Seminar 17th July 2006

The topic of the seminar is a sentence that follows another equally illuminating sentence in a message titled ‘Craving of the Soul’ of the Master that “Once divinity dawns the negative attitude to the life goes far away.” Many of us are aware that when a statement was made by an aspirant that ‘we should learn how to die’, Master retorted saying ‘we should learn how to live.’ All life that we humans live, is a life in the world of our own creation and Master’s appeal to us is to live in the world of divine creation after demolishing our own. Master affirms that ‘ One must go on reducing the activities, shaking off all superfluities that have entered into his being, for the purpose of shattering his individual network and assuming the purest state one has finally to acquire’.(IB 33) For such a living we should know the goal of life we should strive for.

While talking about the goal as something that is beyond and beyond Master says that it is a bit difficult to attain as due preparation is not there. The main problem first to be sorted out is what is it we are craving for? If our craving is for any other than the divine it is not the soul that is seeking it but the various sense or motor organs along with the images that we have cultivated over a period of time forming what is generally called as samskaras or what Master calls our individual network. Even if we feel the inner urge of the soul for realisation the ego awareness which is invariably found in any type of conscious state, stands in the path and tries to give different alternatives to seek for. Proper preparation thus is necessary by way of sadhana as prescribed.

Master stated that “To impart spirituality really takes no time for a guide of high calibre like my Master. The time is mostly spent in effecting the making of the abhyasi.” (SS-131). Further he stated “The difficulty arises when we link it with our own will or action, thinking it to be the result of our own efforts. We rejoice at success and feel aggrieved at failure merely for that reason.” “This is the only thing which serves to keep us in bondage. The absence of this egoistic feeling means the advent of real potent vigour. How can this be achieved? Only by linking the self with the great power of the Divine. Doing so we go on covering stage after stage and we get closer and closer to Him.” Master laments “It is a pity to find only a few persons trying to link themselves with the Supreme not to speak of achieving complete negation.” (SS-135) I would like to clarify that in our system we always talk of the positive approach of reaching the Supreme and do not try to dwell more on the blemishes which promotes more dejection and depression. However moving positively by attaching ourselves with the Master we slowly but steadily get rid off the obstacles or blemishes in our character that form a barrier to achieve our cherished goal.

Traditionally (in Hinduism, Buddhism and Sufism) many blemishes in a life tread on the path of spirituality have been listed. Just for information I provide a sample list of states we need to get rid off in our journey. (The list can be enhanced) However Master has saved us the task of attending to them individually and many of them are removed through the purificatory process.

i. to be proud of one’s spiritual state

ii. to show off

iii. arrogance

iv. envy

v. miserliness

vi. to be vengeful

vii. faithlessness

viii. to distort religion and tradition

ix. to deny the giver of gifts or to belittle the gifts

x. to be dissatisfied and complain about one’s state

xi. to cease to have hope for Masters Mercy

xii. to be sure of Masters punishment

xiii. to condone tyranny and help tyrants

xiv. to speak against decent people

xv. to keep the heart attached to this world

xvi. to keep wanting to be a leader

xvii. to expect approval and compliments

xviii. to fear criticism

xix. Not to be able to prevent oneself from wanting

xx. Instead of wishing to learn the truth, being an imitator

xxi. To fawn over people for personal benefit

xxii. To be happy about disasters that fall upon people, even our enemies

xxiii. To be a coward

xxiv. To be angry

xxv. To be a tyrant

xxvi. Not to keep one’s word

xxvii. To believe in bad luck

xxviii. To think unjustly about people

xxix. To love one’s property

xxx. To be overly concerned with the world and the worldly

xxxi. To be ambitious

xxxii. To lead an irresponsible life

xxxiii. To mix oneself into affairs that do not concern one

xxxiv. To be undignified

xxxv. Not to keep the time of one’s prayers due to laziness

xxxvi. To be shameless

xxxvii. To lament the loss of things

xxxviii. To gossip

xxxix. To be stubborn

xl. To be an egoist

xli. To be a hypocrite

xlii. To cheat

xliii. To be brutish

xliv. To be dishonorable in relations with women

xlv. To be lustful

xlvi. Not to accept one’s error and continue insisting on it

xlvii. To be afraid of poverty

xlviii. Not to believe in destiny or to talk about destiny

xlix. To make oneself depressed

l. To take pleasure in belittling others

li. To be indiscriminately happy

lii. To be insincerely kind and fawning over rich people

liii. To be disdainful of the poor

liv. To boast and be proud of one’s past

lv. To show off one’s physical prowess

lvi. To belittle others

lvii. To like to talk long unnecessarily

lviii. To be self centered in conversation

lix. To forget about one’s own shortcomings and be preoccupied with the shortcomings of others

lx. To exclude from one’s heart the fear of God and the shame and sadness of one’s state

lxi. In distress to make excuses and to fall back on and encourage the weaknesses.

