Meditation - Methods & Practices

https://youtu.be/Ulap1qze1QE

The Divine Incarnation Lord Krishna as he was born around the mid night he revealed himself to his parents and then said, that he has kept up the promise that he would be born to them and that he has to start his work. He has asked that he may be shifted to Gokul and leave him in the house of Nanda and bring the child that is there to the prison and the child will tell his uncle about the Divine secret. We see that the Divine incarnate has announced Himself as such at very birth. It's a happy occasion for us. We enjoy feasting but our tradition has asked us to fast. The reason for that is when we think about Lord Krishna, we get into ecstasy ourselves. We forget our sleep, we forget our food. We forget all other engagements and will be only in His thought. That is the greatness of this Personality that we are trying to retain even today. Please think about it. Yes! So long as we are going to think about our body and its needs we will definitely feel hungry, we definitely feel thirsty and also we too sleep now and then during the day. All these things are possible. But if we get into the consciousness of Sri Krishna, the chances are that we will be only thinking about Him and nothing else. We have had occasions of these types of experiences when we celebrate Revered Babuji's Birthday as well as Revered .Lalaji's Birthday. I do not want to cast aspersions on any person. But even on those days people are eager while meditating as to when it will be over so that they can go and have breakfast and when a talk is going on, they will be thinking about lunch. These are the people who do not have the Druda Sankalpa, a firm conviction and a desire.

We say, "Thou art the Real Goal of Human Life". I do not know whether it has enabled you to think about this Real Goal at all. The topic now that I am asked to dwell is on the Methods and practices in the system of Sri Ram Chandraji Maharaj. With your permission I will link it up with Sri Krishna's teachings and Sri Aurobindo's teachings. When we say, "Thou art the Real Goal of Human Life", we are only saying "Om Namo Narayanaya", That is the Mantra. The goal of man -"Naranam ayanam Narayanam" that is the goal of man. Real Goal. But we have got very many petty goals when we think about that Narayana, Sri Krishna or Sri RamChandraJi. The goals relate to the five kosas, the Annamaya, Pranamaya, Manomaya, Vijnanamaya and Anandamaya kosas. All these kosas dictate to us several petty goals. We are lost in them and we somehow or other go on praying for them. We call them goals, petitions, requests etc., We do not seek the Divine. Even when we are seeking the Divine we try to say somehow or other that this mantra can lead, that mantra can lead etc, etc. There is nothing wrong so long as we know the real meaning of the mantra and over a period of sadhana we will definitely come to the path. Every great Acharya and Parama Acharya have used the words "Narayana Smriti", "In the name of Narayana" when ever they signed a document. No other name is used. The reason for that is they were very clear about their goal and whether they achieved it or not is a separate issue on which there can be difference of opinion.

From the point of view of sadhana when we look at this point of Real Goal of Human Life we are not very sure whether we are determined to reach the goal. This is what Sri Krishna said, that it is very difficult to know and we can know/do it only with abhyas and vairagya. Abhyas and Vairagya are the two things that we have got to think about as methods for achieving that Real Goal. This Real Goal clarity emerges after a considerable time of practice. Though we start with that sentence here and every one of us assumed that we have made up our decision about this goal. Assuming we grant ourselves the right that we have already got that clarity of the goal we proceed. That is why we find in the second sentence of prayer given to us by our Master "We are yet but slaves of wishes putting bar to our advancement", reminding us that our goal clarity is not that clear to us. This as we practice we know that we don't have that Real Goal near our sight or in our mind and we know that we are yielding to many other things. We definitely know that is not our goal and only then a person develops viveka, by constantly looking into himself. It is a painful topic to know, how little we are before the Divine asking for something very silly all the time, to be small before him presenting ourselves in the poorest of the fashion. Our thoughts that are submitted to Him during meditation have been of the lowest of the order. We go on trying to improve that when our goal clarity emerges. Again and again we have got to think about the Real Goal. And why is He the Real Goal, what on earth makes the Divine to be the Real Goal. What exactly is the Divine? If we know the answer for it, there is no need for us to practice meditation. There is no need for us to do any sadhana. We are asked to assume it at the beginning. We are told that the Real Goal is God or the Divine and to substantiate it to be the Real Goal, we have the literature that helps us. It makes us understand that all other goals are not the Ultimate. Take for example the case of Viswamitra. He was an emperor. Of the few emperors he was one and when he sees a Bramhajnani like Vasista he finds that there is something more than what he has got. He thought that he could give everything to everyone and he offered that to Vasista also saying that whatever he wants to run a small ashram, and Kamadhenu, serves the purposes of the emperor better than him. And the Bramhajnani's answer was that he might take it if he can and Kamadhenu refused to go and fought a war on behalf of the rishi. That is the story. We are not interested in the details. Those stories are well known to all of us. If some of us don't know they may kindly read the tradition because we must know that ours is a great civilisation and we have a very hoary past. They have got their own meaning. For ordinary people it is a folk story or a myth.

