have had no Master, and no former incarnation. Lalaji remains a mystery; he was known only to a few in Uttar Pradesh, but was beloved by both Sufis and Hindus.

The art of Pranahuti was transmitted by Lalaji to his most fit disciple, who by coincidence also bore the name Ram Chandra. This disciple, now known as Shri Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur (or more simply as Babuji, since he worked all his life as a "babu," or clerk) perfected the practices of Sahaj Marg, distilling a natural and simple method of meditation from the traditional procedures of Raja Yoga, established the Shri Ram Chandra Mission in 1945 in honor of his guru, and upon his death or Mahasamadhi in 1983 transmitted his essence to his disciple, Shri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari.

Chariji (b. 1927) now embodies the Master and carries on the work of Shri Ram Chandra Mission. Like the other Masters of his lineage, Chariji is a family man and had worked all his life in an ordinary job until his retirement a few years ago. The usefulness of ordinary life is emphasized not only in the philosophy of the practice, but has been demonstrated practically by the Masters of Sahaj Marg.

Ordinary life is the accepted arena of spiritual practice under Sahaj Marg. As a bird needs two wings to fly, so a human being needs two wings of existence, the spiritual and the material. If either is neglected for the other, life becomes exaggerated and unnatural. Neglect of the material existence results in dependence, and neglect of the spiritual results in a fundamental unhappiness. To realize complete perfection, we must balance both sides of our lives, and treat everything that comes our way as part of our spiritual Sadhana or practice. Sahaj Marg emphasizes that realization is for everyone, not just for sannyasins, lamas, monks, or nuns. Indeed, family life in one's own home is an ideal ashram for learning sacrifice and love. Sahaj Marg flatly rejects the romantic notion that to realize God or Self we must renounce society and adopt arduous practices. God dwells not in the Himalayas, Babuji used to say, but in the human heart.

http://sahajmargmeditation.blogspot.com/

3. THE CENTER IS EVERYWHERE

Sahaj Marg insists that the highest spiritual attainments can be realized by anyone at any time in any place. In recognition of this understanding, Pranahuti or yogic transmission can be received not only directly from the Master, who is an adept in the art, but also via preceptors who have been personally prepared by the Master to serve as conductors of Pranahuti. Over 900 preceptors now serve worldwide. These preceptors can be likened to transformers in neighborhoods that direct and regulate the energy from a distant power plant for indivi- dual use. Preceptors are themselves abhyasis (practitioners) who are still evolving at varying levels of spiritual maturity. It's entirely possible for a preceptor to give a sitting to someone who is at a much higher stage than the preceptor himself. The term "sitting" is used in Sahaj Marg to describe a meditation in which the Master or a preceptor meditates in the presence of a group or with an individual to clean the subtle body and transmit Prana. This is normally done while sitting face to face -- or more precisely, heart to heart.

Those who have attempted to establish themselves independently in a longterm daily rhythm of meditation may appreciate Babuji's observation: "Serious difficulties arise when meditation is practiced independently in accordance with methods prescribed in books. One has to keep on struggling with the mind in order to suppress its unceasing activities. This continues all the time and there is practically no meditation at all, since all the time given to meditation is lost in struggling against thoughts and tendencies. What Pranahuti does for the spiritual uplift of a person and removal of complexities in a short time, independent efforts cannot achieve even in a full decade." In Sahaj Marg, this "removal of complexities" is called, simply enough, "cleaning." The habits, tendencies, and hardened impressions (Samskaras) which defeat our efforts toward realization are gently yet thoroughly removed. The effectiveness of subtle cleaning cannot be understood until it is experienced.

http://sahajmargmeditation.blogspot.com/

4. THE SIMPLE WAY

What, then, does one actually do in Sahaj Marg? According to the teachings of Sahaj Marg, God is simple, and the Way to God may also be simple. Thus there are no rituals in Sahaj Marg. Do's and don'ts are few. There are no secret mantras or mudras, no arcane Asanas, no special clothes, no changing of names. Really, there is nothing about Sahaj Marg to believe or disbelieve, because the practice involves direct experience. Sahaj Marg asks us not to believe, but to observe; not to trust, but to test. Anyone over 18 years of age who is willing to give a sincere effort is invited to do so. One can begin the practice by contacting a preceptor for the introductory sittings. No fee or "love offering" is asked for these or any other sittings from a preceptor. Sahaj Marg teaches that spirituality cannot be sold any more than the sky can be sold, for no one owns it.

