Remembrance of Master

Talk delivered on 13th Feb, 2016 for Pujya Lalaji Birthday Celebrations (Basant Panchami)

Dear associates in the Path,

Happy to be with you on this auspicious occasion. Basant has got various meanings in this country, and it's a festival day [for] almost the entire North. South does not definitely celebrate it to that extent.

Yesterday we were talking about [the] transiency of life and how it is necessary for us to think about the permanent and how to be in the thought of the Master. Let me continue on the same topic.

Lalaji Maharaj has given us this gem of a person in Babuji. He says, [for] Pujya Lalaji Maharaj [birthday], we should utilize this occasion in getting into the Master and Master alone which will act as a food and tonic for spiritual elevation.

This is the message of this day of Babuji Maharaj. To be in the thought of the Master always is a very difficult task, but not that impossible. I was sharing some knowledge with Prasad this morning. Babuji starts his 10 commandments book with the Sayam Sandhya and moves on towards the Pratah Sandhya. It is believed that a beloved who was in the company of her mate, let me say, who spends the evening with him. But then early in the morning she awaits the same person.

The sunsets and with the color, which may be considered as some sort of orange. I don't know...I'm very poor in qualifying these colors. But the colour that was there in the evening, she keeps in her mind. And then in the early morning she sees the evening orange or the morning dawn. There's a continuity between these two. It's a bit of a poetic imagination, but nonetheless, it reminded me of Babuji's commentary on the first Commandment.

There should be a continuity of remembrance from the evening to the morning also. Morning to the evening, the continuity is a bit difficult because we are engaged in a lot of activities. But night to the morning, it is easy, provided you have done your 9:00 PM prayer alright and then slept after getting into the thought of the Master and then slowly slipped to the sleep. You will definitely feel the presence of the dawn both in the night and in the morning.

To be in the thought of the Master all the time, as Babuji wants us to, is possible only when you are determined to reach your goal. If the goal clarity is not there, continuity of remembrance also will not be there. The remembrance of the Master which was there and which granted us several experiences of intimacy, even as we have now felt the tight embrace of the Master. This is to be remembered.

Goal clarity should be there. Love Him all the time. That's what we are asked to. But then we have got so many other things to love.

Yes, yesterday I was hinting at thinking about the Master as the one who is the saviour under all circumstances. The faith should be such that Mahavishwasa should be such that He will never let you down. But then we know this requires enormous courage to remember the Master under the most adverse circumstances also. If you think about the famous story of Gajendra, who was caught in the jaws of a crocodile. He goes on crying all the time, thinking about God saying that “save me, save me.” That's a separate story. But then, if we can remember that He did save the Gajendra, it gives us the courage to say that he will also save me.

We have to remember incidents, several incidents that have happened in our life again and again, where we have found the helping hand of the Master. Anubhava as a Pramana is generally not understood in this angle. What Anubhava is: we have got to remember Master is great, Master is lovable, Master loves me. How? How do you say that? This is what has been my experience: on such and such occasion, when I was thinking that I was almost lost, then I have found the Master helping me. This is our experience.

Most of us have got such experiences. One of the importance of writing the diary is the same thing that if you can note down how the hand of God was helping us all the time under most trying circumstances, then our faith in God, faith in the Master improves.

This Anubhava [is] actually practical experience. Instead of talking about so and so - Gajendra was saved - were you saved? There are occasions when you were saved. You have got trying circumstances in your life. We were in dichotomy many times. We were like the Buridan’s ass very often, but we have found the helping hand of the Master. And this Anubhava - that is the Gyana that comes to us through Anubhava - is much more important.

If you want to realize, we have got to have constant remembrance. Constant remembrance of the goal is possible only when you know that we are faced with only transient things and then the permanent thing is what is our goal. The permanent thing is what we seek. So that clarity or Viveka is essential, followed by another essential requirement, namely Anubhava or experience.

Deep meditations we have, we have found many times the tight embrace of the Master. We have found many occasions when we were helped under the most trying circumstances. And that has given us the Mahavishwasa. Mahavishwasa is not philosophical knowledge; it's a practical knowledge. We have such occasions.

We can of course also tell that under certain circumstances how an abhyasi was saved and how Master’s hand was helping him all the time. We can. We do know such incidents. We can always remember that. That will help us as further tonic.

There is one more criterion that is required to realize our true nature. That is service. Service is of paramount importance. As a matter of fact, service is not only the means and many people have held it as the end itself.

So you find there are basically three points to remember when we are thinking about our goal. Namely, we have a goal clarity that we are seeking the Ultimate and no penultimate is accepted. Secondly, we know we have for sure the confidence that Master will definitely lead us or the Mahavishwasa. The third thing that is required is that in that awareness of seeing the Master in all, we serve all. To serve all, we require the necessary condition of seeing the Master in all. There is nothing else except the Divine in the universe. It is because we think more about ourselves and our problems or we live in our own small circle - call that Pind Desh, call whatever you like. We are chained or bounded by the sensory organs as well as the Buddhi, Chitta, Ahankar. We have got a big boundary for ourselves. We have to go beyond our boundary. And that is possible only through the means of service. When you see the Master in all and try to serve Him wherever He is, whatever He is, then I think you can claim a seat in the higher realms.

When we think about the Master or we want to think about Him constantly, we can take advantage of our knowledge about Him and we have got a picture of the Master with various qualities. Think about each one of his qualities: how loving he was, how compassionate he was, how helpful he was, how very soothing were his transmissions, and how he was trying to take us to the higher plane all the time. Think about the qualities of the Master. Master as a word or even as a picture doesn't grant you the capacity to remember Him all the time, only when you remember His qualities.