But there is something of a myth in every one of our lives. Every one of us is an archetype, is an expression of the Divine and we have a pattern. There are several people with the same mentality now and were there in the past and there will be many more with the same type of approach to the subject in the future and that is the archetype. It goes on developing. Archetypes are not standard patterns. They are not moulds. That is a way of thinking. There is a general confusion among many people when we discuss the archetypes; they think it is something like a picture, a fixed picture. It is the same wavelength. But it improves, it swells. The archetype swells itself and it is an improvement over the earlier thing. And when we say that Revered Babuji Maharaj is doing the same work of Sri Krishna, we only mean that Sri Krishna has been improved upon now. It is the same archetype. It is the same avatar. The same avatar that came as Sri Rama and the same Avatar that came later as Sri Krishna. I will give one small example, not necessarily some thing that is in some book, but this is due to my understanding of the subject. Many of you know the great Avatar of Vamana, who comes and requests the great emperor Bali to give him only three feet of land. That is all what he asked and Bali said, why don't you ask more than this. But with one foot he covered the entire world and with the second foot he has taken the heavens and the third foot it is said is put on Bali himself. Looking at it from spiritual angle, I have found the methods that are given to us namely the Morning Prayer, the Evening Cleaning and the Night Prayer are the three feet asked of us by Master. We have got to give just three steps that the Divine asked from us. The Divinity is asking us, every one of us a Bali Chakravarthy here, just three paces of feet in our heart. Master says 'Three things please yield and the remaining things I will take over'. Firstly you give your heart to me. Right! What happens? The lower vrittis become influenced by the higher vrittis. Kindly note this point that the higher mind takes over the lower mind first. We yield and then the higher mind also is superseded by Him and then finally He asks Where shall I put the third foot, we say put it on our head. That is total surrender to the Divine. This is what the last sentence of the prayer suggests - "Thou art the only God and Power to bring us upto that stage". That is the state of surrender that we require. Regarding Goal clarity, we see the first sentence, is the first foot that we have to give in our heart without any reservations and He takes over us. Then the lower mind is controlled. And at the higher mind we again yield to Him. That is how I have understood how an Avatar becomes a Tri-Vikrama. In all the three planes of consciousness He takes over and controls us. So the Method is not anything new. The method is old. In the Bhagavad Gita we will find that after many lives a person who becomes wise yields to him and then says that the Vasudeva is everything.

We are the abhyasis of Sri RamChandra's system of yoga. For us who is the Vaasudeva today? In unequivocal terms Revered Babuji Maharaj has said, "I am spread out through the universe and I am every where". What is Vaasudeva? A person who resides everywhere, Vasa is the root word for Vaasudeva. He resides in every atom, every molecule, every single particle of this universe and He said we have to understand him "Vaasudeva sarvam iti sah atma suh durlabhah". To accept the Vaasudeva, as everything is very difficult, even for a person who knows and that is the position for most of us. We know that He is everywhere but we don't yield to Him perhaps even in one plane. That exactly is the message. And today's Vaasudeva we know is only Sri Ramchandra. That is why He said Krishna is merged in me. The consciousness of Sri Krishna merges in Him mainly because of this. If we question the statement that He has spread out everywhere, then the whole system falls because such a man cannot guide. A guide is one who guides us in all planes of consciousness, in all planes of consciousness not to the satisfaction of our desires and wishes but for the transformation in all the three planes of consciousness. That everything belongs to Him. The Isa Upanishad says "Isavasyam Idam Sarvam". Knowing all this, yielding has to happen. Yielding to say that we meditate and at the time that is prescribed, yielding according to the method that is given. Not according to the whims and alterations that we make. There should be willingness to obey the Master in Toto. Our difficulties if any are to be submitted to the Divine and if they are genuine He gives the solutions to us in our heart.

Now there are two things that we have to look into, the upper mind is always dominated by the lower mind in our case. We want to sit in meditation and then something tells we can postpone it for another half an hour. But if basic viveka is aroused we really don't know whether we would be awake next morning at all. So no person must postpone things. Postponement is fundamentally the philosophy of persons who somehow grant for themselves eternity. They know that they will pass out. Every person who knows a bit of life, knows that there will be a day when he will go, and he also knows that day is not something that he knows in advance. It may happen any time. During prayers it can happen. Please note it can happen earlier or it may not happen in the near future. I only wish that we lived long for the only reason that we should spread the message of the Master. I don't have any other purpose here to suggest for you, for your life. We have many other goals.

That takes us to three things. When we become a person who knows the Truth and its path, should you continue to do these practices given to us by the Master? This interesting question was posed to me 15 years back, saying that as a person who knows the truth, and having been with the Master, why do I continue sadhana as prescribed. The great doubt was why do I do meditation. The answer is given right from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. A person who knows shall also do his duty. And what are the duties? They are stated in the same Upanishad namely, Dana, Tapaha and Yajna are the three duties that we shall perform everyday. We have come to know that the procedures of these three duties have not been all that easy for us and over a period of time they got worn out. Bhagavan Sri Krishna came and said the same thing. We cannot get remission from the performance of these duties. In the last chapter of the Bhagvad Gita, we find this categorical assertion. But even then we did not change. We continue in our own way. Whatever may be the reason, I am not going into the traditional aspects of it, or the modern man's views about it. But I have found an answer to it in the case of the system of Revered Babuji Maharaj. In the system all the three duties are provided for every abhyasi to perform without any scope for excuses. Those of us who have excuses kindly should try to mend.