The daily abhyas or practices are quite simple. The abhyasi is asked to sit comfortably and meditate at the beginning of the day for at least 30 minutes, eventually for an hour if possible, focusing on the heart (a preceptor can detail the method). At the end of the day, sit again for at least 30 minutes, but this time, the purpose is for cleaning, and again the technique is quite simple. Weekly Satsanghs or group meditations are helpful, along with individual sittings from preceptors. Abhyasis are encouraged to keep a diary of their inner life, and most soon notice a feeling of Shanti or peace, a sense of lightness, and an awakened intuitive ability. Though these experiences are not uniform, they are common in the beginning, and many other experiences and conditions will follow. Sahaj Marg recognizes a plexus of subtle Granthis or knots beyond the traditional Chakra system of Kundalini and other yogas, and abhyasis during their practice make the Yatra or voyage through various spiritual regions as they approach the Center. At various stages obstacles are encountered, sensations occur, and visions or dreams may be seen, but with the guidance of the Master the abhyasi will not be distracted and can move on toward Reality.

So the basic practice takes about one or two hours a day -- we begin our day with meditation, end it with another, and enter sleep in a state of prayer. By an art called "Constant Remembrance" the abhyasi can eventually extend these meditations to 24 hours a day. Curiously enough, many find that the simplicity of the practice is its major difficulty, especially since Sahaj Marg claims to aim for a level of human perfection beyond that which even Patanjali described. This claim can be easily tested, for Sahaj Marg was designed so that even the busiest person could integrate a profoundly transformative spiritual practice into his or her daily life.

http://sahajmargmeditation.blogspot.com/

Photo Tour of Sahaj Marg

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:27:00 +0000

Photo Tour of Sahaj Marg

A picture is worth a thousand words! Given below is a series of pictures that provide a glimpse into Sahaj Marg life.

http://www.srcm.org/welcome/phototour/index.jsp

Ashrams
Aspirants (Abhyasis)
The Guide (Master)

What is Spirituality?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:29:00 +0000

Is spirituality something crazy, or is there a scientific basis to it? I believe Raja Yoga meditation, which is part of our subject matter under spirituality, is both a science and an art. And I believe the basis of science is art. Because even though science is based upon formulas which can be rationally explained, I don't think there can be any more scientific advancement if there are no imaginative, intelligent people to do PhDs. So, science, even though it is taking us to the frontier, the basis of science is philosophy. Because philosophy being part of art, is part of imagination.

It is absolutely important for us to understand that there is a need to integrate the artistic and the scientific elements in our living, in our thinking, in the way in which we understand scientific theories, and in the way in which we understand artistic things. I believe if an artist is organized, he or she can make more money. But if a scientific person doesn't have an artistic sense it may be difficult for him or her to progress, to continue his or her line of imagination, use scientific theories and applicable scientific formulas. So, when we talk about spirituality there is a need to understand the scientific basis for spirituality.

Spirituality is a science that deals with the spirit. Spirit not in terms of the 'spirits', but in terms of the spirit within. We understand that we have both body and mind. Body is something that we see, it is outward, it is faculty driven, there is no problem in terms of understanding the existence or the purpose behind the need for the body. But when we talk of mind, there are many theories that explain mental phenomena. Nobody denies the existence of mind, even though it is a subjective matter, not objective as the body is.

But, continuing that line of existence from the body, which is material and which we can see and touch and smell and perceive easily, through the mind, which is a little more subjective even though its purpose and existence is not questioned, we go deeper, and come to what is called the spirit or soul. Soul is the life of life, it is the cause of life, life does not exist without the soul. The soul leaves the body when the body can no longer support life. This may sound theoretical, but nevertheless, I think they are fascinating theories, theories that should arouse our curiosity to start the fundamental search for what brought us here.

There is also this theory of impressions. What we are today is a result of what we have been in the past. Many only extend it to the time of our birth when we talk of heredity, inherited qualities, and environmental qualities. And, we stop there. We do not want to extend the analysis much deeper. Science itself goes only to the extent of saying that the personality and the character we have today is because of our genes, our heredity and environment, our culture and traditions.

I have been personally observing twins. Are they similar? Are they identical? If so, in what respect are they identical? Are they identical in terms of their appearance, or are they identical in terms of their thinking processes? Is there total identicalness in terms of their behavior? Definitely not! All of us know that science says that twins come from the same egg and sperm but somewhere along the line, these two people, who came out of the same thing, seem to behave differently, seem to react to things differently. They were brought up in the same traditions, with the same parents, and in the same childhood environment. After forming all these impressions, so to speak, which are confined to heredity and the environment, there still are differences in the way in which they behave, in the way in which they react to things, and the way in which they perceive things. To me that difference is attributed to only one thing: the impressions that are carried by the spirit, by the soul. The soul is eternal. The soul is something which is trying hard to free itself of the impressions.

