3. Sri I. Chalapathi Rao

The word paradise has been used by many people for many situations to mean several things. The very word creates in us a picture which could be very different from other’s perceptions. For example Kashmir has been defined as the paradise on earth by some who experienced the joy by being very close to the Nature and its scenery in its pristine purity, but for some others, paradise means a place where there is no suffering and all happiness. Viewing purely from a physical angle paradise means that it is a place where there is no disease, despair, miseries, afflictions, sufferings, death etc and also there is unlimited happiness through enjoyment of sensory and sensual pleasures. This sort of thinking could be due to the fact that the life in this world is interspersed with pleasures and pain. For a person on the spiritual path, the very definition of pain and pleasure are quite different from the ordinary connotation for here one understands pleasures and pain being restricted to our physical existence and also knows that it is quite ephemeral. The very ephemeral-ness of the pleasures in this life has created a sense of clinging on to it beyond its limits coupled with the fear of loosing it and also there is a fear of undergoing pain. Consequently we find man suffering from the illusions of possessiveness coupled with a tendency to avoid pain. The pleasure seeking and pain avoiding tendencies have been governing the psyche of the man. In the spiritual path, the wisdom gained in the primary stages, as told by several great men, that one understands the transitoriness of life. This understanding is no small understanding considering the fact this knowledge pertains to the consciousness which is beyond the body but gets exhibited through the body. So the very life and its process has to be understood at the first place. The proper understanding of life needs to be there which is referred by the Master in the message – Simplified system of spirituality as “God has created the world so that every flower may grow in its right standard. But the lashes of time have made it forget the purpose of God. So some feel enjoyment as the purpose of life, while others feel life to be monotonous. But the question is as to what is life. It is a state of being which should remain permanently, as long as we live, thoroughly in contact with the Being, smelling at each step the fragrance of the Being.” SDG 36

Lack of proper understanding of life has led to many chaos leading to divergent goals which more often than not lead to interpersonal conflict. The history of humankind is replete with the stories of wars and conflict. Peace is found wanting. People who have understood the secret of life of oneness of Being have always talked and preached about universal peace and harmony. Still we find the results are wanting as we have been trying to work for universal peace considering it to be an entity, which is a myth. The truth is that the collective individual peace can alone be termed as Universal peace. That is the reason Babuji Maharaj calls for individual peace first and says it alone leads to universal peace. To quote in His own words from the message Spiritual way of life, “….World peace is closely related with the peace of the individual for which one has to take into account the inner state of one's mind. If man's mind is brought to the state of peace and order, everything in the outside world will get into order in the same colour…SDG -18”.

So it becomes very important for one to follow a path which leads to a state of peace and order and the path which is closest to an individual is the Natural path. Man has to understand and mould himself to be in ORDER with himself which automatically leads to a state of ORDER with others and with Nature. All religions talk of this ORDER where one is asked to speak truth, be honest, be courteous and be dutiful to one’s parents, children and to the society etc but the question is, what is the Real ORDER to which man belongs to? And the concept of ORDER has to be understood properly. When we speak of static objects the order is called as structure. Each cluster of objects have a definite structure and that is its order. The molecule of water has definite structure etc. But when we talk of life, we are dealing with something dynamic i.e consciousness, here the order can be understood as a way of living or following a path. [Rev KCN]: order in life is growing in a pattern that is predetermined. Otherwise that growth is called cancer.

So when one follows a particular path and when that is the Natural path then one is in proper ORDER - a place as ordained by the Divine for the Man in the total scheme of things. The True path really is the Natural path because it leads us to the spiritual life where it is not only the happiness of the abhyasi but that of the whole humanity. In this context, the Natural path propounded by the Master Sri Ramchandraji is beckoning man to be a Real Man. A Real man is one who follows the Natural path or the ORDER. When we are in order we are at peace with ourselves. This individual peace and order is not something that can be achieved just like that. One has to make effort to be in the path and this is what I have understood about the second sentence of the topic that No doubt the world will be paradise, but for that we have to work very hard. As far as the individual is concerned one has to follow the path by practicing assiduously but this message has to be passed on to one and all and that is the service the institute of Sri Ramchandra consciousness is doing.

