The theme of this seminar as we all know is taken from the article Methods of Training of our Great Master Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur. This article was addressed to Preceptors / prefects of Sri Ramchandra Mission in the year 1970 in a conference of Preceptors/Prefects at Tirupati. This talk forms part of the Audio CD of our Master which has 6 talks and a song sung by him released by ISRC. I may be permitted to use the term trainers, instead of using Preceptors/prefects every time hereafter in this paper.

All of us are aware of the tendency to think that every thing in this system of sadhana is done by the Master and the trainer as well as the aspirant, has precious little to do. This tendency of thinking was present even by 1969 and many trainers tried to disown their responsibility in the spiritual training that is being imparted in the system. It was the usual practice by then to say that the aspirant has nothing to do except to take the introductory sittings and attend the satsanghs (meditation sittings in groups) and annual/ biannual/quarterly gatherings organized by the institution. The individual sittings were optional. No effort was made to evaluate the progress made by the aspirant and it was being said that everything is left to the Master. And a very specious argument was given that to try to know ones' condition or stage of progress indirectly means that one has no faith in the Master. Thus a situation arose in the implementation of the system which promised through its books "Towards Infinity", "Reality at Dawn" and "Efficacy of Rajayoga" a practical and verifiable system of sadhana, where no responsibility for guidance and no assistance in evaluation were forthcoming. Master was always proud of his system and was confident that he trained many to become masters. In his catholic approach he used the term master for the preceptors also in many of his writings, but these were conveniently made to be understood as referring the Great Master alone and the trainers slowly abdicated their responsibility for training and accountability to progress of the aspirants. The article, 'Method of Training' has to be read therefore keeping in view the main theme of the Master namely clarifying the points in training and the role of the aspirant, the trainer and the Master.

If we ponder over the word 'training' it becomes clear that there can be no training without moulding. But it is also true that Master used to talk about transformation. While we use the word moulding usually with reference to material objects we use the term transformation in the case of living beings. However moulding or transformation implies first of all change from the existing position or status. Therefore it is incumbent on the part of aspirants that they should be prepared to accept change in their ways of living and behaving as also bring in changes in their attitudes and priorities. It has been our experience that while almost all aspirants want to get 'Realized' very few of them ever think of being prepared to change. This refusal to change and sticking to their familiar ways of living has been the main cause of lack of desired level of progress achieved by them in spite many sessions of offering of Pranahuti.

Before we go into the practical aspects of imparting training, there is need for us to be clear about the system itself. Is our system based on a type of evolutionary philosophy or is it a devolutionary. Further it is also necessary to note that our Master asserted that we are returning to our Home Land. In this context it is also necessary that we should be clear about the concepts of Destination and Home Land. Master in his message dated May 1970 stated "... if we pause a little and consider the problem (the Destination) we will surely come to the conclusion that you are sailing towards your own Home, wherefrom you have been snatched away by the irony of Fate." Home Land and Destination clearly mean that the goal is something that we are aware of already. But our Master has stated that the spiritual journey is towards the Infinity. By definition, Infinity, has no end point and is ever moving forward. Again the concept of Nothingness as the goal, presents us a picture where we find it difficult to integrate the same with the concept of moulding.

'Human transformation is the goal of life' and/or similar expressions have been made by the Master and Dr.K.C.V. That Dr.K.C.V. bears a background of Aurobindonian thinking is unquestioned. Many times he said that what Sri Aurobindo promised namely the descent of Supramental Consciousness into the human life, is what Sri Ramchandraji delivers and the influx effected in fact is from a much higher level. Thinkers who subscribe to the theory of evolution (it may be noted that evolution is not a fact that has been observed but is only a theory advanced by Darwin and others) naturally hold the theory of change or flux. To put it in brief the contention is, life is not about doing, it's not even about being. Life is eternal becoming. It cannot exist without eternal becoming. Fundamentally, the whole story of evolution is a story of experimentation and change.

However the philosophy of Raja Yoga is closely linked to the Sankhyan philosophy. Swami Vivekananda, while answering questions on Darwin's theory of evolution said that the last word on evolution has been stated in the Sankhyan system. He agrees with the Sankhyan system that there is no evolution without an involution. This same theory was held by Sri Krishna in the Pancharatra agama stating that the souls are in Pravrtti or Nivirtti paths. We were once pure and simple consciousness patterns expressing the Divine and we lost our balance and are now trying to restore the same, are the principle that should be fully grasped by us.