The first thing that one has to do is the tapas. We have got to burn ourselves out. We have collected enormous wax. This can be removed easily. It sticks of-course. But when you think about the divine it burns. "Apavitraha pavithrova sarvavastham gatopiva yesmareth pundarikaksham sabahyantara suchihi". It is a very sensible statement. But how many thought about what is Pundarikaksha. The lotus opens itself. When? When the sun's rays fall on it. Till that time it does not open. Pundarikaksha really means the centre of pundari, lotus, it opens up throwing away all the petals out, when the early morning sunlight strikes it. Because of the heat it becomes purified, "Sabahyantara suchih" external and internal purities are assured, if you think about the Divine. That is the reason why we say that the Master is the goal. We think about it. We don't know it. "Yas smareth" you think about it. O! Master thou art the real goal of human life. The meaning of that is so much, that one has to again and again contemplate over it. But the majority of us, who know alphabets, think we know English. And I think most of us belong to the same category. The difference is we know how to make words. Nobody knows how to make meaning. We learn to make meaning out of these sentences and words only when we contemplate and meditate over that. Lot of time has to be spent. Then we understand what exactly it meant. Why do we remember the goal? The goal has to be remembered so that we get rid of the influences of our wishes. "I am yet but a slave of wishes". I of course do not think of Pundarikaksha as Master, Ramchandraji or Babuji. I don't want to go into the names, because Divinity is something that has neither a name nor a form. I have been stressing this point in sadhana for all of you. It is our sentiment that we attach ourselves to this Ramchandraji of Shahjahanpur. But do you have his consciousness, that consciousness which is one with that of Sri Krishna. Is one of that of Divine Avatars. Revered Babuji clarified that He is not an avatar, but only a person who has come here to mend a small thing, some corrections that He was asked to make. He is a person who is constructive. He is not a destructive person. He makes a statement that avatars come for destruction and He has not come for destruction. He would say, "As a matter of fact I am a person like you. Born as a man. And I have been perfected by my Master, to such an extent that the great rishis of the past including the great avatars are using me." That is the courage with which he would make the statement. When the goal is clear and he knew that he is abiding by that goal, he was capable of making such statements. The same right he has granted to us. Whether we will be chosen by Nature for that work or not it is Nature's prerogative. When he said that we would become like him, He never thought that we would immediately construe that we will become another Special Personality. He only said we can become like him as a real man and said the decision of the Nature or God to use him is the decision of Nature or God. It has nothing to do with his sadhana. We see the humility of the person here. Because of this distorted view or a perception of that part of the prayer 'Thou art the only God and power to bring me up to that stage', we have others claiming that status. And the likes of Poundraka Vasudeva is nothing new. Delusions and Illusions are always there. Such people are yet but slaves of wishes. And for them our prayers will be there.

Now we come to the second aspect of our duty. We are asked to offer 'Dana'. What is the "Dana" that we have got to do? Vidya dana is one thing that everybody knows is the best dana that we can ever think of and all that Revered Babuji is asking all of us is to spread the message of the system. That is the greatest Vidya Dana that we can ever give, and here comes a doubt. Because we are not very sure whether we have got the Vidya or not to give. A person teaches physics to the seventh class or eighth class. He teaches physics but he is not an expert in physics. A person who teaches intermediate physics may be he is an M.Sc, but he is not perfect. A person who teaches a M.Sc student may be he is a superior to him but he is not perfect in science because science is ever expanding. Our doubts therefore to teach the system or to tell about the system to others is unfounded. The doubts are basically due to lethargy. And in fact may be considered as ingratitude to the Master. We owe it to the society to inform what we know, what is good, what we practice, even as we owe it to the Master. Our becoming a realized man is of no use to anybody. We get realized so that we try to make others realized. That is the Dana that we have to do, and that is what Revered Babuji says.

What is Yajna? This is one duty where we all default, for no fault of God. We all are defaulters here, for what ever reason it is. Yajna in the traditional sense is out of question for us to follow. We know it is not possible for us to practice, and unfortunately nobody does a Yajna, unless there is a Brihaspathy or a Brahma, who is there prepared to recite the mantras. In our system we are asked to do prayer at 9''o clock in the night. A prayer, with an explicit will that all people in the world are our brethren and that they are developing true love and devotion to God. If we put this question honestly to ourselves whether this is being done, perhaps we will be very disappointed with the answer. Because I know what is happening. We are at least not aware of what was not happening, namely we are not discharging our duty. Many of us will be more surprised with the answer they would get if they introspect. So if we see the methods they are the same as the old.

Now let us reflect on duty. Duty is a subject Revered Babuji Maharaj discussed in an article. He says our primary duty is to realize God. What is realization? That we are an insignificant expression of that most significant Being. And what is our task? To live here a life of happiness, not forgetting our duties to God as well as duties to the world. The world is nothing but an expression of the Divine. The Divine in its content and expression are entirely different, from an academic angle. From the angle of a realized person they are the same.

We come now to the next point of discussion. How do we go from the lower state of mind to the upper state of mind and stabilize there? That is the most important question to the present day situation. Lord Krishna says "Bandhuratma atmanastasya yenatmana atmanajitha". Ones' self becomes bandhu (relative or friend) for a person who has controlled his atma by the atma. Revered Babuji repeats the same thing when he says the thought power that is in us has to be utilized for reaching the Ultimate, leaving aside our perverse tendencies of thinking. Our Master in his book "Efficacy of Rajayoga in the light of Sahaj Marg" gave a diagrammatic picturisation. The heart is the place where samskaras remain for fruition. Historically, immediately after Lord Krishna we have got a person of enormous spiritual greatness, Vardhaman Mahaveera. He came and said this heart is tainted with different types of colours, and he called that matter Pudgala - the matter that gets formed over our heart, our soul and according to the colour of this we can definitely say the type of man with whom we are moving or conversing etc. We have detailed description of this subject in original works of Jainism. Modern interpretation about this is unclear. I have had the privilege of having a look into the original scripts of Jainism thanks to a person from Varanasi who studied about Jainism, who showed me the original works. Jainism uses two words to explain how the matter gets collected over our souls. The process is explained with the help of two concepts: 'samvara' and 'nirjara'. Samvara is accumulation, Nirjara is getting rid of and this is the same matter. (Rev.Babuji says that we form samskaras by the force of our thoughts and it casts a shade or colour over our mind. Sri Krishna uses the word Atma, for both, for the lower as well as the upper states of mind.) Mahaveer said it is getting formed and we should get rid of it by the method given Japa, austerity, penance, etc.

