Today almost all our values are questioned. We are living in a world which is exclusively self centered if not selfish centered. Relationships have lost value, cultural norms have lost meaning, and Tradition has become almost something that is irrelevant to our existence. Mechanistic and material pre occupations have become the only concern. If anyone tries to say something other than that he is likely to face strife if not in the society in which he moves but at least when he compares himself with others or his people.

Even when you are comfortably placed, your people at home are not happy with you. They compare with somebody else. It is no more two square meals a day. It does not mean whether you take meals at all. It does not mean anything at all. Some peculiar oddities have come into our perceptual field and most of us are either attracted by it, if not attracted by it pushed by others into it. We seem to be moving in a stream helplessly and against this backdrop if we talk about certain values of life and human dignity etc. things, it is something that is totally out of the way, usually thought of as a person who is a quirk and doesn't know how to live in this world. These types of comments are likely to be received. Any system of yoga today is tuned to either physical welfare or excellence in performance, promises of excellence in performance and nobody talks about a life, which can be considered as one which harmonises you with others. An integral way of life seems to have been totally lost. There is terrific concern with one's own physical and material prosperity and what one considers a promotion in their way of life or careers. So against this backdrop when I find so many people are interested in thinking about a way of life which can be meaningful, I feel happy that there are people to think in these lines still and therefore I present the system of Sri Ramchandra which harmonises all the aspects.

Basically we are in a world, which is demanding. Therefore we should take into consideration the aims and aspirations of the people with whom we are living apart from our own aims and aspirations and at the same time also not neglect the greater values of life. All religions apart from their concern with God were basically concerned with the human welfare. Everyone tried to tell the necessity to live in harmony, observe certain ethical standards. So that each will not hurt each other and live amicably and peacefully in a society. But religion itself is now contested. We have not left the habit of fighting amongst ourselves based on what we consider as our notions of God and we do not want to tolerate each other. No tolerance, no acceptance of another person's values. There is a refusal to recognise that the Divine exists in all and the human dignity lies in knowing that Divinity is there in all. If we remove the Divinity aspect in humanity I do not think there is anything dignified about it, because the other is only an animal. There are two aspects in our life. We have got both the animal as well as the memory of the Divine. That animality has been increased beyond proportion in the modern day is what every one of us know. The discerning persons definitely know how much damage has been done to their mental sphere and the sphere of conscience by the amount of violence, by the amount of animal behavior that is promoted through our media. In a world like this now the question arises whether religions have failed, whether there is any meaning for spirituality at all, whether the whole thing is a farce that we are going through. Are we just trying to suffer from certain feelings of attachments or sentimental attachments to the opinions of our ancestors or what they said, has it got any relevance to our life, real relevance to our life?

Against this backdrop if we see any person telling us something about certain techniques of developing a state of tranquility or calmness, first of all we should have a clarity as what we are seeking. We should have clarity of what we are seeking and that is a question of harmonising, hamonised living, a living where we are going to be comfortable both on the demands that our people make and the way of life that we live and also the internal demand of living according to certain aspirations - natural divine aspirations that every one of us carry with us. We are trying to say that we can live a peaceful life. This is all what we are talking about, a harmonised life. A life where we are going live with both the wings, the materialistic aspect as well as the spiritual aspect without compromising on either. There are two aspirations here and we try to meet both.

