Dr. Madhava

My dear brothers and sisters,

Pranams,

The topic of today’s seminar is taken from the message delivered during the Centenary celebrations of Rev. Lalaji Maharaj’s birthday in 1973.

The whole message if studied and contemplated and listened to in the voice of Rev. Master himself will definitely transport one into Rev. Master’s consciousness, which will act as food and tonic for our spiritual elevation.

The whole message is over flowing with gems and pearls of psychological knowledge and as you contemplate more and more the wisdom which gets unfurled is one’s heart seems to be endless.

For eg. The cause of the origin of thoughts is found in this message this psychological insight is the greatest gift Rev Master has bestowed on humanity. Our capacity to treat all thoughts other than the presence of Divine as uninvited guests and thus move towards Balance is directly the result of Rev Master revealing the above knowledge.

Now coming to the topic of the Seminar proper we are all here because of the Stir and that energy is present in all of us. Mind is a force with us. If we are not guided properly mind tends to drift and as it happens in majority of the cases it gets attached to the body and becomes totally identified with the body. Now the mental energy is utilized for the human body. All desires arising from the body are vigorously pursued. And since the body is prone to eventual disintegration, diseases, infirmities, fear of death plague the individual, apart from unhappiness and frustrations from unfulfilled desires. Since the Mind is totally identified with the body, any disease or infirmity makes the mind feel vulnerable and it feels that it is going to get extinguished and feels miserable in that thought.

But if we are guided properly in life and are made to become aware of the Reality of our Homeland, which is the eternal Divine Source, we stop identifying ourselves totally with the body and realize that there is some Higher Value towards which the mental energy is to be expended.

When we purposefully and consciously utilize our mental energy or thought power to identify ourselves totally with our Divine Source we start moving towards our Homeland. The natural home of mind is SriRamchandra’s Consciousness, where Silence, Plainness, Simplicity and Balance are predominant.

Majority of Humanity lack this sense of discrimination between the permanent and the transient and waste their gift of life without learning any lessons. But unfortunately even in people who have the blessings of the Divine Master do not progress far in spirituality because they give wrong suggestions to the mind.

Rev.Master says that environment creates circumstances to have such ideas (wrong suggestions)

I quote here from Rev Master’s 1981 message given in Malaysia

“Man is generally charmed so much by the environment as he has made for himself unconsciously, that he seldom thinks of rising above it. But how this is to be made possible? When we ponder over it, we find that we have set up in us a community of thoughts, feeding it with impulses, nurtured in the nursery of the brain, views from all corners resound the same note in their ears giving additional strength, and intensifying the effect of the environment further. This helplessness of man may be treated as his defence. But I would say, when once we have realised that these are the spoiling agents, it means some diversion has come in. This may be taken as the first step towards vairagya or renunciation, and our thought is then set on something better and nobler. Our duty is to grasp it firmly and stick to it at all cost. The renunciation develops automatically in our system.”

The unregulated mind is also compared with a weather cock. Whichever direction the wind blows, the weather cock turns that way. Similarly we are all aware of innumerable daily experiences, where our minds are swayed by the majority opinion or the predominant thoughts prevailing in a certain place.

For ex: you meet a group of people who are discussing about share prices and one becomes tempted to buy and play with shares.

You meet another group where discussion is about anew Hotel being opened and how a certain tasty and special food item is available there, you are tempted to go to that particular hotel.

You hear in another group that a new age Guru has dawned on the horizon and following his exercises you will be cured of your Hypertension and Diabetes you immediately decide to go there irrespective of the costs involved.

Amongst women folk it is common practice to visit saree shops and jewellery shops because you hear them being discussed.

There are innumerable and endless examples of how our thoughts and actions and behaviour are guided by the advertisement dominated consumerist culture. Religions have caused lot of bloodshed and misery but this consumerism is the worst religion which is patronized by all countries and all political parties and all religions. Infact when you speak against Consumerism in political, economic or social circles you are viewed as if you have committed Blasphemy. Even in Environmental circles people do not talk about reducing consumption but consumerism in an environmentally friendly way

This is as far as the external environment is concerned. There is an internal thought environment which also impels us to give wrong suggestions to the mind.

The consciousness is a very interesting and fascinating thing. You create a thought and follow that thought into action, which leaves a memory trace in the consciousness or in other words a samskara. This samskara further becomes an input in the manufacture of the different quality and variety of thoughts, which again change the nature of the consciousness. One wrong suggestion can generate a series of actions and counteractions, leading to the downward spiral of degradation. One has to only recall the story of Jamila which Rev. Babuji Maharaj mentions in the 4 th commandment, to understand how we get caught in this web and network.

I am quoting from SDG the article “Method of Training” which highlights how we spoil the different faculties thus creating a disturbed or diseased internal environment.