We thus see that Revered Babuji has given us the methods. He has not changed the tradition, but he says he has refined and modified the same process to be attended to by us. Lord Krishna has said the Atma has to be controlled by the Atma. Various commentators have tried to explain this assertion of the Lord but were constrained to strangulate the same to suit the purposes of their version of Vedanta Sutras.

The lower heart or the lower state of mind has to be conquered by the upper state of mind and this is the struggle we are met with during meditation. We know that there is something that is pulling us up. We are also aware that something is pulling us down. Simultaneously both these things are going on in our mind and our struggle seems to be a Deva- Danava war that is going on. The internal war is going on. The lower mind does not so easily yield because this is the plane of our entire energy, the principles of life and this is the place where the Kama, Krodha reside and all the distortions of these basic tendencies at higher plane owes their existence to this source of energy only. Moha, Lobha and krodha are the same energy that gets distorted in upper plane also. It plays a joke all the time, goes to the extreme extent of calling ' Sri Krishna' as a Mohana Vamsi. We can see what extraordinary forms of contortion take place in the field of aesthetics, all distortions of the lower Kama and Krodha. This is the reason why we find in the paintings, sculptures, stotras and in poetry there are expressions of the lower nature of mind in refined or crude ways according to the artist or poet. Everywhere in the world basic content is only this energy, but it is expressed through various types of distortion or inversion. The higher mind has to invert itself, thus keep company with the lower mind, it is made to yield, and stoop- the Divine stoops! But unless there is a firm help from the Master, this inversion from the higher mind to the lower sticks to it forever because the lower self is much more powerful. We stick to it forever and don't want to come out of it.

Our method of meditation is on the Divine Light without luminosity in the heart. The Divine light that is there in the heart and at present clouded has to come to its perfection. Our hearts are definitely suffering from Moha, which is itself a distortion of Kama and this grants us what I may call a duality, a difference. We maintain a difference between us and the duality and we love that Divine Light. The beloved Master is still another entity. The duality exists between the disciple and the Master, between the Devotee and the God, between the lover and the beloved. This duality persists. So long as duality is there we are not anywhere near Reality. The very purpose of this particular method of meditation that has been given to us acts at its base as a source of duality, when we accept this method. Therefore I say that it is not in tune with Sri RamChandra's consciousness, which is one indivisible existence and bliss. Please note the Institute is going with a particular approach to the whole subject.

If you ask me today what is your condition I will say I love my Master. I am devoted to Him. Love without much of a moha. But still that attachment is there. I retain it, is my right to hold him. I know it is a samskara that I am having. That is my wisdom about it and I am prepared to throw it out as and when it is necessary. I am prepared to throw it. What is the history of this method? The history talks about one great saint Andal who started this method of worship. Much later when Vaishnavism spread to North India it became Radha-Krishna cult of Sri Krishna Chaitanya and what has Krishna Chaitanya cult done to this sublime concept is a matter of history.

The prayer we are asked to do is very clear in our system. We are asking him saying, we are yet but slaves of wishes and we don't ask him for remission or some condonation or anything like that in our prayer because the goal is clear and we will not ask for it. What is that goal, That God! Thou art the goal. God is called samavarthi. And what is the principle of samavarthi. It is law of equality; we can put it as the law of causation or karma. For every karma (act) we have got an effect. This law cannot be changed. If we question that, then we are questioning the rationale of existence, the reason behind this universe itself is questioned. That is what other types of prayers have done. With infinite wisdom our people have given prayers to us but with infinite wisdom our people have also ruined them to the lowest level of questioning this very basis Reality- namely the law of cause and effect. This particular defect crept into our land due to the influx of Islam and Christianity where pardon for omissions and commissions are sought and the suffering God bears this irrational request. The Real goal we are seeking is one where we are seeking the samavarthi, we are not asking for the remission from omissions and commissions of acts done by us. We are asking Him to pull us out from the lowest vrittis or nature of mind to the upper vrittis or nature of mind while accepting the results of our past actions whatever they are and in whatever manner the Divine disposes the results there of. All that we are asking is this much. We want to be "atmanah atmanajitah" and for that we pray to Master that we know we have to conquer the lower mind but are unable to do and His help is sought to accomplish this.

The upper portion of the heart has to control the lower portion of the heart. How is this to be done? We are incapable of doing it, we are yet but slaves of wishes putting bar to our advancement. We will be capable of doing this only when we yield to Upper mind, which is Divine in its nature. Once this knowledge dawns, our head is ready for third step of God, of Vamana. Somehow or the other we have to yield to it. Here comes the intellectual problem. Everyone of us think that we can solve our problems, we would like God to restrict himself to the domain of spirituality and let him not enter into day to day business, family matters, other matters, refusing to understand that every gift we have got or a capacity we have got is what He has given and He knows best as to what to do with that. If only we yield to the Divine, It knows as to how to use us, but we don't accept it. We say that it is a matter that we will sort out. We say we don't want to go to Guru or God for such a small matter like this. In our system through the prayer we are lifted out of that plane and Master simply says, please seek the goal, the Ultimate goal and concede the point that you cannot solve the problem of lifting ourselves from the plane of the lower mind, which is our duty. What is our duty? It is to live up to the Divine level. Our duty is to live like that; if we are not able to do it then we are asked to arrive at the state of mind by crying before Him that we are not able to discharge duty towards the Divine. This is the duty with which we are all born.

