"The highest point of human approach is where every kind of force, power, activity or even stimulus disappears and man enters a state of Complete Negation; Nothingness or Zero. That is the final goal of life."

- PUJYA BABUJI MAHARAJ

The world today is in a state of unrest and disorder. There is total degeneration and degradation of social, cultural, humane and above all spiritual values. While national and racial prejudices vitiate international environment bringing to the fore the most inhuman atrocities against helpless populace, materialism in its worst form, selfishness in its ugliest state and egoism of highest solidity have come to dominate and characterise individual traits and conduct. The whole atmosphere is surcharged with prejudice and rivalry. We do not properly understand what effect our activities in the world produce upon the atmosphere of the Godly Region. When joined with the inner feelings of the heart, our activities create impressions in the Cosmos and they affect the human mind. They grow more and more powerful by the action of the cosmic energy; and the hearts of the people when hit or influenced by them, take in their effect and begin to produce an unending chain of thoughts in individual minds. When such thoughts pertain to evil nature - Asuric Pravritti, the entire cosmos and its process gets spoilt and distorted. Though Nature, the Supreme Force is ever engaged in clearing off all these things, it has become miserably heavy requiring creation of an atmosphere of Bhoga, which causes suffering and affliction over humanity. A Supreme personality is, then, brought down to work and redeem the humanity. Special means are also adopted for the purpose in the form of wars, diseases and heavenly calamities, under the aegis of Nature and its power to reestablish world order. The scythe of Time is unsparing.

In every part of the world, individuals have come about with enormous destructive and evil powers concentrated in their hands, which can cause untold miseries to the humanity, if unfolded and upset and unbalance the process of Cosmic and Divine evolution. The human individual behavioral patterns have come to be symbolised by wonder, greed, envy, hatred, competition, enmity, selfishness and desires. Wounding others and hurting their feelings are the worst among these evils. Most of the people in the world today have become characteristic Ravanas, Duryodhanas and Mahishasuras. The descent of an Avatara like Lord Rama or Lord Krishna to eliminate a single or a group of Asuras is not the answer. Individual transformation is the only solution. As a matter of fact, world peace can never be possible unless we take into account the inner state of individual mind. World peace is directly related to individual peace, for which the individual mind is to be brought up to the required level. If the individual mind is brought to a state of rest and peace, everything in the world will, then, appear to him in the same colour. It is, therefore, essential to find out means for developing within every individual a state of peace, contentment and moderation. That is the only way for bringing peace into the world. The development of peace of mind within individual self is the first and the most important step now to restore balance in the world. But that being exclusively the scope of spirituality, one must necessarily resort to spiritual means for the purpose. Indeed, the problem of the Universe is the problem of the individual. Those who speak of Sarva Mukti (simultaneous Universal emancipation) hardly try to achieve their own liberation for it is verily the Truth that the individual emancipation is the first step towards Universal harmony and peace.

Great men are not accidentally born. They are born when world waits for them in eager expectation. Such is the phenomenon of Nature. At the time when spirituality was tottering helplessly and the solid materialism had usurped the position of spiritualism in human life and yogic transmission had become quite obsolete, some great personality was urgently needed to set things right, for the upliftment of mankind.

It was the auspicious day of Basant Panchami, February 2, 1873, on which the Power of Nature descended to Earth in the human form of Samarth Guru Mahatma Sri Ram Chandraji Maharaj at Fatehgarh in U.P. His life marks the advent of a new era in spirituality. He has practically modified the system of Raja Yoga so as to suit the need of the time and the capacity of the people in general.

Samartha Guru Sri Ram Chandraji Maharaj of Fatehgarh is the Adi Guru of the Mission. He revived the Raja Yoga and remodelled the same for the benefit of the humanity. Sri Ram Chandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur is the most worthy disciple of Lalaji. When Lalaji attained Maha Samadhi on 14 August 1931, He completely merged with Babuji Maharaj; who found and experienced utmost Force or Power both within and outside Him on the morning of 15th August 1931. This was the usual system of transfer of power adopted by Saints of Great Calibre. Lalaji Maharaj and Babuji Maharaj in cosmic conjunction and through Divine interaction laid the spiritual foundation for the transformation of human life and restoration of World Balance.

Lalaji Maharaj totally merged in Babuji Maharaj. It is the unique Divine event of the Ocean merging in the Drop and the Great Void or Nothingness - into which Lalaji transformed Himself -merging in its entirety in the Spiritual Entity of Babuji Maharaj. Now, THEY are one in the Divine Personality of Babuji Maharaj. We should, no more, have any duality in our understanding. Babuji expressed Himself as the Special Personality controlling the spiritual destinies of not only our world but the entire cosmos itself. This spectacular Holy Event was granted on 04th May 1944 and will continue for a millennia. We need to correctly gauge the cosmic significance of this New Darshana and seek individual emancipation in this life itself, so that we become relevant and instrumental for the restoration of New World Order of Balance and Harmony. Babuji Maharaj has assured us the certainty of bestowing this objective on each one of us and our role is only diligent and persistent Sadhana towards fulfilment of our Goal of "Complete Oneness with the Master".

