“Whatever act you do, do it in the thought “It is the Divine’s command and therefore it is my duty to do so”

- Smt. I. Madhavi

My hearty pranams to all my brothers and sisters.
The topic of the seminar is from the message delivered by the Master at Tinsukia. When I was going through the message the title of the message ‘Way to Perfection’ has drawn my attention. This was like a hint to me that following the Ten Commandments is mandatory for a sadhaka as it is the way to perfection. Master also has hinted that one can live like a Real Man by adhering to the practice of Ten Commandments only because they are integrative to one’s life.
It has been a struggle for me in the initial days of my sadhana due to the lack of clarity with respect to the natural path. I could not properly relate the commandments with the meditational methods. Due to repeated influxes of Pranahuti along with the clarifications given by the institute stressing the importance to follow the commandments coupled with little amount of practice from my side has dispelled this myth. Now I observe a lot of change accruing to me because of this understanding not only in my sadhana but also during interacting with others in day to day activities. It is very much true that the implementation of the commandments, given by the Master, are the yardsticks for evaluation of one’s spiritual progress on the natural path which I understand that as we progress we become more and more selfless.
All the meditational methods that we follow in the Natural Path of Pranahuti Aided Meditation are well directed and goal oriented. It is only by regular practice of meditation with a supposition of Divine light without luminosity in the heart where it beats alone will strengthen the nearness with the Master and this experience impels us to seek or aspire repeatedly for it. The aspiration is felt by us a strengthened Will to seek the Goal. Similarly other practices also enable us progress on the path by strengthening our will and determination.
To start with, one needs to develop love and devotion towards the Master. Then only, one can practice with the real idea (correct understanding) otherwise it will be only an ideation (imagination or lack of experience). Master also hints that developing love and devotion is the responsibility of the sadhaka.
For me initially it was a matter of letter rather than spirit with regard to the need to develop love and devotion while offering prayer. But how to develop them was a big question to me. With respect to this my experience has been quite unique. Once I started having repeated experience of deep state absorbency during meditations which was almost like non-aware state. When I reported about this experience of being non aware during meditation to my pujya guide, who was kind enough to enlighten me by suggesting that, “it is during the meditations, individual sittings and satsangh we are given with some experience. If we are not alert in a waiting mode we tend to miss it and cannot acknowledge what is given to us. If we do not acknowledge what is blessed to us we will not develop gratitude towards the Master”. It was like a hint to me as one of the ways to develop love and devotion to the Master. So I understand that Gratitude to the Master for the experiences granted by Him during meditations should become the corner stone for us to develop love and devotion.
Initially it was a conscious effort for me but surely this has helped me a lot to become serious in developing this attitude while offering prayer. The importance of this has also been emphasized by the Master elaborately in commandment-2. Prayer when offered with love and devotion establishes a link with the Master. The repeated experiences of nearness and devotedness with the Master help us in firming us and strengthening of our Goal. It is necessary for us to take a comprehensive view of the system right from the beginning otherwise we will be practicing in bits and pieces and that may not give desired results.
Now if we dwell on the topic of the seminar, we are asked to feel that every action is to be done as the command of the Master. Here Master is essentially asking us to understand the doership concept. When we talk about doership, the first things that has come to my mind is the role clarity in what ever act that we perform. The person is same, but he simultaneously has several roles to play that we are all aware of. Role clarity is important. To get role clarity we need have Goal clarity of being just and balanced. The experiences of nothingness gives us a taste of balancedness, our true condition, which is very important to help us from the problem of undue involvement.
It therefore becomes necessary for one to develop Viveka ( Goal clarity). Lack of viveka blurs our understanding and we confuse our role in various activities. Viveka will not only give us the understanding that not only right action at right time is needed but right amount of action at right time is also very important. That means we can neither overdo nor under do any action which in one sense can be called as perfection in action. Then the effect of the action will not cast on us either a positive or negative impression.
Many times we find our interactions with others and willingness to any work is dictated by the fruits/results. This determines our interest and involvement in that particular work. We also try to discriminate or evaluate the work as good work or bad work, which is purely based on the amount of pleasure that we derive from it in the form of name, fame etc.
Every work that we do gives us some knowledge or awareness to our self and it also gives us certain enjoyment. Fulfillment of task itself may many times gives us certain amount of enjoyment. If some one appreciates us for any work that we do like preparing a good dish or giving a good lecture etc we get enjoyment as the self is boosted. This binds and forces us to do similar type of work in a same way repeatedly. This goes into our subconscious mind and we are governed by it involving ourselves more unduly and getting attached to it. When we get involved in this kind of things then we may lose awareness of remembering the Master.
Having competence is necessary for doing work in a perfect manner. But the knowledge or the awareness of our abilities creates an imbalance in us most of the times as the self is dominant. We should always be aware that the senses, faculties are the gifts of the Master for doing His work for Himself consciously which should be followed by dedicating the work to the Master immediately after the task is over. Initially it was a conscious activity and now slowly to some extent I am able to practice it naturally.
The idea of conceiving the fruits of the work as a reward should get transformed or changed to considering that getting work itself is a reward to us. This idea is enabling me in doing my work in the remembrance of the Master as a duty remaining unattached to the result of the work under many situations.
On analyzing various situations in my life it has come to my understanding that work should be qualified by the following conditions:
1. Selflessness Any work that we do should always be only for the good of others
2. Pious/Purity Doing the work in the consciousness of the Master
3. Honest Every work has to be done honestly to the best of our ability with sincerity.
4. Perfection It has to be done with a desire to improve one’s capacity to the fullest possible.
5. Dedication It should be done whole-heartedly and with interest as if it is for our own and dedicate it to the Master,

Clauses like if a particular thing is good to me but when it can cause harm to others then it is not acceptable. It is good to me only and if it can equally do good to others. Thinking good of others is a result of our feeling interconnectedness with others. Love and devotion to Master enables us to view everything as an expression of Divine. We understand that we are doing it for ourselves and not favoring any one which leads to honesty and sincerity. Our actions become simple, plain, unbiased and straight forward. Any act we do will be in the remembrance of the Master which leaves no impression on us and only such work becomes eligible and can be dedicated to Master. Thus we remain balanced. We do it as our duty. We work like a trustee as if it has been entrusted by Master for us to do. Therefore our dealings will be plain and simple and we will not be complaining about anything but will accept everything as a blessing of the Divine for our own good. There will be no hatred or ill will towards anyone. Maitri developed in us will not find faults with others. Under all circumstances we develop courage to act truthfully. All this gets culminated into moulding oneself to the extent that love and devotion for Master develops in others. Unless we develop that craving within us we cannot make others feel that which is our basic duty. Therefore this demands regular practice and frequent assistance of Pranahuti so that the craving and restlessness in us continue.
I conclude with a prayer to the Master that may we all get that intense craving and involvement in HIS thought/work so that it leaves no scope in us for any other thought other than HIM.
Thanking you for the opportunity
Pranams.