To live at the level of Overmind, ie. this upper portion of the heart as given in the Diagram used by the Master to explain this concept is our minimum duty to the Divine. We are not Aurobindonians. But this concept was given much attention by Sri Aurobindo who calls it Overmind and he says first your lower mind has to be controlled by Overmind and that is our sadhana. But he also talks about the Supermind and its descent to the lower mind is a must for having a Divine integral Life, or the Life Divine. The Supermind has to enter into our hearts, and then only one will be in a position to live up to the Life Divine. Life Divine is one of the monumental thesis in the modern philosophical history, the cry of the soul trying to know something more than man. Sri Aurobindo knew that it has to come, he prayed. He has prayed continuously and felt that it will be in a position to come, but he died before his dreams were fulfilled and it was left to the Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

But as early as 1945, Revered Babuji said this Supermind will not work as the problem of human unrest and peacelessness is much deeper requiring the intervention of the Centre itself. But the ascent to the Overmind and later to the Supermind is a must. In the system of Sri Aurobindo this is something we must achieve solely by our effort and wait for the descent of the Divine. But in our system, Revered Babuji says, we must yield to the Master and by his grace we would reach the higher states of consciousness of Divine nature provided we are truthful to our nature and discipline in sadhana. That is my advice to all my brothers, please yield. Then we will not be in a position to imagine that we can transform any person.

Of course we can always imagine that we are with the Ultimate. Some of us are outside and some of us are inside. That's about it. If anybody thinks that he can change somebody else's mind without being at that higher level, it is only an expression of ego. Without being at the higher level we don't have instruments for it or capacity for it. But we can fool ourselves and fool others. So long as we fool ourselves, it is Atmadroham. So long as we fool others, it is Paradroham, which is much worse. So the mental patient in a hospital is much better because he doesn't cheat others. But if the trainers or the preceptors of this system do not live up to that and try to harm others, it is definitely Paradroham which is a sin.

Let us know and understand the seriousness of the system itself. We cannot grow on our own. We have to yield to Him in totality in every sense of the term. Then we will be in a position to get into a laya avastha and that laya avastha is capable of working on others. Not our mind as such but the one that is surrendered to the Master can help someone if His grace is there. But that should not be confused as something that is very hard. The servants of Divinity have to at least lend their head for the betterment of others and that is a part of the Vidya-dana, at a different level. It is a Dana that we have to do. We cannot give something, which we don't have. Stabilisation at the Overmind level is must to come up to this stage.

How Overmind can be reached is the first fundamental difference between the systems of Sri Aurobindo and Revered Babuji Maharaj. By bringing in the Supermind to work on the mind says Sri Aurobindo. Revered Babuji Maharaj calls consciousness at the U portion in the heart as super consciousness of lower type. He calls the super consciousness at the Ajna level as D1 consciousness. This consciousness also cannot change human nature as believed by Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo said that Overmind ('U' consciousness) is only an intermediary to get us the influx of the Divine and the Supermind is capable of obtaining the Influx of the Divine. He claimed that to be a fact. Revered Babuji says as we are seeking a life Divine or the transformation of the humanity to the higher plane of living in tune with Divinity, Supermind will not work and the task requires that the Central force or/and Centre itself has to descend. So the point he makes is that the Supermind cannot do what the Center can do. These are claims of Revered Babuji Maharaj.

I was practicing the system for a quite some time before I got clarity because the inner conflict between the 'L' and the 'U' continued fairly long. The lower seems to be enormously capable of pulling us down every alternative second. If we can maintain our thought at a higher plane, for example in the morning meditation, had we been able to maintain our thought on Lord Krishna whose Birthday we have come together to celebrate and understood the identity between Him and our Master and also identified Him with the several avatars that have come earlier, we should not entertain any other thought than that of Him. But the lower had its own play however small it might be.

Most of us have a different understanding of our Master and think he is different from other expressions of the Divine. Avatars have been also understood differently. Some persons have expressed it from the point of evolution, which is a very gross way of understanding. But there is enormous spirituality behind the advents and avatars. Each one of them teaches a lesson in spirituality. If we are real sadhakas we would have known quite lot of things revealed to us.

The Center has to intervene and the Master says that Pranahuti that is offered in our system for the systematic progress of the individual is nothing but the Pranasya Pranah (ie., breath of the Center), coming either directly through the Master or through many other persons who work for him having submitted themselves to his will. The characteristic of a person who trains is that of having submitted to the will of the Divine totally having no will of his own. When one's will is totally that of Divine he will naturally work for others without any concern for his self without any discrimination of race or nationality or sex while discharging his duty. But we continue to suffer from those lapses is a fact that we have to accept in our sadhana. Then only we will overcome that lapse. Unless we know the problem we will not rectify it. Revered Babuji always puts that due interest in work and due discharge of duties do not form samskaras. Duties we shall do, but with due attachment, not with undue attachment. Undue attachment comes to us because of various social patterns, apart from our own personal problems. That is the significance of the second line of the prayer 'I am yet but a slave of wishes', He has not used the word 'my wishes'. It is customary to say that samskaras get formed by the individual's own wish. It is not true. Our samskaras are getting formed mainly because of other person's wishes which we take on us as our duty to discharge. Spouses, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers and other relatives want something and they become our wishes. All those wishes are taken into our heart and they form the samskaras. Please kindly note the significance of the omission of the word 'my' in the prayer. "We are yet but slaves of wishes ", not 'our wishes'. All wishes in the world are ours. So everyone of them is a casting an impression upon us. I don't say we should not be interested in worldly matters. We find something wrong, and we pray and that is corrected which is due interest. Talking about the correctness or incorrectness of the decision of some people is only wasting our time and it only adds to avoidable formation of samskaras. We can only pray to God that wisdom may dawn on all. What is that wisdom. Please note that what we think as wisdom is zero, it is something that we do not know. Wisdom is something that is Divine. It will give its own solutions. It will come at appropriate time. Everything has got its own time and that is what Revered Babuji meant in the message in the diary book, two days back, when he said 'Time has got all the power, but you cannot use it.' Only God can use the kaala chakra. It is that power that the supreme personality is using when he said 'udarshana chakra is what Lord Krishna used and I am using the kaala chakra for the transformation of man.' We would like to know these powers. That is what I call as an itch - itch of viveka if we may say so. One sees in Sri Aurobindo the cry for human unity for the first time in the world. Sri Aurobindo was a person who was blessed by Lord Krishna, that he was asked by Sri Krishna to get out of the freedom movement, kindly note that he had the blessing of the Great Master. It was in the jail he had received the blessing of Lord Krishna who asks him to kindly leave the place and go somewhere else to do yoga assuring another person will come and lead the country into independence. Sri Aurobindo was also granted a boon that India will get independence on his birthday, the 15th of August, which we all cherish and are still striving to hold up.