One is parallelism and another theory is trying to understand something like a process of invertendo or inversion. Talking about parallelism, Divinity willed creation. To say that it willed also is wrong. Because originally what was the latent force it had in it became an idea of expression. When the idea of expression came there was a stir. The stir is the beginning of the universe. It took quite sometime before it started developing further and further and then generated a force, a force field was created and from there we find whole of creation coming out. This is no better explanation and no worse explanation than your big bang theory. Why should there have been a big bang. Nobody knows. Why should there have been a stir, nobody knows. There was some latent capacity for expression, because what comes cannot be coming out from something, which is not there. Nothing comes out from nothing. If something is coming out there must be potency for it. If a tree is coming out from a seed there is potency for growing a tree from that seed otherwise it won't come. It is not possible. So there was a latent potentiality for expression and that has come out and it is an idea. That it is just an idea that came is what is significantly different in spirituality as compared to the modern scientist. They are not prepared to put it as an idea. Because idea is a concept that comes after consciousness. According to the modern physicist, consciousness is a later product. They do not accept that it can be the first product. This is the point of difference between science and us and on this depends the entire structure. The difference between the east and the west is this, between the mystic and materialist is this, between a scientist and a spiritualist is this. This is a fundamental basic point. That idea which expressed as a universe also expressed itself as a human mind and these two are parallel. Because of the parallelity between these two alone is it possible to have communion with it. We never become one with the Divine, mind never becomes one with the Divine. The Divine impulse is different from the human impulse, mental plane impulse. They never become one, but they can resonate. The human mind can resonate to the vibrations of the Divine and that is what you and I are trying to do in Sadhana here. When we think about a Divine idea, any idea for that matter, it does not matter whether you are thinking about this God or that God, whatever concept of God we have got. Whenever we have got Divinity in our mind the first thing that happens to us is there is certain amount of submissiveness to that concept itself. It is something superior. We almost grant it the moment the Divinity concept is brought into our head, we almost simultaneously think that we are somebody less than that and this particular vacuum that gets created immediately gets filled by the Divine flow because that resonates immediately. Because Divinity is nothing and when certain vacuum is created there is certain amount of nothingness in us and these two things get resonating and that's what makes us get a state of calmness. Calmness of mind comes in meditation when we think about Divine thoughts. Even in the crudest form of it when we think about a music, which is connected with the Divine, our mind is more calm. Otherwise it is not. It is stirred, excited. When it comes to the concept of God it becomes something that is calm, settled. Peace comes in. Why peace comes in then is mainly because there is certain amount of vacuum that is created in your mind and because we feel submissive to the Divine. There is a certain amount of putting oneself down. We don't say that we are equal to him. What I am just trying to tell you is this is Sri Ramachandra's invention. The significant point he makes is, because of this submissiveness the vacuum is created and the since the vacuum and the ultimate are of the same nature there is a certain amount of resonance between it and the resonance gives us calmness. We feel the influx of the Divine. So the influx of the Divine is nothing mystifying. It is nothing unnatural. It is nothing unscientific provided we accept the basic concept that IDEA is the beginning. Consciousness is the beginning. If we contest that idea, the whole of spirituality has no value. For that matter any concept of spirituality has no value. We will have to end up only as physicists.

Thought is the kingly thing in man and that is what we are using in this Raja yoga. For that matter any Raja yoga worth its name can have only that. Others who claim it to be Raja yoga because it is practiced by Rajas, Kings etc. ideas do not have any value at all. The kingly thing in man is thought and trying to utilise the thought force. We are trying to move up to the Divine and this thought force is of the same nature as that of the original is a concept of parallelism that we have got. This makes it possible for us to think that we will have a very comfortable, coordinating atmosphere between us and the Divine to live here meaningfully. Otherwise there is no value. What is the guarantee that I am going to realise God? There is no other guarantee except this principle of parallelism. There is no other certainty for us except this. Nobody is telling to us do anything more. Because of this it is possible for us to realise. Without this there is no possibility. He is benevolent, He is kind, all these things, we know are very good words. I have no objection to those words. Each one of us have got our own religious backing whether we are Christians, Muslims or Hindus or Parsis, whatever we are we have our own beliefs. We have our own traditions. It governs us to a large extent. But that is not the point. That is the sentimental attachments we have got. I don't ask any one of you to leave any one of them. Once you come to a stage when you know that there is this principle of parallelity that exists between the Divine and you, then other things become irrelevant to you. You will definitely continue with it as long as you want.