The message of the Master who has given us the Natural Path has to reach every heart in this world, but how to go about the task? The generic definition of the word “world” is a common global space which encompasses all the humanity. It is true but the truth is there are several worlds in this world, For example:

- scientists live their world

- businessman lives in his world,

- educationists live in their world,

- politicians live in their own world,

- cinema stars and entertainment people live in their own world

The list is endless. All groups have their boundaries, have their own goals and priorities. Though apparently all seem to have a common goal of universal good or benefit for all but the truth is, each set of people are isolated and more so they are insulated. This is one of the main problems of the present day, where different groups are in conflict with one another. The Governments are trying hard to do the balancing act. But they are also not Just in their actions as they are influenced by the pressure groups and these groups are getting aligned and realigned every day to get maximum benefit for themselves. I do not want to elaborate on this as we know clearly that today we have tendency to group irrespective of our ideologies to force issues due to the Sangatith Shakti (collective power), the ethics and morality are thrown out of the window. If we take a global perspective, we find that the groups ethics, nation ethics, race ethics etc are in a state of flux (on the wane?). Yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend and nothing is known about tomorrow because the logic of getting into a group is for the benefit of that group irrespective of the global repercussions. Nations are waging wars for self centered gains, so are the religio cultural wars and conflicts. We are in a state of utter distrust. The culture of sophistication perpetrated for centuries based on diplomacy and stratagem has resulted into this condition of distrust among societies and nations at large.

If the world has to become a paradise then all the worlds that we have formed because of the groups, as discussed earlier need to understand the principle of interdependency as the basic theme of life. Enormous fissures have formed in the inter relationships over a period of time. The only way to come out of this to turn our attention towards universal love and develop it. The very thought diversion to Love would not only weaken the hatred but also strengthens the Love. Only through love we can remove hatred and ‘tit for tat’ policy will not work and on the contrary will worsen the situation. In this regard, Master says, “You have to remove only the brokenness and you will feel the love flowing equally to one and all, and it becomes universal” SDG 37. If we analyse the reason for broken ness which has formed over a period of time we find there are very many reasons. Some of them are:

- Racial superiority

- Nationalistic feelings

- Religious bigotry, intolerance

- Caste differentiations, untouchability

- Class differentiations

- Exploitation of the weak by the strong

- Usurping the natural resources by the selected few

- Language, cultural barriers

- Greed

- Craving for name, fame and popularity

- Military might etc

Is there any way out of this? Yes.

a) there has to be a paradigm shift in the thinking, the present world which is based on economic paradigm of greed, profit, selfishness etc has to shift to the paradigm of interdependency, cooperation, happiness and harmony.

b) We need to re-establish the fraternal ties in its purity. For this the Master of the day, Pujya Babuji Maharaj has asked to do meditation on point A & B.

c) Somehow we need to understand the life as living in contact with the Being which we can have by meditation on divine light without luminosity in the heart.

d) We have to move towards proper level of morality. Regarding morality, Master very categorically says, “With the overemphasis on “Self” morality decays. But it is the part to be played by the Trainers alone that the self be turned to Divinity” –Method of training SDG 53. This is done through the diversion of flow to the atman by the trainer through Pranahuti.

This establishes the common ground for all to come to one plane, namely the spiritual thereby bringing harmony and order thus the peace. The help through Pranahuti, a boon to the humanity is an integral aspect of the Natural path.

As we follow the natural path, we move away from the idiom of live and let live to the higher level of help (serve) others and take help (service) from others. In the live and let live concept, insulation and isolation are embedded into it while the natural path enables us to understand our interdependency with the creation and also with the creator, thus we live in the consciousness of service. Interdependency cannot exist without the inherent basis of oneness of all creation. Thus we can move towards the one world or oneness, when duality gets extinguished then automatically the conflict also dies down and the result is the paradise.

We also need to define the boundaries of needs and desires to move towards a conflict free society. We need to cultivate moderation in all aspects of our life. Immoderation has resulted due to our imbalance mental tendencies. Immoderation is manifested through desires. Desires when strengthened through will result into a mental complex. This needs to be purified again through will i,e through purification process. In the physical plane the desires are manifested as greed, jealousy, passion, discontentment etc while in the mental plane it manifests as self aggrandizement, self-progress, self- ability (refer silence speaks page 90). Our excessive preoccupation with the sensory objects and sensuality has led to this condition which needs to be set right through right thinking and practice. The followers of the natural path are able to achieve the balance of mind which is experienced as peace through the methods of the Natural path and especially the meditations on Points A & B which are quite effective. It is quite reassuring to recall the words of the Master in this regard, “The abhyasis under our system of Sri Ramchandra’s Raja yoga practice on these points (points A & B) and find remarkable improvement. If the practice is systematically done on both these points, desires will soon begin to bid farewell.” ERY – 41 (First Edition).