Now let us revert to the promise of Sri Aurobindo namely the Divine life, for him the Life Divine is possible through the influx of the Supermind. Rev. Babuji radically modifies the method to achieve the same objective. We note that it is Pranahuti that we have to bring to the heart of the aspirant from the Center and assist the aspirant in his process of yielding to the Divine. This enables the Master to lead the aspirant from the Lower state of Mind or consciousness to the Upper level and gradually through various knots reach the D2 consciousness (located around the centre called Sahasrara). The power at that centre is also utilized for the purpose but beyond that is not our domain. But abhyasis clamour about D3 consciousness or D4 consciousness and I don't find anything wrong about that. That is the greed in spirituality in expression. Greed is something that is a common disease in all planes of consciousness. The entire humanity suffers from that but we unfortunately restrict our understanding to issues confined to monetary grounds. It is there in spirituality also. Without first of all entering into the Over mind we tend to think in terms of super consciousness of the super mind and without owning the supra mental consciousness think of the Divine mind and without entering into the Divine mind and yielding to it totally and learning not to lift our head we are talking about the realms of Splendour of the Center or Base. As a person who has gone through all this I can say that every one of these levels of consciousness is a problem for us. If you ask me how much of the Over mind you have got, I would perhaps rate myself at the lowest because the more greater we advance, the dirt that we see in us even though nominal gets magnified as if it is a great blemish. That is why many feel that I over react to certain things and situations. The reason for that is magnification of a small defect. It may be a small defect, but I magnify it. I cannot help magnifying. That is the purity of the level of consciousness that Master has blessed me with that condemns me to such behavioural patterns. I call it a condemnation. The spiritual truth in the matter can be better understood if we study the book 'Truth Eternal'. Lalaji Maharaj says as a man advances, if he sees the smallest defect anywhere in this world he would consider that as a greatest obstacle to spirituality. Other people may kindly ignore such lapses or blemishes that appear trivial. But one on the Path would not ignore, because the perfection that we are asking, purity we are seeking does not permit it.

So if we talk about the methods these are the methods. If we talk about the methods from the ritualistic point of view of morning meditation, evening cleaning, night prayer and then say this is all about the methods, I would say it is very, very superficial. That may be the way of explaining the system in the beginning. But as we advance we should understand what are the methods and what are the attitudes required to perform sadhana meaningfully. I know many abhyasis who come exactly for prayer on dot at 8'o clock, some come at 7.50, some of course may say that their watches go slow. Some come at 8.15, some chose to come at 8.55 also though such an occurance is rare now a days. They do not understand that by coming late they are disturbing others. They have got from their point of view, the peculiar right to Divinity, superseding the interests of others for a similar claim. I have been exhorting people who want to meditate to get prepared and be in the state of mind to receive the blessing of the Master early, come to the place of prayer well in advance and sit quietly in meditative mood. We should yield to the Master, and allow the meaning of the prayer to sink into our heart. We are to meditate when we are asked to meditate. But some are eager to enter the portals of the Divine and would meditate in advance. We are to be in a meditative mood and not meditate in Satsang before the guide asks us to meditate. That is an expression of greed if we closely examine. We will not follow any of these. There are many excuses. A person who is not disciplined is least fit to be called a disciple. Methods are rigid. When we say rise before sunrise it has to be before sunrise. If we understand it as a commandment we will follow it. If we understand from other clarifications given by the Master on other occasions and try to justify such flouting of norms on that account even as we have done in following the earlier Masters like the Buddha, Mahaveer Jaina, Lord Krishna, I can only say we do not have the determination to reach the goal. Please note how our mind is dictating terms. Our goal is not clear. Further our yielding to the Master which is the third step in prayer, is the most important thing. We don't know how to obey. If we don't surrender to him we will not be in a position to transform and assist others. That is the principle of pranahuti- taking the assistance of another person in our spiritual pursuit. Revered Babuji says almost the same sentence as Lord Krishna: "Matchitta Matgata Praanaha, Bodhayanthi Parasparam". The question is have we put our mind on his consciousness. 'Matchitta', note the specific mention of the word 'chitta', consciousness not other qualities of Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipresence nor other auspicious qualities of God/Master. It is Revered Babuji's consciousness or his chitta in which we have to dwell. The sentence belongs to Lord Krishna who says in another context that a person who can say 'Vasudevan sarvam Itihi' is rare. That is the beginning. We know that Revered Babuji is spread everywhere. But have we got into his consciousness? He uses the word Pranaaha. Please note that 'Pranaaha' is the only plane where we can join, where we can have coherence. We cannot have it otherwise. At the other levels we will be not in a position. This is the only way we can have unity with the Divine manifestation and unity will be Divine based. It is only Prana that can do this. That's what Prana is. Prana, that is thought power, can extend during the day whatever we may be doing. It is necessary that we clarify for ourselves and do our sadhana in the way in which it has been prescribed and as already noted tapah is a must and it is mandatory.