At no point of time one has to renounce the beliefs, throw them away as meaningless, because they has been meaningful to us in bringing us here at least. Coming to that most of the concepts of God we have got or worships that we maintain are things which are done by women folk at home mostly the mothers and the sisters who generally think in terms of the welfare of children. After all it is the welfare of children they have got in mind. It is not their welfare that they are thinking about also and there is certain amount of parahita behind it. That the para also happens to be related to them in someway or other is a separate issue. But they are not selfish. They are not the modern materialistic approach. They are thinking in terms of good of somebody else, so long so good. There is no reason for us to renounce anyone of them. But all those things daya satakams and your saranagathi gadyas, these will not enable us to have confidence in God in a world like this. In a world like this we have got to develop confidence in God, Only a principle like parallelism can give us this confidence. Because you will be in a position to substantiate your faith based on a principle. Otherwise it is a contestable thing. So you try to go from one God to the other. If this God is not giving us relief we will go to the other God, third God, fourth God or nth God. That's about it. There is no point in talking about it. I hope I have made myself clear about the principle of parallelism.

There is a parallelity that exists between the process of creation, started by God and the development of human being. The mind is of the same nature as that of the original stir, the mind is stir. That's why it is always in a disturbed state. Always in a state of flux, movement. Now as far as the second concept is concerned, now that we have said we are running parallel to the Divine and that we have got a natural unison with it, now our Sadhana naturally should start with certain points, which will enable us to have the same connection. That is why we start with the first commandment of Sri Ramchandra, which says, Rise before dawn. Now most of us have forgotten what dawn is, perhaps in cities nobody has seen it. Civilization has advanced to such an extent that we have lost the meaning to the morning sunrise and evening sunset. Both these things are not understood. Most of the people may not have seen sunrise at all. Being that they are either in flats or in some places. There is no chance of seeing the sky, the eastern sky. The eastern horizon is not visible. We see it in some pictures or cinemas. Somebody says it should be like that, so it is like that. This is the present state of affairs. What I am trying to tell you is, most of us don't get up by that time. Thanks to our habits, whatever habits we have developed. Whether we get up at that time or not, it's a fact that the rotation of the earth around the sun makes it something like a sun rising in the east in the morning and sun sets in the west in the evening. It is something that happens. It is immaterial whether we have seen it or we have not seen it. The creation of the day unfortunately according to the Christians or universal calendar what ever we call it, we start the day some time at night 12o clock. I don't know why that unearthly hour has been chosen as the beginning of the day. Because no day starts at that time, so far as we know. Most of us are more sleep at that time than even at 6o clock in the morning. But they have put it that way. But that is not what nature has given us. Nature has given us the day dawns with the sun rising in the east. That is the time when the process of activity starts. Before the process of activity there is a state of certain amount of calmness. This activity goes on increasing till afternoon and by evening it comes to a tapering condition and then again the coolness develops. Early hours of the day it is cool, the heat goes up by mid noon and it is very hot. By evening it comes down, by midnight it is almost totally calm. The Upanishads have said it that every person gets into the company of God by night when he sleeps and comes out of it next morning. This is what Upanishads have said. There is some point in what they say, in the sense that the beginnings of creations were there were as I told you something. There was nothing there and there was a jerk. So the jerk happens to be the early hours of the day. So with this it goes on to the peak of creation and then by evening it tapers down, by night it again comes to a state of total lull. The original condition, which was existing, is the deep nights. That is why we will find in Pancaratra, Srikrishna's systems that the night is the best time to get into yoga. Its of no relevance because nobody knows. When I use the word 'pancaratras', it is like Greek and Latin for most of you. It makes no sense at all. But I am trying to tell you that there is one system given by Vaasudeva, which says that it is the night that is the most calm hour. When every body is asleep the yogi is awake. That's how it is stated. We want to live with unison with Divinity. The Divinity is the cause for all our existences not only me but all my brothers and sisters, all other animals, all plants, the whole universe. He is a father for all is the beginning, when you personify it becomes as father otherwise Divinity becomes an abstract. Either way you can take it. It does not matter much. For a yogi it does not matter much. We want to be in tune with it, in tune with nature. So how to get into that state of tune? What is your ultimate goal behind it? What is the ultimate goal? To be in tune. How to you achieve that? If you put this question then we also know under what circumstances or what situations you can do certain things. If you want to cook you have to go to the kitchen. If you want put a drawing you have to take a drawing board. If you want to do painting you should have some colours to do it and you must be prepared for it. We must choose an environment in which we can do sadhana. It can be stated that "I will sit at any time I like and then I will mediate and be in union with God", of course you can always try. Nothing wrong about such things. But then it is not the best way of doing it. What would be the best way? What exactly are we asking? We want to be in tune with the original base which has exhibited itself. We would like to go to the beginnings, to the roots. The roots of the day are taken in to consideration for meditation. Roots of the day is dawn. That is the root of the day. Peak of the day is the noon and the end of the day is the night. So to the root we must go. Because we are already existing, we are living, we are active people. We are created. Now with this beginning if we go, with this idea you go there is something like the concept of trigunas which are basically Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. These are the three concepts we have taken into consideration.