lxii. To decline to help in a struggle for Masters cause.

lxiii. To pretend to be friends with one’s enemy

lxiv. To cheat in one’s work

lxv. To set traps for others

lxvi. To identify with the world to the extent of forgetting Master

lxvii. To take pleasure in people’s suffering

lxviii. Not to suffer because of one’s mistakes.

These are like thorns growing in a barren field and show us the ugly attributes of the heart which surface and become visible during meditation and prayers. Tradition advises us to avoid them and beautify ourselves with the opposite of every one of these faults, and that is the basis of not only of all ethical codes but also most of the meditational practices in other systems. The process of identifying the blemishes individually and take up such practices as may help us eradicate them takes years and ages in any system other than the Pranahuti aided Rajayoga. More often we tend to evaluate our condition based on bias. It is necessary to realize that walking the spiritual path is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually while in fact we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques.

Our duty is to pray; and it goes without saying that the prayer has to be acceptable to God. We need to have proper moral and ethical standard because the prayer which pleases God and which brings us closest to Him is to be beautiful. Grand Master insisted his students develop better morality more than learning spirituality. Master explaining the concept of ‘moulding of our lives to rouse feelings of love and piety in others’ states beautifully “It is obvious that when a thing made of clay comes before us we take a different view of it and our liking for it increased in comparison to the mass of clay which it is made up of. Similarly when a man approaches God after proper making of himself, He takes a different view of him. This goes to explain that we should effect such a making of ourselves as may help us to become the cynosure of His eyes.”

Master summarized the process of how we accumulated grossness “The grossness went on increasing. Its resultant effects led to the development of further evils like passion, anger, lust etc. In short a complete conglomeration was formed. The retracing from it can now be effected only by the process of casting away all that he had taken in previously and by removing perversion of thought by fixing it firmly in the right direction.” (IB 36-37) It may be seen the blemishes listed above are not of the category of instincts or drives. To solve the difficulties that arise due to the drives Master has given us the two meditation processes on points A and B but he left the three other obstacles like moha, ahankar and lobha to be attended by the aspirants. These are to be tackled by strictly adhering to the spiritual principles enunciated in the Ten Commandments of the Master. The aspirant would only be fooling himself to think that he can make or has made actually progress in spirituality without full and complete compliance of the Commandments of the Master.

The entire problem we see arises mainly due to the fact that there is an awareness of our individual self and Master says that the states of the ‘I’ consciousness remain from the beginning to the end. As against working on each of the blemishes he presents us his thesis that we should not attempt at annihilation of the ’I’ ness but develop a positive attachment to the Divine: and ‘when divinity dawns the negative attachment is removed.’ It is only when the field is barren that thorns and thistles grow but in a plain that is wetted with devotion and has the blessings of the Master no such possibility would arise. It is a matter of serious consideration for the alleged jnanis and masters of the day, whether the much talked about Vairagya is after all not a negative attachment. Every serious sadhaka therefore replaces it with the love for the Master whereby positive feelings develop which is helpful for him and the society.

The problem of ‘I’ or ego in the spiritual field is well recognised and every one of the great seers has prescribed some method or the other to eliminate the same. It is generally termed as abolition of the ego or the abolition of the Past. Ego is nothing but a bundle of samskaras and none of them have any reality content. This leads to the problem of how much we negate our ego and what are its means. While experience of states of void is nothing new for the practicants of PAM, we know such states do not last long and that is why we often seek recurring experiences of the same. In this context it is necessary to note the distinction between a State and Station.

Generally speaking, a state is a kind of temporary gift in terms of spiritual inspiration. It comes and goes after some time. It is an experience of joy of God's nearness and grace or spiritual bliss which becomes permanent after practice. When it becomes a permanent experience or a lasting inspiration it is known as a station which the seeker enjoys day and night, both during sleep and wakefulness. In the initial stages of the spiritual journey this blessed experience comes and vanishes after some time and is called a state. But when it becomes lasting by practice, the seeker is never without it. He always keeps company with the Master and enjoys the pleasure of union with the Divine Beloved. It is then called his station. It is not out of place to also mention about two more spiritual concepts used by our Master, namely: Fana and Baqa.