Cleaning process is also tapah and even more important than the meditation we do in the morning. The Pudgala that has been accumulated as matter over the soul/mind can be burnt by austerity or penance. But our Master says no austerity is required more than the cleaning process advised and we know as sadhakas this is the toughest of austerities that is asked of us. It is easy for us to handle something else rather than our heart which has unfortunately got tainted, by omission or commission of duties to be discharged by us. These lapses may be out of our own choice or some body else is pestering us. Because of this samskaras are getting formed and it is an absolute must that we should move with only people who are attached to the Divine. We must know the company of people we keep and we must also know whether it is necessary to have extended hours of work for the sake of few rupees or dollars.

We should maintain the satsangh and satsangh is best defined by Revered Lalaji Maharaj by saying, it is to be in the company of God. It is not a matter of number of persons that gather on an occasion. The point to note is that our Master wants lions in his satsang. A Pride of Lions is always few in numbers. We have heard a herd of sheep, we can think of a swarm of locusts, but we cannot think of a swarm of lions and a herd of lions is unheard of. But Divinity is asking for that. Revered Babuji is asking for herds and swarms of lions. But we know that the demand is some thing very great for us even to think of or conceptualise. The infight of gurus can be sought to be understood by this, saying a Guru does not want somebody to interfere in the work etc., But please also note that it is not exactly the quality of lion, not to allow others in its domain, it is also a quality of dog also, the grama simha. Not the simha, which can be transformed and that is what the Divine is asking. The lowest of minds think on the lines of shouting out at others that enter its territory. Lions need not roar at each other. They can accommodate. Only in a heart where 'U' is predominant and the 'L' is less predominant is this possible. Comparison leads to conflict, when we compare ourselves that we feel that we are better than someone else, conflict starts. Comparison is the basis of conflict. There is a Sufi story. Some gentleman, some sort of a king, went to a Sufi's house. He said wherever he went he found that he was superior to others but the moment he entered the Sufis' he felt as though he was the most inferior person. He wanted to understand the reason from the Sufi. The respected one said "wait till the evening". When all the people have gone he said 'now I will tell you. Let us go out of the house'. They went out and then the Sufi said, "you see this big tree, it is a big tree next to the small tree. They are able to live together because they do not compare. You would also be at ease with me when you don't compare. Conflict arises out of comparison.'

Know that there are Masters who can teach us, those Masters do not come to us just because they are interested in us. Please note that that they come to us because of the blessings of our Master. Without our guru krupa we will not have knowledge about other gurus and that is one thing we must understand from the biography of the Revered Babuji. He says, all the great Saints and Prophets have come and blessed him. Because of his Master he had the blessings of all other Masters. To say our Master is right and some other Master is wrong is not correct. We get into a conflict by such utterances. Master is only one and that is God. No other person has got that right and this is what in Bhagvad Gita we hear Lord telling, "please note that there is one person inside your heart". Know that He knows everything, know that he is your best friend, know that he is your guide, all that you have to do is fall at his feet". Arjuna was not convinced, he had his own doubts. Immediately Lord Krishna says, "I am here fall at my feet." Such an opportunity we also have got. Here is another Great personality who has come. It does not mean that those who have not seen will not understand because just as Bhagavad Gita was valid at that time and it is valid today. It is the same statement, because both of them are one and Sri Krishna says I am using you (our Master) and our people say that he is merged in him. No it is other way around because he grants this Avatar superiority over that of a special personality. Carefully note this, special personality brought by Nature is to mend. He has been utilised, Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur is utilised by Nature, which has already entrusted this work to an Avatar, to intervene and improve urgently certain things as desired by Nature and not to interfere with the work of the Avatar. Note the positions very clearly. Don't unnecessarily insult any personality of the stature of an Avatar because it can harm us. A negative thought towards such a personality as Lord Krishna can harm but, we know people talk like that and we are helpless. I have been telling all the aspirants of Reality not to differentiate our Master with any of the Prophets or Avatars keeping in view the assurances of the Master and our own spiritual growth. We keep sticking to the body-form which we think some how we know. The Special Personality whom we know is Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj. We think we know him well but he said "I am not the body, I am not the person, most of you who come to see me go back without seeing me". He made the statement and inspite of it we think that we know Him. Because we have seen his physical body we think we know the personality and can understand his consciousness. We have got already five kosas and we try to add one more of the one whom we think we worship and adore. I see in this the play of Maha Maya. The Special personality and His greatness should not be restricted to the clothes he wore or the appearance he had or the body which he was adorned with by God even. Here we should know we are talking about a personality who is not to be confused with his body nor with the mind that we know, a little portion of his Infinite mind is what we know from His letters and His books. Only one portion of it and He Himself said "what I do in other planes of consciousness is not supposed to be revealed and will not be revealed". We should try and get out of all attachments to the Master- of course this is at the last stages of spiritual progress. And the best way to kill an attachment is to yield to the attachment, by sublimation. There is no alternative. We satisfy the desire and then get out of the attachment. If we don't satisfy the desire, the wish continues to be in our head and haunts us every day. We have sentiments and we have attachments. But the attachment that we are asked to have is with His consciousness, to be with Him. This leads to one more question.

