God is constantly with us and ready to take us up at the slightest sign on our part of accepting Him.

Sri. K.C.Srihari

Dear Brothers and Sisters

The above seminar topic is taken from Lecture 12 of the “Discourses on the Philosophy of SriRamchandra’s Rajayoga” given by Dr. K.C.Varadachari.

There are two aspects to the topic of the seminar that need to be understood.  The first one being the abhyasi’s role and second the Guru’s role.

The abhyasi’s role is to do meditation on the heart, prayer, yield to the master and surrender so that perfect devotion is developed.

In order to be able to achieve any goal, one must have determination and confidence.  One must not give in to doubt because then we will be feeding the negative in us rather than the positive.  A positive attitude is required constantly in this endeavour.  Dr. K.C.Varadachari goes on to say that “the most important thing in this matter is, we are willing to seek God or Master.  That is an act of ‘will’ and not of ‘inclination’ alone.  If we have decided that we want the Master’s help for our own higher evolution, or to reach the Ultimate, we will find that God is very near”. (Vol 1 page 225) In the words of the Master SriRamchandraji Maharaj, ‘A firm will and an undivided attention towards it are all that are required for the purpose’ (SDG 94).  The system of Natural Path needs to be viewed from the perspective of a householder.  It is a system for a new era that promises the highest approach in the least amount of time keeping in view the changing times.

The following are a few of the signs on our part of accepting Him

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·       The attention to proper moulding and regulation of mind - meditation on the Divine Light and ignoring any thoughts that come up by treating them as uninvited guests.   Gradually our thoughts that were of a nature that was self – centered become other centered.

·       Control of sense organs and motor organs when our mind gets fixed on the goal.  There is a balance that is displayed in our expression where moderation is the quality displayed. 

Both of the above aspects develop by the abhyasi’s effort coupled with the support of Pranahuti from a capable master.

Master says “Under the old system, 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 and all the time given to meditation is lost in struggling against and trying to suppress thoughts and tendencies” (SDG Pg 21).  He goes on to say that ‘In order to overcome this greatest difficulty, under the Natural Path, one has simply to connect one-self with the power of the Master whose mind, senses and faculties are all thoroughly disciplined and regulated.  This power then begins to flow in regulating the tendencies of the Abhyasi’s mind also.  The master’s help is, therefore, of prime value for sure success’ (SDG Page 21).

Thus due to the assistance of Pranahuti poured into us and our effort, the ‘Sama’ and ‘Dama’ get established in us.  We are fortunate to get a system where enormous labour is reduced as a result of the influx of Pranahuti as well as the practice of meditation on Point A and Point B.

A popcorn kernel is hard to begin with.  As it is heated and fried, it suddenly pops to become soft.  If we consider the self as the kernel with its rigid notions and ideals that bind, the fomentation and help of the master as the frying, we start becoming softer and embrace the love of the Divine towards us more and more.  It is a gradual process and takes several iterations.  This heating of our self brings us into a heated condition also called as ‘Tapas’ and a state of Uparati where feelings of attraction or repulsion to enjoyment are absent.

The next thing that happens is an acceptance of everything as a gift of God and by following the commandments 5, 6, and 7, a state of fortitude is established when one is perfectly satisfied with what is alloted to him by God.

The next stage we develop into is Shraddha – Faith of a very high attainment much different from the preliminary faith.  The feeling that ‘Thou art the only God and power to bring us upto that stage’ takes deep root at this stage and one is settled at this thought.

A feeling of self settledness to the will of the Master – Samadhan develops next and we get into a state of devotion where we are more and more absorbed even without our awareness.  In the words of the Master SriRamchandraji Maharaj, “It is simple attachment, strong and irrevocable attachment to the Divine”.(ref SDG 74).  The devotion is something like that of steady buring flame.  There is no smoke or screen of our impressions or feelings covering it now.  Dr. K.C.Varadachari says that this is a fire which ‘cools’ rather than ‘heats’ (Vol 1, Page 228)

He says that our devotion will develop when it is not just the physical body, but our vital bodies full of desires, cravings and other tendencies, get controlled.  These are possible by adhering to the methods and practices of the Natural Path in the manner given by our Master and following the Commandments.  In addition, the help of Pranahuti is required to all our effort to own up these conditions.

There are chances at this stage that one might think that the progress made is on one’s own effort.  The Game of Life software provided by the Institute gives us hints where one needs the help of the Master most.

Next comes the part of the Master.  In the words of SriRamchandraji Maharaj “Now a new chapter opens in the web of life.  The effect of our deep devotion begins to resound in a way, that we feel the Ultimate is remembering us.  That is the justice of Divinity.  When you have played your part fully well, the Ultimate cannot fall short in playing His part” (SDG 29). 

The kind of master we want is one who is himself free.  In this context, Dr. K.C.Varadachari talks about the Gurumata and Manmata.  Gurumata is for the normal people and Manmata is for the extraordinary people.  He says the people following manmata method are rare citing the examples of the Grand Master and that they are born with a Divine purpose.  It is wise not to fool ourselves by buffering our ego and better adopt the Gurumata way if any progress is desired.  Dr. K.C.Varadachari talks about the Supreme Personality and asks us to “avail ourselves of Him and follow the Guru Mata instead of struggling ourselves with our own little efforts which are crowned with defects in many cases.”(Vol1 page 231). 

The Master is always with us.  The kind of master we want is one who can unite us with Him and get us the same condition as Him – just, balanced, dispassionate being a few of them.  He makes us ‘Love Him who loves All’ by repeated doses of the experiences in the higher regions. We come to realise the above conditions and also feel humble so much in the core of the heart that all the sadhana we did so far would not have been possible but for the master’s constant help and grace.  We feel the presence of the Divine in all and feelings of reverence towards fellow brethren is felt so much so as to wash their feet.

I end this paper with this quote of Dr. K.C.Varadachari about the Supreme Personality SriRamchandraji Maharaj “When we meditate and seriously pray for such a Personality, He comes to us.  Obviously he may not be seen by anybody.  But if we pray in earnest, if we really want a guide to help us to reach the Ultimate Reality, he comes.  He may not come when we ask for any penultimate things of the world because it is not His duty to come for those things.  He has come for the Highest knowledge, to give us the Highest Truth in the simplest possible way without complicating the body.  That is why we hold that the Master’s role in our practice of training is very important.  We cannot train ourselves even with the help of the text books.  That is why, it is very difficult to get a Great Master; and if we can get such a Master, our ability to pass these things would be increased and we would attain the Ultimate State in shortest possible time”

Pranams