When this experience or joy of satisfaction gets intensified through constant effort, the seeker's soul gets purified and starts merging in Divine Essence. This state is called Laya or mergence in the knot or the condition. But when it is a state of complete annihilation of carnal self, absorption or intoxication in God and the pilgrim is unable to participate in worldly affairs, he is made to pass into another state known as 'Fana-al-Fana' (forgetfulness of annihilation). It is a sort of oblivion or unconsciousness. This is the way the past gets demolished. But this condition is not allowed to stay for long in an aspirant in this system because that is only half the task or as Master puts it is a chapter in the spiritual path.

Demolition obviously is not the purpose of Creation of God. We need to realize the Divine here and now and that is the purpose of pursuing any spiritual path. This is a duty entrusted to us by the Divine. That is the reason why Master states realisation of our true nature is our primary duty. Since two negatives make one positive, the pilgrim at this stage regains his individuality as he was when he started the journey. The only difference is that in the beginning he was self conscious, but after having reposed in the Divine Being, he regains that sort of individuality which is God-consciousness or absorption in God. This state is known as Baqa, or living or subsisting with God. The same process is also explained by the Master through the concepts of Sameepyata, Salokyata, Saroopyata and Sayujyata. When the seeker in the process of reducing the blemishes also had identified himself with the Divine Attributes which he proposes to possess, he retains those superior qualities and this is the process of owning the condition about which various methods and practices were given by the Master.

Clutter in our home, or work place is equivalent to clutter in our mind. Fertile ground will not bear fruit without watering. A blank sheet of paper, a clean kitchen, an empty canvas are all clutterless invitations to create. In such a creative endeavour alone spirituality shines. Spirituality in dustbin is not even good to hear. The mind needs to be cleansed thoroughly before any spiritual virtues develop. Such a purification of the mind is the first act of demolition of the past that we should strive to achieve. For this the purificatory processes and individual meditation sessions with the trainers are prescribed in our path. When we start emptying ourselves, the Divine that is closely watching us seated in the chambers of our heart makes its presence felt by us more intimately impelling us to clear more and more of the dirt and dust that we have accumulated.

Whenever I meditate on the thoughts of the Master furnished in the Diary of ISRC for us, a spiritual spring from deep within wells up and I find a solution for the ills of the world. True as of now, spiritual regeneration is at a very low key. Fear is one of the basic emotions and literally a nightmare for many. From fear of ones shadow to the fear from those unfortunate brethren who get dubbed as terrorists or extremists there is a large spectrum of fear. Fear arises when there is a feeling of losing the ego of various shades. Also whenever the identity of self is lost there is fear. We are told very clearly that the whole problem of fear is consequent to our illusory identification with the body. It is a matter of common experience of aspirants in spiritual paths to have visions of shadows or images that are unknown and get afraid. Also the aspirants get thoughts of death including that of suicide and these are all the tests that one goes through in the path to pass the criteria of undeterred determination as adumbrated in the Third Commandment of our Master. I share my thoughts as they arose during my meditations to the best of my capacity and have striven hard to use the words to be exact and truthful, so as to help find a way to eradicate fear and hopelessness.

There is nothing to dread in Nature. It is only those who claim to have mastered it that are to be feared. When we follow the Commandments and the meditation methods on points A and B specifically we become aware of the changes in our thinking each day that help us overcome the fear of life. We also find fulfillment and gain meaning for our life when we follow the pathways clearly marked upon in the book “Path of Grace”. Fortune favoured me and my Master blessed me with an opportunity to interact with so many sincere souls and I have gained much in spirituality from them, incidentally demolishing many of the outmoded and fairly insane methods parading as exercises in religion and spirituality. This has become possible by accepting the Commandments and sadhana as given to us by the Master which is all facts simple and plain. Accepting the Master in all respects of our life and living as real human beings should as advised by him we have all chosen a life that is happier and holier. Surely we do still make a life of what is given to us and new structures are being raised: but the structures have a solid foundation and a design that serves the world at large. In short our windows are now more open and hence our hearts more healthy.