Sattva is existence, Rajas is activity, and Tamas is inactivity. From Tamas we start again the activity. So Tamas and Sat have to be joined. Activity is already present. We are moving towards the end, Tamas is beginning of Sat. So of these two things if we unite the two ends and take advantage of it, the circle is over and your sandhyopasana starts. Why should we choose that Sandhya time? The meaning of the sandhya is only this, that we are trying to unite two opposite factors. One is a state of Tam, stillness; another is a state of awareness, consciousness. Sat, Chit and Ananda were taken to be three states equivalent to be, the Sat is sadguna, that one which promotes good, activity, Creation, Brahm. The second one is Rajas, that is chit. It is always in a state of vibration. Ananda is Tam. When you go to sleep, when you go to rest it is happiness, in the sense that it gives you the peace. Every one of us is taken to that fold of peace every night by God himself. We get into a state of sleep. That means you get into a state of peace. Sleep is equal to peace. A state of stillness, calmness, settledness. But in day-to-day life, the stillness is taken to be lethargy. So the Tamasika guna is attached to that. Then the rajasika guna is attached to the chit, and then the Sattva guna is attached to the beginnings of creation. Sat, Chit and Ananda are the characteristics of God as we are all aware in India at least. Whenever we talk about sachitananda, what you are talking about is the unison of all these three, which is the base, which was latent, expressed itself as Sat in the beginning in the morning, Chit in the afternoon and Ananda in the evening. Sat is connected to Satya-Satva. Chit is Rajasik. Third one is tamasa. Every article that we have got, everything that we have got, everything that we do either is a Sattvik thing or Rajasik thing or a Tamasik thing. Including foods that we consume. Every activity that we have got falls under these three categories. When you are talking about the good for all, something that is beneficial to the society, something that promotes the welfare of society, it becomes Satva. Rajasik is always one who comes backs, strife, disturbance and real activity. Tamasik is one which makes you dull, indolent and slothful but reality is put first. Tam is the beginning, the absolute void, non-activity, absolute latent potentiality. In the grossest aspect Tam says Tamsik.