Swami Vivekananda stated "According to the philosophers of our country, every being is a perfect Soul, and the diversity of evolution and manifestation of nature is simply due to the difference in the degree of manifestation of the Soul. The moment the obstacles to the evolution and manifestation of nature are completely removed, the Soul manifests itself perfectly. Whatever may happen in the lower strata of natures' evolution, in the higher strata at any rate, it is not true that it is only by constantly struggling against obstacles that one has to go beyond them. Rather it is observed that there, the obstacles give way and a greater manifestation of the Soul takes place through education and culture, through concentration and meditation, and above all through SACRIFICE......The attempt to remove evil from the world by killing a thousand evil-doers only adds to the evil in the world. But if the people can be made to desist from evil-doing by means of SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION, there is no more evil in the world." He adds further that "In the animal kingdom we really see such laws as struggle for existence, survival of the fittest etc., evidently at work. Therefore Darwin's theory seems true to a certain extent. But in the human kingdom, where there is the manifestation of rationality, we find just the reverse of those laws.....The highest evolution of man is effected through sacrifice alone. A man is great among his fellows in proportion as he can sacrifice for the sake of others, while in the lower strata of the animal kingdom, that animal is the strongest which can kill the greatest number of animals. Hence the struggle theory is not equally applicable to both the kingdoms." Man's struggle is in the mental sphere. A man is greater in proportion as he can control his mind. When the mind's activities are perfectly at rest, the Atman manifests itself. The struggle which we observe in the animal kingdom for the preservation of the gross body has its use in the human plane of existence for gaining mastery over the mind or for attaining the state of balance.'

Swami Vivekananda also stated that Sage Patanjali has not advocated the theory of evolution and held that all were once involved in the Origin and they are all returning the Source. He adds further "Patanjali holds that the transformation of one species into another is effected by the "in-filling of nature." I would request you all to ponder over this ' in-filling' and the Pranahuti that imperienced by us and also think about the possibility of transformation of ourselves through such in-filling.

Master stated "Life is the awakening of the state of Being. When we brought in our share of the awakening state, every function of the material existence commenced. In the beginning, it was more in relation with Divinity from which life started. With the progress of life, actions continued having their effect according to their nature." He says that because Actions are very strong since they are connected with life, their misuse produced wrong effects and the whole frame of the body became a human factory with every faculty forming its own centre and started pouring out what has been collected thus far. When the span of life of a particular being ended a form afresh was assumed with the accumulated grossness and this process continued for several lives. Thus he says we have formed poles according to our Actions and they became very strong. Finally all this led to a condition where we remain embraced by the commands we receive from different centers each for the faculties.

Somehow due to the company of pious persons or due to good environment we got an opportunity to think of our original condition. Master says if we searched for a proper man to guide us in this pursuit and that thought touched the core of our being, it would produce a kind of trembling, and that would lead us to the proper man who is really spiritual. If there is any short fall in this we unfortunately land ourselves into the hands of gross persons and we do not attain the stage of entering our Home Land. Master says it is the responsibility of that person who promises to guide in the path, to destroy the poles we have formed due to unbalanced thinking. Thus if every thing is regulated the original state of our being comes to view and we begin to realize the awaken ness of Divinity which first fell to our share. (See the origin of rings of splendor in Path of Grace.)

Thus we see clearly the Master is referring only to the process of return to the Home Land and we are not talking of evolution proper as understood by Scientists, Philosophers and Psychologists. But the process of return to the Home Land is the process of gradually annihilating the Ego and becoming Self less. Such a self less person, who has reached a state of Void/Nothingness, naturally is in tune with the power of manifestation and his participation in that process is natural and Divine. The gradual process of becoming that has led to the theory of evolutionism is sought to be explained in this system as a gradual peeling up of samskaras/ impressions collected by the individual expressions of the Life energy. In tune with the Hindu conception regarding rebirth, Master implicitly holds that the human individual has gone through many lives before he came to be expressed as human in the path of return to the Home Land. But the beauty of the system is that while returning to the Origin/Centre we arrive at a state of pure Divinity and we are exhorted to use this condition to help others finds their return path to Home Land. The Commandment 9, has this implication is a point that we had many occasions to discuss.