“Action is a very strong thing because it is connected with life. So its misuse has produced wrong effects and each centre has lost its originality and has begun to imbibe different effects, with the result that the whole frame of the body become a human factory and began to pour out, what we have collected so far. And this process continued for years. When the span of life ended we took another form with the accumulated effects of grossness we had formed. Thus we have been adding at each birth till we have become the actions themselves. Every centre of the nerves became a pole itself producing different climates and changes. We have formed the poles according to our actions and the repeated actions made the centre more strong. The outcome is that we remain embarassed by the commands we receive from different centres for each faculties.“

The only way out is to give right suggestions to the mind as suggested by the Great Master himself. I quote “If a man wants to work out the problems of his life easily, he should give right suggestions to the mind. It is the condition which comes by practice and proper moulding of one's self. It is very easy to remain in one's own condition which is divine. It is the sure process for evolution. A little inclination towards the attainment of the Reality, will start weaving the future.”

Please mark the words of the Master about how the condition comes by practice and proper moulding of oneself. Just after attending the seminar with lot of enthusiasm if one tries to put the suggestion to work about giving right suggestions one may not succeed instantly, because we have already seen how powerfully the external and internal environment is ranged against us... this requires repeated practice, as Rev Sir says there is a child lurking inside al l of us who is not afraid of failure, who simply brushes off the fall while learning to walk gets up and keeps trying till he succeeds. Game of Life has ups and downs and one should learn the patience to try again after falling

Internal environment is corrected and the faculties made to resume their original functioning by practicing PAM and living the principles of Natural living. External environment as far as possible we have to avoid uncongenial atmosphere where mind is led astray from the sacred divine thought. Better follow what Rev Master commanded us to follow in the Fourth commandment. For instance, the ears should attend only to noble talks, the eyes should see only that which is pious and good, the heart should be inclined only towards that which is virtous.

Rev Master by commanding us to follow the 9th commandment is asking us to change the external environment where people develop love and piety towards the Divine. Additionally he has asked us to do the 9 p.m. universal prayer. By pure intention, sincere efforts and unshakable faith in Master our Universal Prayer is bound to change the external atmosphere spiritual. In fact one of the main pillars on which ISRC stands is the concept that meditational practices and practice of Ten Commandments is not meant for individual salvation but for Human transformation. When our consciousness starts moving and dwelling in Sri Ram Chandra’s Consciousness, automatically general human consciousness with which we are never separate gets lifted up.

One of the main points which Rev. Master talks towards the end of the Message before praying for all of us is Yearning.

We have to examine this yearning much more closely. What is yearning? Yearning is a psychological state of restlessness, where peace or rest is not there till the object for which one yearns is obtained. This is observed most commonly when a person is besotted with love towards a beloved..

In some other spheres also like people clamoring for political success, or academic artistic, sports or business success, people who have yearning, or passion for their goal only achieve success. Yearning feeds them the energy against all odds to go about the task tenaciously till the object for which they are yearning is achieved.

Practice means we have to somehow create this psychological state of yearning. If one can put a question to oneself whether this yearning is there or not, one can feel in the innermost recess of the heart whether it is there or not and if it is there to what extent or intensity it is there.

I am quoting from SDG (Yearning to reach ultimate) the prescription given by the Rev Master.

“Now the question arises, how to arrive at that State? That one thing - 'remembrance' - brings everything in its trail. If remembrance is there, take it for granted, the remembered one is close to you. Let closeness, in the trail of increasing heat of remembrance, be enhanced; and then behold what bliss and ecstasy follows, and also how quickly you reach there, with its help. When this thing has approached the limit, which constitutes the beginning, i.e., if, perchance, it has touched that plain, region or circle, be sure, the call bell at the door of the Beloved would have been pressed. When He has come to know that someone happens to be His real Seeker and Lover, then it would become a sure condition for His coming close to you, and for breaking the barrier that held you from entering the Home. Start a while, dear, and then you will know what this thing happens to be.”

In the same message he says “The simple fact of the matter, anyway, remains that whatever is there, be surrendered to Him. 'If the Lord be had at the cost of your head, you should know the bargain as quite cheap. (Sheesh diye yadi Hari mile, tho bhi sasta jaan.) The sages of yore have regarded the state of acceptance of and happiness in Lord's will, as surrender. Now I give a prescription: 'Yearning' pure and simple to reach Him and Him alone! If the real thing is not there to begin with, just imitate it. If someone continually imitates a mad person, he is bound to go mad. Even so, if man continues to reach the Lord (Ultimate), the real is bound to be his lot, at last. Amen.”

Yoga that too rajyoga means that Yoga where thought forces are used to reach the goal of realization or Balance. So giving right suggestions to the mind and the mind following those suggestions is the crux of Yoga.

Let us hear from our Rev Dr. KCV about Yoga. “Darsana requires preparation to see, and see rightly through the proper instruments of seeing and knowing. This is a preparation for realising one's goal. The preparation to connect oneself with Reality in its vastest and minutest forms is itself Yoga. It is the yoking of oneself to the task of realising, visioning, Reality. It is to shut out all other aims and goals. In one word it is dedication (diksa).”

I am thankful for being given an opportunity to talk amongst your midst who bear love for Master in your Heart’s

pranams