Here we have to understand the relationship between the soul and the mind. The soul, on the one hand, has the indestructible quality or characteristic of trying to free itself, of trying to expand itself, of trying to delimit itself. So, that is the characteristic of the soul. And, then there is the mind which has a free will portion, which is connected with the ego, and gets the initial impulse from the soul, and also sends back the impressions that we have formed through the mind to the soul. This explains the difference between twins in terms of their reaction patterns. On the one hand, the soul has this indestructible quality, but on the other hand it seems to be helpless, because it has no choice but to receive the impressions that the mind has passed on.

So here, there seems to be some disharmony developing. The soul has this indestructible quality and characteristic of evolution, whereas the mind may not recognize this quality of the soul. And because of that, it may not pass on conducive impressions back to the soul. Until the time the mind recognizes and starts cooperating with the evolutionary impulses that come from within us, there is more and more movement towards this potential disharmony.

Unfortunately, life is a one way street. Life is like time. You just go once, one-way. You cannot return and go back to 1860 to relive your life. And an opportunity lost is an opportunity lost. But it is not so much, if at any point in time we are able to recognize and understand the experiences that we have gone through. Life is an opportunity to lead our lives correctly to the extent that one day we will be able to form that impression which is conducive to the indestructible quality of the soul.

This is what spirituality says: Use the mind, but recognize the quality of the soul. Use discipline to promote the cause of the soul. Use the same mind to accept that the experience of suffering is nothing more than an experience to learn. Spirituality, which is a science that explains the cause and effect relationship between soul and mind, has to be given due importance in our day to day life. And here, when we talk of impressions that we formed, consciously or unconsciously, knowingly or unknowingly, which go back, travel back through our unconsciousness to the soul, and come back as our reaction patterns when the environment presents itself, this gives the scientific basis of our existence. If we have to form such impressions which are to be conducive to that quality of the soul, then we have to think of that impression which is going to do that. Meditation means to continuously think of something, or to rest upon one thought. We have to pick a thought to mediate upon, which will be conducive to promoting that quality of that soul. So, this is where the scientific basis of the need to meditate comes from.

Raja yoga meditation, which gives a lot of importance to the mind, says that you start meditating to become divine. That which becoming you don't regret, or becoming which there is no contradiction between what you have become and what the soul wants you to become. It is a progressive approach towards that retention of harmony, or that regaining of the integration of body, mind and soul. So, in raja yoga meditation we meditate to become divine. Is the quality of the soul to become divine? Perhaps!

We have to now understand the soul in terms of divinity. Divinity can be explained in terms of the furtherance of human qualities. All of us would like to be loved, all of us would like to love, all of us would like to be kind, and would like others to be kind to us. If this is so, then we should start forming those qualities ourselves. We have to become that--that which is divine, and which is totally consistent with what we expect from others. There is a harmony, which is a foundation for the whole basis of meditation here.

I'm happy to say that even though we all wonder and worry if meditation is scientific, if spirituality is for the intelligent people, all of us go looking for love, looking for kindness. This explains the reason why what we search for through our intelligence need not necessarily be what we look for. Here also there is this dichotomy or disharmony in what we are going after and what we are looking for, in simple terms. It again comes down to this process of integration.

Spirituality is the science of integration, which integrates the purpose of life with the search and activity of life, which integrates the quality of the soul with what the mind should aspire for, which integrates what we expect from others with what we are ourselves becoming. So this is the foundation of spirituality and this is what raja yoga meditation as a practice offers.

The Masters of Sahaj Marg with photo

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:18:00 +0000

The Masters of Sahaj Marg


		Shri Ram Chandraji Maharaj "Lalaji" (1873 - 1931)

Shri Ram Chandraji Maharaj "Babuji" (1899 - 1983)

		Shri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari "Chariji"

Sahaj Marg Raja Yoga Meditation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:16:00 +0000

***Sahaj Marg (the Natural Path) is the system of practical training in spirituality offered by Shri Ram Chandra Mission. It is in essence the well-known old raja yoga (yoga of the mind) remodeled and simplified to suit and help the man of present-day world to achieve inner perfection, which is a synonym for God Realization. According to the teaching of this system, God is simple and therefore, the way to reach Him must be simple. Mind is the key instrument in a human being and by proper regulation of mind through meditation under practical guidance and support of a spiritual Master, one can evolve to the Highest. There are no rituals and ceremonials. Do's and don'ts are also few and there are no rigid methods of austerity and penance.

The Sahaj Marg system is specially developed for the average householder. It teaches that normalization of all functions leads to saintliness. Every faculty in-built in man has its legitimate function and must be used in the performance of that function. Therefore, celibacy is not prescribed but a normalization of the generative function is essential. It is in the world of family that almost all of man's powers are perfected. Therefore, this system does not recognize differences of race, differences of sex, or indeed any other differences between individuals, and all are qualified to practice it, the sole qualification being willingness to participate in it.***