Now coming to the aspect of working, we use the Will, which is the main instrument of working and it has to be utilized for betterment of the humanity. We find the will getting strengthened with the purification of the heart. Purification of heart means cleansing of desires. As we move towards the universal consciousness, our will becomes subtle, firm and also powerful. The negative factors which weaken the will are doubt and prejudice. If we think that it is our work or we are the doers then our inadequacies make us feel doubtful of the results and thus our will becomes infirm but on the other hand if we have attitude of participating in His work, then the doubt never arises. But the other factor which comes into our way is the prejudice. Master says, prejudice is the deadliest poison to spirituality. This also is an obstacle to the will in the sense that it bounds by our own notions. Pure intention to serve our fellow beings helps us in this regard. If we can think of our Master as an unalloyed love, the very conception helps in overcoming our prejudices and notions.

Our will does gets hampered quite often due to our reactions to the events that happen in the world that create feelings of dismay and dissent in us. When we see good people being tortured by the wicked, then the thoughts of destruction of evil does surface in the minds. What shall be attitude of the prayer to those who adopt wicked ways of living has sometimes bothered me. To this question also, Master gives us the light telling us that “.. we should give our due consideration and try to improve the lot of the unvirtuous also, who may feel the thirst for the Real and develop yielding attitude to the Master” SDG – 158 . I share my experience in this regard that this sentence of the Master, especially the prayer of developing thirst for the Real has been quite invigorating and inspiring. I also feel that every word of the Master touches the heart when one feels helpless in life.

But even good natured people turn the deaf ear to the message, the argument put forward by them is that their good deeds alone are sufficient, in such cases the sense of self appears quite predominant to me. I feel, for such people the will has its limitations in passing on the spiritual message of human transformation. They also need to turn to a spiritual path and get aligned to the Divine will even as stated by the Master in this respect that “I feel that everyday my work is becoming easier because it is now the Divine dictate..” SDG 158. This has to be understood by one and all. But with regard to their inclination to the spiritual path, Master says, “On the other hand, good men are there, and they may not care for spirituality much. If they get the fragrance, which comes in the wake of spiritual regeneration, they will rise towards their transformation very soon.” Spirituality is understood by me as service as a devotion to the God.

From the above aspects of dealing with good people and also with the unvirtuous, Master is asking us to develop an all encompassing attitude which is nothing but asking us to move into universal level of consciousness. For this to happen there should be thirst for the Reality which is very well adumbrated in the third commandment. There has to be spiritual goal for every person that should be the main goal even as stated by the Master, “..Thus to reach the Infinite Absolute is one of the primary duties of man…” IB page 30. This makes the fact amply clear that the spiritual education should go hand in hand with the worldly education. There has to be a shift in the educational paradigms also. The inherent craving for every man to realise his true nature should be awakened and nurtured. The spiritual methods suggested by the Master as a fraternal duty is to do prayer at 9.00 in the night that “All men and women of this world are my brothers and sisters and that all are developing true love, devotion and faith in the Master”.

If degeneracy in ethics and values in the social fabric all across the globe is a cause of concern but a positive way of looking is that it is an indication of a change in structure of ethos and values in the world. All boundaries based on sectarian, caste, religion, nationalism are slowly vanishing and we are moving towards a concept of global village, thanks to the revolution in communication and information technology. Any structural changes in ways of living, thinking are bound to be painful and the naked reality before us is that there is enormous blood shed, hatred and the violation of human rights that is really a cause of concern. In this state of affairs the thought of the world being a paradise just seem to be out of all our imagination, that is how a normal person thinks but Masters who have the vision see things differently. In this message the Master is clearly asking us to work towards the universal peace and order, for which he has given us the path and also his support through Pranahuti.

Conclusion: Master in this message has willed for the betterment of the world which is bound to happen in the coming times. When persons of such high spiritual caliber make a will, then it is bound to come true. Pure (selfless) will is the most potent thing available to man to be used for the betterment of humanity. Since through our own thoughts and actions we have lost touch with it and therefore our will is feeble. It can regain its pristine purity only through the influx of the pure spiritual energy, the prana or life force which is holding all of us. This has been made available to us by our Great Supreme Master Mahatma Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur, who is the special personality and also entrusted with the task of overhauling the nature of human consciousness. The pure unalloyed consciousness is available to every seeker through the process of Pranahuti; humanity will ever be indebted to the Master and Masters of the Spiritual ORDER for this grace. Those who partake it will ever vouchsafe that the influx stirs up in them the creative energies and infuses the dynamism. One naturally starts looking up or rather towards the base so to say that a man who is worldly oriented becomes Godly oriented thus making this world into a paradise.