Master in his message in May.1970 stated that "The soul, is longing to feel its characteristic which has gone out of sight, and this insignificant being is seeking fellow pilgrims to march on the path of freedom." The point of great importance here is, Master is not restricting any one to try this system. According to Hindu tradition human beings can be classified according to the goals they entertain, as Kamarthi (seeker of desires), Artharthi (seeker of wealth), Dharmarthi (seeker of virtuous path) and Moksharthi (seeker after Freedom). That there are several types of people among human beings is unquestionable. Are all of them fit for spiritual training? Further we know that we cannot classify a person as purely Moksharthi or Kamarthi. The same person may at different times have different goals as also the person may have at the same time more than one of these goals. Spiritual training under the system advocated by our Master can be given to all. However Master classifies aspirants into five types, 1) Selfish 2) Fazli 3) Ahli 4)Devotee and 5) Murad.

The selfish persons among the seekers are interested in material benefits and are those who join the Satsang to achieve their selfish ends. They resort to flattery as the means to satisfy the Guru/God and leave the Master any way, either because their wishes were fulfilled or denied.

The Fazli disciples are those who come for meditation occasionally and are generally carried away by the pious environment and pleasant atmosphere. They have no goal clarity and are best called time passers. They may be regular to satsanghs or Annual congregations etc., but are those who do not practice the system as advocated by the Master.

The Ahli type of disciples are those with better samskaras and are willing to practice sincerely the system.

Master says some of them may graduate to the 4th level of disciples called Devotees. Some of these are such that they start from the beginning with the condition of Devotee and bear love and devotion to the Master. They know love and devotion to another person means obedience to him in every sense of the term. Persons of this type possess all the characteristics that is expected of an aspirant.

From among the Disciples few graduate to the level of Murad that is one who is the cynosure of the eyes of the Master. The Master never forgets them and he is the beloved of the Master.

While discussing the issue of 'moulding' we should be clear as to whom we are referring to. It should naturally refer to the keen seeker rather than casual visitor. The aspirant should be one who would yield naturally to the Trainer leaving aside all his personal notions about the path and the correctness or otherwise of the path he has been treading if any. His aim should be to acquire naturalness and for this the Master asserts surrender and cooperation are the twin sisters who help the aspirant in the path.

Master stated that the abhyasi proceeds in two ways and both are necessary, by the effect of transmission and his own efforts. The light which the trainer infuses travels to the different centers and a sort of vibration is felt by the abhyasi even at the higher points. The other thing which the Preceptor does, is to start Yatra to the different regions and centres.

The main point we have to be clear about in this context is whether all those who ostensibly seek the assistance through transmission can be given the same and also whether moulding of the seeker even with regard to goal clarity, determination to transform is also the task of the trainer. Unquestionably the Original Prana or Pranasya Pranah is that which is transmitted. While the force is the same the level from which the Pranahuti is offered can vary is a point that was clearly elaborated in the first issue of the Journal Imperience. This it is easy to observe depends on the level of approach of the trainer himself. Therefore it becomes necessary that the trainer always abides by the Master, in Him and for Him. This is a responsibility that clearly vests with the individual trainers and they have to put in every effort in this direction.

Our Master has explicitly stated 1) the various practices to be followed by the aspirant, 2) the role of the trainer and 3) the role of the Master.

The topic of the seminar is 'moulding is the preceptors business.' Therefore we shall confine ourselves to the role of the trainer, without forgetting that he is essentially an aspirant. The trainer assists the aspirant in reaching the goal through various methods given by the Master. In order to successfully accomplish the task he uses Pranahuti.

By these efforts what is the moulding that is effected? Master states that 'So long as there was the Balanced state we had no form of our own. We have simply to unfold ourselves and restore our own Balance which we had lost.'

We had observed earlier that there are different types of people. We also know that there are five sheaths covering human beings: these sheaths are well classified as the 5 kosas in our tradition. But there was no effort made to evaluate/ classify human beings according to the kosas. The simple point is that all the kosas are there in every human being and therefore no such rigid classification is possible. However we know some are governed more by some kosas more than others. In any society there are bound to be individuals at different levels of growth and maturity, not only intellectually but also morally and spiritually. Master in his own way said that the end of philosophy is religion, and the end of religion is spirituality. We find very interesting researches done by Psychologists of the present day who are trying to restore Soul to the Science of Soul (Psychology-Psyche=Soul, Logy= Science) which it almost lost a Century ago.