When we say we are demolishing the past we are in effect talking of getting rid off the binding samskaras and willfully choosing such thoughts and actions that work for the common good. All through our efforts are to demolish the self oriented, self restricted, closed universe and participate in the common effort of creating a new Universe of spirituality. For this it is obvious we should make our life worthwhile. In reality, our life is directed by our inner thoughts springing from the Divine which are essentially promoters of global good. But He has also provided us a choice. The privilege of choice is only for the human beings and no other form of life has that opportunity. We though are left with a choice tend to make the wrong one and get into sufferings.

To do His will is the simple way of winding around the roads of life, to reweave all of the loose ends of life’s tapestry. This is the most natural thing to do, because each of us got re-embodied ideally for one thing and one thing only, and that is to dispel or get rid of karma we have incurred in earlier lives. We need to deal with these thoughts and deeds by casting them out of our life so that we do not have to live in a lower phase of life again and again. By becoming evolved now, we secure permanently a stage of living in the divine plane. We can accomplish all this by accepting the Master as a senior partner in our life. Master has by giving us graciously the Natural Path tried to show us the best and easiest way to do these tasks that lie ahead for us. But it is up to us to decline or accept His partnership.

If we accept and live according to the Ten Commandments and in concert with the Universal Law of Karma that has been decreed for all of mankind, animals and plant life alike, our life will be devoid of stress. We will be slowly demolishing the past and rebuilding the divine structure in us. Then and then only total dedication gains meaning. Surrender is too difficult to accomplish as we need to surrender to the entire humanity to mature in that condition. But if we continue to live with our depressions and unforgiving heart among our fellow men, then our life will be lived in vain. The funniest part of this is both the above defects have extraordinary attraction that is capable of binding any person ignoring laws of rationality and of spiritual life. Then again, at another time, we will need to come back and relive this adventure called life.

Our Master gets himself firmly attached to us from the day of introduction into the PAM system of Rajayoga. His presence though not fully felt and appreciated, many of us have had a taste of wonderment and radiance of His light in the core of our hearts and some of us are capable of dispensing the same among mankind. We realize that true wisdom is within us, but helplessly watch the negative forces driving them away. It is true that the system of offering Pranahuti for the sake of transformation was there from times immemorial. The wisdom of the sages of old was waiting to be reinstated and this our Grand Master has done with perfection. Knowledge is seldom lost, yet during some periods of history mankind refuses to utilize this energy, our own source of wisdom. Such was the fate of this Country since Lord Krishna reached His heavenly abode. Humanity would owe it to the Master Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj of Fatehgarh to have brought back the light for our good.

Truth everlasting is a product of the Origin and connection to that Origin is the brick and mortar in our building the spiritual edifice; the dream of the Masters. The wisdom we seek to constructively demolish the past is harbored within us, in what our Master has called the Upper portion of our heart. We have to therefore seek within the chambers of our mind, for down deep within is to be found the Master’s truth, together with the wisdom our higher self aches to impart, so that we may find the high road to life everlasting.

Wisdom lives within our minds, planted there centuries ago, foreshadowing our future. We should learn to seek only the higher answers; sift out the truth as chaff is sifted from wheat, and use it wisely. It has been said that evil lurks in all the hearts. The secret is to learn to weigh also the amount of truth lying dormant within the heart and have it outweigh the evil. When we are completely clear, there is no subjective distortion; when we are completely pure, there is true perception. When the wind and waves have died out, the ocean of mind is as it is; when we get to the bottom of the ocean of mind, for the first time we see the peerless pearls! Poetically it was stated they have seen the Black Pearl!

The demolition of samskaras is no mean task and we need to be consciously striving for the same all the while realizing the essential and irrevocable connection with the Divine we have. Then a meaningful plan of life emerges that is challenging and also exhausting. We can change our life and make it happy. We already stated that this is accomplished with the use of basic Universal Laws. One must have a pattern for one’s life, a map guiding us, giving us direction, indicating what we must accomplish. Such a map leads us along the path to fulfill our destiny. We must understand also that we are but energy created in the image of God. It is His energy that He has given to us that makes us the individuals we are.

