3. Sri. N V Raghava Rao

Dear brothers and sisters,

Namasthe.

This quotation is from the message “Simplified system of spirituality” given by our Master Rev Babuji Maharaj at Bangalore on 30th April 1978.

In this message, the Master says “The subtle state of being can only be felt when you become subtle yourself; feeling is there but it is difficult to put in words. A man should have desire of drinking the whole river of spirituality. Then comes a day when the real spirit of inner and outer begins to dawn. We feel what we aspire for. The understanding comes when the seed at the bottom is fried up”.

“The subtle state of being can only be felt when you become subtle yourself”. We should become subtler and subtler and grow and go towards our original nature which is simplicity without any complexities. We should follow the Fourth commandment (4. Be plain and simple to be identical with Nature).

“We should have the desire of drinking the whole river of spirituality”. We should aspire for the highest and there is a need to be restless in this pursuit. We should follow the Third commandment (3. Fix up your goal which should be complete oneness with God. Rest not till the ideal is achieved).

“Then comes a day when the real spirit of inner and outer begins to dawn. We feel what we aspire for”. This is the goal of our sadhana. Then, perhaps afterwards, the true understanding dawns on us.

Rev Babuji Maharaj starts the message by talking about the spiritual work that is at hand and the need for all the abhyasis to participate in His mission. He says “I do not belong to India alone, but to the whole world. So I want that all may taste the beauty hidden in love for the Ultimate. People everywhere seek the better climate and better conditions. But as Indians, we are interested to produce the same environment in us, so that others may be benefited by its radiation”. The Master is demanding that we grow spiritually and radiate the love, peace and harmony so that others are benefited and attracted to the Natural path. We should follow the meditational practices and grow spiritually. We should follow the first and second commandments. (1. Rise before dawn. Offer your prayer and puja (worship) at the fixed hours, preferably before sunrise, sitting in one and the same pose. Have a separate place and ‘asan’ (seat) for worship. Purity of mind and body be specially adhered to. 2. Begin your Puja, with a prayer for spiritual elevation with heart full of love and devotion).

We should be happy and contended to radiate peace and love for the Master. Happiness and contentment is possible by following the eighth commandment. (8. Be happy to eat in constant divine thought whatever you get, with due regard to honest and pious earnings).

We become better instruments as we become purer and grow spiritually. We should follow the ninth commandment. (9. Mould your living so as to rouse a feeling of love and piety in others).

The Master says, “People do not know the value of spirituality, because such things are not infused in them by the society or parents. However, the present-day circumstances will mould them to come under the banner of spirituality. We should try to give them real peace; that is our duty and our business”. We should do the Universal prayer at 9:00 PM to participate in this mission.

The Master says, “We are all family people, but we must be moderate in all our dealings”. As of today, most of us are running and running for things that don’t really matter to us in our real pursuit. Our society too demands that we compete and run the rat race. There is no need to run the race and there is no point living like a rat. We can live like humans. The human being has this faculty of thought and the discriminative capacity to distinguish between what is required and what is not required; what is need and what is greed.

By the grace of the Master, as we move on the path, the goal clarity and the seriousness towards the goal increase. We tend to do things that are conducive for sadhana and try to avoid things that are not conducive. The concept of Moderation gains meaning and we come up with our own definition of moderation. It depends upon our background, the circumstances we live in, the family conditions including our parents and children, social conditions, economic condition etc.

Saving for the rainy day is a relevant concept for today but how much, we need to estimate ourselves depending upon the above factors. The more we rely on the Master, the less we save for the rainy day. There is also the element of fear that is promoted in today’s society which makes the Insurance industry thrive in India and elsewhere in the world. We need to work hard not only to take care of our needs but also for the savings and Insurance. This adds to the complexity in life. As we grow spiritually, these needs lose their meaning and start simplifying things in our life.

The Master has given us the concept of Trusteeship and due attachment. We define the limits of duty and due attachment and refine the definitions as we progress in life, spiritually. We should pray to the Master and seek guidance from our trainer in this matter. This is a continuous process. As Master says, “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 to finally acquire”. (Imperience Beckons, Page 38).

Our viveka and Vairagya should be improving continuously and only then do we move towards simplicity and subtlety. For Pranahuti to be effective, we should be willing for the transformation, open our heart to the Trainer. We should trust our trainer, obey him and share our problems and issues with him so that he may act accordingly for our spiritual upliftment. We should be oriented to the goal, we should be serious in our efforts and we should develop single pointed orientation. When we say that the Master is the “only God and Power”, we should mean it. We should have utmost faith in the Master that HE and HE alone will help us cross all the hurdles and take us to the goal. Once we develop this faith and confidence in the Master, we give Him a free hand without any conditions from our side and he chalks out an individual roadmap for our progress. We don’t demand faster progress nor do we demand easy way out. The Master knows what is best for us and when it is best for us. As we become more and more serious in sadhana, I have realized that I know lesser and lesser.