It is agreed in the circles of Transpersonal Psychology as well as Integral Psychology that there are streams of consciousness. They have been classified as mainly consisting of certain basic characteristics identified as typical of each stream. That all existence has been understood as a stream of Consciousness, we all know is the basic tenet of the great Sage Nagarjuna. His philosophy of Alaya Vijnana is something that swept the scholars of his day and most of the present day philosophies of Consciousness use his terms and terminology which went to the West via the Eastern China and Japan. Broadly the streams are classified as 7or 8 categories. But clearly some of them are contrived and are patterns into which an effort is made to somehow accommodate the entire human population. However they have done service in pointing out certain inherent contradictions in the content of consciousness. They are relevant for us in as much as we are trying to balance the contradictory forces in our consciousness pulling us at different directions, through the wholesome influx of Pranahuti. Pranasya Pranah is the basic core of any type of consciousness and has therefore the inherent capacity to bridge the gulf between two or more streams of consciousness that are in collision path in us.

It is however necessary to note that these streams of consciousness which perhaps can be better compared with strands in a rope never exist totally independent of the other. It should make an interesting study of research to find the origins of these strains or strands in the very make up of the content of consciousness which is itself a conglomerate of the physical, vital, lower mental, superior mental and the planes of equanimity. When we tend to classify human into types we invariably get into the problems particularly when we demand total separation of the types from each other. Even very great reformers and sages have tended to think in terms of pure Sattva ( Suddha) and having failed to find it in the Universe have said that the matter of Sri Vaikuntam is that and the bodies of Eternal Beings is composed of that type of matter. However for the one who knows and feels in the real sense Impurity is as much a myth as Purity. Thus if we keep in view that wholesome attitude it will be possible to find the following strains/strands/streams of consciousness in society in general and the individuals in particular. Their being present in the individual consciousness is the matter of concern for us.

It is therefore obvious for us that we should tend to strengthen this last strand more and more. It is in this context the Prayer at 9 P.M. gains importance. It is now positively proved that the thinking of groups of people located in different parts of the world does influence others and its influence is felt even in inanimate objects of experimentation. This one task of moulding our selves and thereby others appears to be of paramount importance.

The words of wisdom of our Master has been our guiding points for contemplation and meditation. It is relevant to recall a few of his statements in this context. "Spiritual training starts with inner cleaning or purification of Chakras which is the most essential factor in spiritual training." "Pranahuti is the only effective process to introduce immediate change to regulate the inner tendencies of our mind so as to effect our gradual transformation." "What Pranahuti does for the spiritual uplift of an Abhyasi and removal of complexities in a short time, independent efforts cannot achieve even in a full decade." "The light which the preceptor infuses travels to the different centres and a sort of vibration is felt by the abhyasi even at the higher points." "In (our) system all the methods of doing are for the preceptors and becoming is the job of the abhyasi." "It is the power of Pranahuti alone that can curtail this duration of travel from one spiritual stage to another, and enable the course of thousands of years to be covered within the span of one life." "Only a person capable of transmitting Divine Grace through the Yogic process of Pranahuti is fit to become a Master." "Transmission gives a new life to the sleeping condition of man and prepares for the highest approach reserved for human beings." "A man is not fit to impart spiritual training unless and until he has developed the capacity of fomenting his disciples with superior force which is all and all."

These are but a few of the pearls that are collected at random. How can the trainers do this duty is what we have endeavored to explain in our trainers manual. But most important is the development of Special Will. Will is a word that has almost become the weakest in our vocabularies and every action of ours is sought to be explained by different models and theories of motivation. Our Master has stressed the importance of the development of Special will in his work "Towards Infinity." For developing this Will it is obvious that it is to be used for

It is obvious for developing these characteristics it is not enough to wish piously and hope that the Almighty will grant the capacity. It is the most essential tool without which any method in the manual or else where will not work While referring to the development of Sensitivity Master has stressed the importance of purity and in this context of development of Special Will it is all the more important.

It would be prudent to conclude this paper with the prayer

O Master Thou art the Ocean of Bliss
We are all seated in it
The waves of Thy Ocean are passing through us
Removing all the dirt and disease.