We use the word Saha to denote God, if you know some Sanskrit, Saha would mean God. Saha, Tau, Tae, Tam, Tau, Tae. Tam is acquisitive singular of Tam. This Tam should not be confused with this Tamata. It's a reference to God when we talk about Tam. That is the highest stage of awareness or non- awareness or ignorance to which we go from this ignorance. Ignorance coming out of total indolence, laziness, sloth, and inactivity finally leads to a state; First to a state of Satva the Satya padam, as the emblem puts it Satyapadh we go to Satyapadh. Satyapadh is the beginning, then we come to a stage of balance till we clear off our life. Balanced existence we maintain and then we come to a state of Tam. These are the three things that are there in the day, the Tam in the night, Satva in the morning and Rajas at afternoon 12O clock. In the evening we have got the problem that we do not find time to do sadhana. Tradition has got three; orthodox tradition which says your Pratah sandhyavandana, madhyanimika and sayam sandhyavandana. These are three practices that have been observed. Now in the modern world, whatever it may mean, and our materialistic obsessions and notions about how to live happily have made the whole thing as meaningless. Now under these circumstances what is the way out? Is there a way out? Are we going to get a way out of it or not? Or are we condemned to whatever old people have said. We compromise and then do madhyanimika Sandhya at morning 8O clock. Babuji comes forward with a system and says that do not bother about Rajasik, Madhyamica Sandhya. Why is it not required, let us understand why? These two are the polar ends that are taken as one end and the other end we join. The middle one is always left out. That is the one when it is most hot, that is God in his full expression. So, if you meditate at that time you will definitely get into that aspect of God which is full in expression, expression in fullness. In that sense we maintain our communion with him. Because, all these attempts are trying to keep company with the original force as I told you to maintain the parallelism. If you maintain the parallelity, if there is certain amount of yielding on our path then certain amount of calmness settles. The remaining things are of no consequence to us about the sandhya. The evening sandhya also is taken care taking into consideration the modern mans compulsions and Babuji says instead of that attend to cleaning process at that time. But we are asked to meditate before we go to bed. Because, when the calmness has settled more, the heat of the day has come down and we are relatively cool, we are now moving towards the Tam. Night 12o clock or 1o clock we are going towards the Tam. We are nearing our God. We are nearing our base from where we have come. That is the base from where we have come. So in the morning we are asked to meditate and before going to bed we are asked to meditate so that, this concept of sandhya is retained in the modern context by him so that we will be in a position to be in tune with Divinity. So both the principles of invertendo and the principle of parallelism are there to explain to you the logic of the system of Sri Ramchandra's Rajayoga. This is the basis on which the system itself is written.

There are the 10 commandments given by Babuji Maharaj which are all altered niyamas and yamas. Yama, Niyama conditions that are there for sadhana traditionally given. These are the do's and don'ts. Several do's and don'ts have been given and here he doesn't talk about any don'ts. He talks only about the do's. Do this. The approach is positive. Babuji's method is very very positive and he says Do. By implication he may say several don'ts. He is not bothered. Because if we give a positive idea, positive thought we will be in a better position to achieve that. Instead of bothering about the negative ideas, we do not have any negative idea here. It is a systematic arrangement of our sadhana. As a matter of fact no commandment can be possible to be implemented by all at the beginning itself. Only very few can do it. Over a period of time we develop the capacity to follow all of them. Some of them are really tough, which says that don't take any negative attitude to people. Be not revengeful to the people who have done harm to you, take it as a Divine blessing, is a tough job. Yes, but that is what is yielding about. If you yield in the beginning and do the Sadhana, this yielding enables you to yield further and further. If you miss the meditations proper, the yielding attitude itself never develops, because your yielding attitude depends upon your sadhana. According to the endowments we have got we will be in a position to give optimum output. Our endowments are basically connected to our physiological and biological structure that we have got and the inherent capacities that we have got. Nobody can change it. But one thing irrespective of our capacities we can always feel is the presence of the Divinity. This is something that is universally felt. So the system of Babuji Maharaj is individual but universally applicable. Thereby we will be in a position to have certain amount of harmony amongst ourselves. Every one of us is a born yogi, because Divinity is along with us. We are united with the Divinity by birth and nobody can take away this right from us. This is a fact that modern man has to know. This is one thing that is not taught to him anywhere else, but it is necessary for somebody to teach him this.