In the sittings, when I feel vastness, expansion etc, I realize how small I am and how insignificant I am. The infinite nature of the Master and the infinitesimal nature of mine are felt to the extreme. I am awe-stuck with wonder about the Master and I am strikingly aware about my smallness. In the vastness that is felt, I am nowhere seen. I feel at best like a sand particle on the shore of the ocean. There are infinite sand particles and I am one among them. There is great joy and happiness to know the fact that among the infinite particles, He has hand-picked me and is helping me. The Master said that to pick up a needle we need to use our fingers and not the crane. I wonder what tools he used to pick this little particle among infinite such particles and there seems to be nothing different or special that makes me stand apart from the rest. When our smallness is well established in our heart, when the fact that the Master has noticed me, picked me up and is helping me is established in our heart, what else do we need? What are we worried about? All the incidents in our life, all the day-to-day transactions can be looked at in proper perspective. This is helping me with increased levels of endurance and forbearance. Devotion to the Master and feelings of submission, yielding and surrender to the Master are increasing. As I realize that I know less and less, I have a feeling that others know better than me. This is helping me in improving my humility. When I look at most of the people, I find that there is something praise-worthy in each and every one. This is a major shift in my way of looking at people. Previously, I had been too judgmental and critical. I could easily look at the dark spots on white canvases. Now I am able to appreciate the white and bright patches better and the dark spots appear to be pale and insignificant. I am able to look at the positive side better.

It is the Master who is the all-knower. I would lean on him for direction and guidance. The Master sets the direction for me and I do the running. The Master’s support is there while I do my abhyasi’s role. The Master’s promise to take us all to the destination makes me respect Him, adore Him, love Him and worship Him. His work is my top priority and His word is final. Obedience to the Master and discipline in this respect is what I strive for.

Having accepted the Master in Toto, having understood our role as a disciple, as a devotee, as a servant; we do our abhyasi’s role with all commitment and dedication. We become purer and purer, subtler and subtler. Through Pranahuti primarily and through our individual purification process, this is achieved. In this process, the samskaras that are there on our heart come up for fruition. We could undergo the bhog during our dreams, during meditation or in real life.

The bhog happening in dreams and during meditations is easy to handle. We get up and walk away. The Bhog that happens in real life is the tough part. The bhog is all because of our past. The Master says, “Demolition of the past is a chapter in Natural Path” (SDG Page 162) and we had a seminar on this topic in the past.

In this message, the Master says “We should try only to build the future and not waste our time in thinking of the past”. The past consists of the good and the bad deeds.

The good deeds that we have done to others should be viewed as opportunities the Master has given us for service. We should be grateful to them. The good deeds others have done to us too are Divine gifts and we should be thankful to the Master and the person, who is agent of the Master helping us.

All the lost opportunities, all the history of mishaps, misdeeds and mistakes of ours and others weigh heavily on the heart. The bad deeds that we did are a big load for us to handle. The guilt is killing. We know the mistake; we know the effect it had on us and on others. We regret and repent. At bed-time we pray to the Master for his mercy to pardon us for the mistake and we make a resolution never to repeat it. I am ready to pay the fine and face the punishment for the mistake but I seek from Him the strength and courage for it. There are mistakes committed knowingly or unknowingly. There are mistakes committed in this life and in previous ones. We are responsible for all the mistakes which in seed form are settled on our heart. We should follow the tenth commandment. (10. At bed time, feeling the presence of God, repent for the wrongs committed unknowingly. Beg forgiveness in a supplicant mood, resolving not to allow repetition of the same).

The strong man plans for revenge while the weak man resorts to brooding. The wise man drops the issue/incident and moves on for; he knows that it is not only wastage of time but also forming or strengthening of impressions about the issues. This wisdom is slowly coming up in me. Brooding has been my problem and it took years for me to come out of the habit, thanks to the constant help and guidance from the Master. The memory of the incident is there but the weight/strength of the impression is reducing. I have not forgotten but I have learnt to forgive. This is such a great relief. Only when a similar incident happens or someone reminds us of the incident again, we tend to recollect the past incident, that too mildly.

The bhog which we undergo either in the form of miseries or in the form of wrongs done by others are all the divine blessings to offload our weight of the samskaras. We should follow the fifth, sixth and seventh commandments and do the meditations on Points A and B. We should understand that we are dependent on the Master and are interdependent on each other. This knowledge and wisdom comes to us through Pranahuti when the flow is diverted to the Atman. (5. Be truthful. Take miseries as divine blessings for your own good and be thankful. 6. Know all people as thy brethren and treat them as such. 7. Be not revengeful for the wrongs done by others. Take them with gratitude as heavenly gifts.)

The desires that we had, which couldn’t be fulfilled too settle on us in the seed form. By entertaining them, we water those seeds to germinate, grow into plants and trees. The desires multiply whether we satisfy them or not, creating further seeds. The whole scene looks like a mess. Meditations on Points A and B and improvement of viveka and vairagya will help us understand the futility in this exercise, reduce the weight of the desires and also help us in curtailing the formation of new ones. This would help us in burning of the seeds once and for all, so that they don’t germinate and show up their effect any time later. The understanding comes when the seed at the bottom is fried up. The mirror which is dusty doesn’t reflect properly and when the mirror is completely wiped off of the dust, it will reflect fully and will become a perfect instrument. For me, it is a theoretical understanding of the problem as of now. By the grace of the Master, it shall become reality at the appropriate time to me and to one and all of us and we all shall become His true representatives.

Conclusion:

We should follow the meditational practices especially the Purification process and meditations on Points A and B.

We should yield to the Master; develop true love, devotion and faith on Him.

We should follow the Ten Commandments.

We should take sittings to get Pranahuti so that

1. Deeper layers are cleansed,

2. Viveka and Vairagya improves,

3. Interdependency improves

4. Devotion and surrender to the Master improves

5. And we become contented, happy, peaceful and balanced.

And all this helps in frying up of the seeds and let us make our self which would look closer to the big Self. Then, the understanding and the real knowledge dawns on us.

Thank You.