One and oneness are they the same? The goal of life as stated in the Commandments of the Master has unfortunately been misread as to mean to be one with God. We can have oneness with Him. This can be explained by the concepts of 'equal to' and 'identically equal to' in mathematics. To be identically equal to the Master is impossible, to be equal to is possible. Three aspects are out of our purview when we talk of oneness with God. Creation, Sustenance and Destruction are not our works under any circumstances. Under no circumstance any soul has got a claim over these functions and any person who claims that he creates something and thereby shows that he is capable of miracles is a dupe. Any person who knows these fundamentals of spirituality cannot fall but we do fall. We fall because we seek personal relief. Human Mind has come to that low level. Only when we confine our existence to the physical level and get chained by that thought, refusing to understand that there are planes of existence like the vital, mental, aspirational does the question of a physical or a living Master arise. Living unfortunately is confined to the existence of the body but even in body we know that the vital is something that goes beyond the mental level and crosses into the aspirational level with all its load. The Master has to be at the Bliss level if he has to be the Master. To say that at physical level to the exclusion of other levels of being, we are going to find the Master in a state of Bliss or have found Him is unfortunately condemning him to the level of Kama or the sensory level. We are condemning our guru to a level by saying that he should be having a living body. But a Master is one who is the Master at all levels during existence here. He would be at this plane and during this plane itself he will clear the three levels of Vital, Mental and Aspirational & then enter into a Level of Bliss. The Master would continue his work of Nature with the powers and authority entrusted to him after his physical veiling also. It is that consciousness of Sri Ramchandra that we should think of. Anything less cannot be that of the consciousness of the Master. So the living Master is an unfortunate fixation to the body in our mind. A body by definition is something that will fall, "Seeryathe iti Sareeram". Many are not able to go beyond the concept of body as self and then people cling to it and this shows their level of Viveka. It shows their level of approach. In order to make the physical permanent we create idols. Idols have come from the need for permanence of certain rituals for the physical body. These needs for performance, we cannot satisfy at the levels above the physical and therefore we convert some form of matter into an idol. An idol cannot be true to the original. When someone says that his Master has an idol, we immediately come to the conclusion that it is something to be got rid of. We do not understand that Revered Lalaji Maharaj is the person who has called even "OM" an idol while stating that it is the primary sound. It is true nada is a form of sound and is therefore not pure consciousness. To say the sound 'OM' is an idol is accepted but for that very reason we cannot throw it off because that is the path to the source. Revered Lalaji Maharaj goes to the extent of saying that nadopasana is linked to this Idol. The arousal of the condition of Ajapa and Anahad are linked to the primal sound "OM". Everybody thinks he knows and understands nadopasana. We are very clear about the path we are treading. But simply because something is called an idol it is not proper to throw it off. They have their own value. We think somebody else is less evolved because we think that we have been granted with the wisdom, of knowing the real path. We think that the people around us do not know the real path. Please do understand that God is a "samavarthi" and therefore does not discriminate. We should pray that, the persons around us should also come to the path. That is the yajna that we have to do, instead of finding fault with them. If we see blemish in others, we should try to remove it. I know it is impossible because we have our own prejudices about whom we make judgement. Let us not make judgements about others. It is the worst sin from my point of view, because the other person about whom we are passing judgement is equally an expression of the divine and has got a purpose to serve, a purpose which we may not understand. We may not understand the purpose but, what is necessary is that we should understand he has a purpose. We go to the other extreme of trying to worship Ramana maharshi or Socrates simply because they said 'know thyself'. We do that because we know that two persons have said the same thought, one in the East and one in the West. So what? It doesn't look worshippable. At best they are only trying to tell us a part of sadhana. Know about ourselves before we talk about something else. But without doing so, we think that we can talk about the system. All that we have been asked to do is only trying to tell the system. In the process we seem to be condemning others who are the very people whom we have got to teach. We refuse the opportunity to serve given by the Divine by condemning others. We are no more wise than others whom we condemn.

We now come to the concept of Bliss? This problem comes mainly because in the cleaning method we say, Oh! Master thou art the ocean of Bliss. What is Bliss? Bliss is at several levels. In the 'Taitreeya Upanishad' we are taught about bliss in all the five kosas. In the 'Truth Eternal' Rev. Lalaji Saheb explains the same thoughts while dealing with the concept of satchidananda or ananda. But what is this concept of Bliss, we have during our cleaning?

This point is relevant to us, because aspirants say that they have attended to their cleaning, but nothing has happened. Bliss is something that we have got to understand very clearly. It is not anything that we know of. When we practice the cleaning process we say, that it is ananda. We get into a state of meditation. Obviously, because if we are having the thought of ananda at the level of our Jihva or, taste we are at the level of 'Annamaya Kosa'. In the evening meditation when we think that he is the ocean of bliss, naturally we will get drowned and there is no question of further cleaning. But if we negatively describe it as something we do not know just as the real goal of human life humility would be there and cleaning process would take effect. The thought of Master as the real goal of human life has been changed to the thought of Master as an ocean of bliss during the evening cleaning process. Because we have to pass through all the shades of ananda in the five kosas this is a better idea when dealing with the dirt and disease in us that we have got at all the sheaths (kosas) to be got rid off. If we are not able to get rid off the dirt it would only mean that the concept is not clear. I do hope I have provided with the required clarifications about the methods to be followed in our system of sadhana.