Let us put a personal example of myself. Those days, I don't know about nowadays how the trains go to Shahjahanpur. It's in the middle of the night, it used to leave Shahjahanpur to go to Delhi. So on my first visit, I said I am going to the station, and I found him accompanying me. He said I will also come. And I asked why are you coming to the railway station at this godforsaken hour. And he said “No, no, no, I will come. I will come with you.” And when I reached that place, he had a packet of chapatis with him, and he said “You take this with you.”

So overnight, I am at Delhi, and why should I carry all this? And he said, “No, no. It is necessary. You take it.”

So I was thrilled, and I was a bit confused, let us say, at the enormity of love that he was expressing to a person. He was around 60 or so, 62 or so. I was barely 30 years at that time.

Another case, let me say. Doctor Subbarao was working at Bareilly. He said that he will be coming to Shajahanpur, and Master was expecting Subbarao to be there. There was some delay in Subbarao reaching Shajahanpur. So the people at Babuji’s house are telling “You have your food. Subbarao will come and eat later.” Then he said, “No, no, no. He will come, Doctor Saab - will come. So after he comes, we will eat together.”

Now what on earth in this world makes him wait for an aspirant, whose craving may not be to the extent that Babuji thought he was having then, according to my understanding. But today I find him here before me - Subbarao - aware of the love of the Master as an incident in his life. That strengthens our goal. Incidents like this of abhyasis may be shared - Bodhayanti Parasparam. That's what I say.

Come and tell us, you have been there, Madhava was there, Keshava was there. Many others here also know Babuji intimately. Some people just as an acquaintance. But I am for sure that all the persons here have felt him in their hearts. Physically they might not have seen, but this Anubhava that all of you are having is something that you should remember again and again. The type of transmission that you had. You have felt the amount of warmth or the bliss. “Thou art the ocean of bliss” when we say this and when we experience the Anubhava of bliss. If you think about the Master and his nature of bliss, then there's a continuity in such a thinking. Instead, if you think about yourself in sadhana, then there will not be a continuity. So think about Him and His qualities. Anubhava is very, very, Anubhava Pramana is very important.

In spiritual progress, you must know that there are certain qualities that you should develop, namely gratitude. Gratitude to the Master for having blessed you, for having accepted you as an intimate associate of His, as He puts it. Always He calls us associates. He never used the word disciples for us. Gratitude. Gratitude must be expressed.

You must develop also humility. It is not as though we have achieved something and we can boast about it. Or trying to say like the great pundits of the past, saying that “What is it that you know, keep off away from me.” All that attitude where arrogance is expressed.

Then third point is that you should develop is charity. Share something of what you have. How much, how often are not the points for me to talk about. It is for you to decide. But then you should develop charity because it is the nature of God to give us freely. And if you have to develop a divine quality, you should also develop this quality.

People develop divine qualities, Babuji says. What are they? Not that Shankha Chakra are going to be adorning you. The divine qualities of compassion, service, sacrifice. These are the qualities which are divine, and they have got to be developed assiduously. The more you try to tend to become humble, the more nearer you are towards the Zero.

I have a small quotation, may not be all that relevant, but still I thought it is something that I can share:

Let others lead small lives, but not you.

Let others argue over small things, but not you.

Let others cry over small hurts, but not you.

Let others leave their own future on someone else's hands, but not you.

- Jim Rohn

We have got to think about the Master as the one who gives us the confidence and the courage to face life under most trying circumstances. So if you say that I have a Master with me and he resides in my heart all the time, granting me the courage and confidence, then I think you will be in a position to feel like what he has written. This is some [Jim Rohn].

The fortune of having a proper guide is what was there in the message yesterday.

That was a conditional clause in that message. But so far as I know that we are the lucky people who have got such a guide. The consciousness of Sri Ramchandra is something that is vibrant in the atmosphere ever since his mergence in his Master happened. Feel the Master who is always there in your heart. Don't search for him elsewhere.

Yesterday I was also having an occasion to point out what Lalaji Maharaj has written. Our path is through the heart. That message [is to be] remembered. Don't think about the silly things. They are anyway transient. None of our great difficulties which we say as great difficulty, they are not going to last long. As we always say, everything shall pass away.

But one thing that will never pass away is Ramchandra consciousness. More number of people like us who think about Ramchandra, the saviour of the day, more powerful will be the vibrations coming from Him.

I am deliberately avoiding the word Pranahuti for the simple reason [that] Pranahuti requires the physical presence of another person; or in-absentia sittings are there where advanced souls will try to help you. But Ramachandra consciousness is available for just tapping. Think about Him, He is there. You may not feel your heart, but you will feel the Master in your heart. Everything is on Anubhava only.

We should be in the thought of the Master and Master alone. “Getting into the Master and Master alone” is what he says. Master alone is very important. Along with Him I will remember certain others or I have other goals to pursue. Even these days, suppose you say so, I will say so is the wisdom you have. We should utilize this occasion in getting into the Master.

What is this getting into the Master? He's not any room; he's not any chair; he's not any seat where you can get into. We were talking about the qualities of the great Master. If you can imbibe those qualities, try to think how far you are having such capacity, unconditional capacity to love. Love does not know conditions. This unconditional love of the Master for us, which enables us to meet now and then, and then think about Him. Getting into - You and He cannot be separate. Getting into… and when he says getting into the Master and Master alone, He is not giving any exemption.

And when you do so, it will be a food and tonic for our spiritual elevation.

Thank you.