We have to believe completely the system advocated by the Master and practice the same with the unflinching faith and trust in the Master. Comparing his system with the supposedly similar concepts is only playing into the hands of cunning and wily mind ever interested in continuing its own creation: the great illusion. We have our imaginations of what Reality is and we have also the imperience. When the fact of our imperience does not tally with our notions of Reality it is wisdom to give up those notions and not deny the fact of our imperience. To think otherwise is perverse logic. I am pained to note many persons who have access to higher regions provided by the Master donot live in that condition because their mind behaves such and they entertain ideas contra to spiritual discipline of single pointed orientation to the Master and believe and practice methods totally unsuited to the system of spirituality they are in. Surely one should try the system and come to a conclusion but trial runs of an automobile cannot be for the life time of the vehicle.

That is why Master asks us to destroy our individual creation so that divine creation displays itself. Then we see changes taking place. These changes give us more respect for us. The people around us begin to see the transformed person that we have become, the person of substance, the individual who knows where he is going and what he is doing. A new aura of success appears around us and soon, because of this positive attitude and the faith we have in us and the Master, wonderful things come into being for us. But for this to happen we need to practice and the old adage holds true: “Practice makes perfect.” From morning until night, from waking time to sleep time, practice! Practice! And Practice constant remembrance! Everyone has moments of depression when he loses self-confidence in himself, in what he is doing. Then he needs to retrace his steps and return to the first positive thoughts and assertions. Prayer which reminds us of the goal grants us back the power and strength to accomplish the goal of human life.

The demolition of our past has several stages as already hinted. In the book Path of Grace we have looked at the same process in a positive way as to how the aspirant moves into higher and higher regions progressively. In a sense we looked at this problem of demolition of our structures as removal of influence of layers of consciousness when we studied the nature of the Five Kosas as encountered in our spiritual journey. Here we are looking at the same process from the angle of demolition of the illusion of Ego. They are all minor annihilation of the Ego structures we have developed out of nothing.

When we arrive at the first stage, we experience our first load shedding if we may call it so. We are temporarily lost to our limited individuality and experience bliss. Many confuse that they have realized Self/ God and hence get stuck in the first plane. If we keep ourselves free from self-delusion or come to realize that our attainment is but a transitional phase, we advance further on the spiritual path and arrive at the second plane.

The merging into the second plane is called the annihilation of the false. The aspirant is now absorbed in bliss and infinite light. Some think that they have attained the goal and get stranded in the second plane, but others who keep themselves free from self-delusion march onward and enter the third plane.

The merging into the third plane is called the annihilation of the apparent. Here the aspirant loses all consciousness of his body and his world. In our system we do not go through the coma state at all consciously and the helping hand of the Master keeps us conscious all through and here our Vairagya gets fulfilled. Here the awareness of the universal presence of the divine is felt very acutely and the intimacy with it leads to ecstatic states temporarily.

The next structure to fall is the individuality and is the first encounter with freedom or swarajya. The aspirant experiences a peculiar state of consciousness that seems to have all the power. Master at this stage protects us totally by making us oblivious of our capacity and there by avoiding any fall in our state. The aspirant is never spiritually safe, and his reversion is always possible until he has successfully crossed the fourth plane and arrived at the fifth one. There is no way that we can think of in the modern world to demolish these structures without the help of our Master. Those of the persons who seek to simultaneously ride several horses may kindly note that one day or the other, in one life or another they have to come to the path of the Master in toto.

The merging into the fifth plane is the state of annihilation of all desires. Here the incessant activity of the lower intellect comes to a standstill. Master tries to explain this by the process of Invertendo and reversal of sides of the higher and lower types of mind. The seeker does not think in the ordinary way, and he is indirectly a source of many inspiring thoughts. He sees, but not with the physical eyes. Mind speaks with the mind, and there is neither worry nor doubt. He is now spiritually safe and beyond the possibility of a downfall. This we know is the stage of the beginning of Brahmand mandal. Here again Masters Power supports us and does not allow us to delude ourselves to think that "I am God." Or “Aham Brahmasmi”.

Master enables us to move on further and we advance into the sixth plane. The merging into the sixth plane is called the annihilation of self (lover) in the beloved. Now the pilgrim sees different things of this world. This is the stage of starting of Prapanna gati where there is a continual perception and enjoyment of God that does not suffer a break even for an instant. Yet the demolition is not complete.

Master enables us to move on further into the seventh stage of annihilation and helps us demolish our individuality in the Master and here we become Prapanna Prabhu and hence forth there is no demolition of structures but progress by way of mergence in the Divine becomes refined and there is no end to such a refinement.

Pranams.