Babuji Maharaj is the Special and Supreme Personality who descended on the earth for the redemption of the humanity. The Cosmic Nature of this Divine Personality is unparalleled and will remain so until Maha Pralaya (Final Extinction). He institutionalised the Raja Yoga in the Light of Sahaj Marg and presented a comprehensive Raja Yoga System, which is the only means for the deliverance of common men and women from the present quagmire of spiritual and cultural maladies and afflictions. Later, He established Sri Ram Chandra Mission on 31st March 1945 in memory of the Adi Guru. His mission is to install spirituality in place of the prevailing non-spirituality through Sahaj Marg and place the World Order back on Nature's track. Though He completed His Divine Mission and assumed the Highest Centre of Spirituality, the Ram Chandra Consciousness ever prevailing in the entire universe and controlling the whole creation and its processes continues to guide us to complete the Cosmic Mission in the worldly plane. While the objective is actualised and realised at the Divine level, its total fructification at material plane will, of course, take time according to His Plan and cannot come about over-night. The great and spectacular manifestation of His Grace and the foundation of the Sahaj Movement is the Master's Support through Pranahuti for us to achieve this almost humanly impossible task of spiritual rejuvenation of mankind. It is only He who unequivocally declared "Spirituality is my responsibility, as practice is your responsibility". The coming generations will witness the full glory of His Spiritual Revolution and New Darshana.

The individual transformation and enlightenment is, therefore, central to the framework of human development - a state of peace and moderation under the modified Raja Yoga Sadhana as presented by the Great Master. However, there are perhaps a few among the masses who have ever given serious consideration to this problem of life. While taking a narrow view of it, the only issue or problem before them is to secure a decent living well provided with the desired comforts and achieve the greatest possible prominence in the world. Yet, the problem of life still remains unsolved, as the cycle of births and deaths continues indefinitely. The problem before us is not to find out a solution of our present life but for all lives we may henceforth have. In the wider sense, it covers the entire existence of soul in various forms - gross or subtle - at different times till the time of Maha Pralaya (Final extinction). Mere theoretical knowledge will not solve the issue but practical experience in the spiritual field is necessary. The question ends when one acquires "Anubhava Shakti" (Intuitive capacity) of the finest type and can himself realise the true state of life hereafter. Almost all agree that the object of life is to achieve Eternal Bliss after death. For this, they insist on a life of virtue, sacrifice and devotion which will bring the eternal joy of peace. But that is not the end of the problem; it goes much beyond. In order to trace out the root of the problem, we must look back to the point from which our existence started. The existence of soul can be traced out as far back as to the time of creation when the soul existed in its naked form as a separate entity - subtle and pure. From this primary state of existence in most subtle form, we marched on to grosser and grosser forms of existence - forming coverings around the soul due to increasing tendencies of baser consciousness and also contributed by Manas (Psyche), Chit (Consciousness), Buddhi (Intellect) and Ahankar (Ego). Samskaras (impressions) formed and vice and virtue made their appearances. Feelings of comfort and miseries, joys and sorrows commenced. Our liking of comforts and joys made us think that deliverance from miseries and sorrows is our main goal. Obviously, this is a narrow view of the problem.

The aims and objects conceived in terms of worldly ends exclusively cannot be the Ultimate Goal and are meaningless. We need to remember that pains and miseries are only the symptoms of the disease which lies elsewhere. Mere deliverance from unending pains and miseries cannot be the real answer, but understanding that bondage is their source - the disease in question - is relevant for the solution; it is Godly and spiritual. Freedom from bondage is liberation. As the endless cycle of rebirths ends only in liberation, pains and miseries find their consummation in it. Then only the culmination of human life finds its total Divine expression in the Scheme of Nature and world peace and harmony in this material manifestation be prevailing. Yet, liberation as a goal, is not complete in itself and falls much short of highest possible limit of human approach. Revered Babuji Maharaj has attained the final point of human approach where every kind of Force, Power, activity or even stimulus disappears and a man enters a state of complete Negation; Nothingness or Zero or God. This "Oneness with Master" is the final goal of human life. Rev. Babuji Maharaj, the Master, has two divine facets of Eternality. On one side, the Master is in total mergence and interface with the Ultimate and on the other, he is available to the entire humanity to make it possible for each individual to achieve the Goal of Life, by extending unceasingly, a helping hand at every stage of sadhana. To reach the Master is to attain perfect oneness with the Divine. Thus, Master is the Goal, His method is the path and his practices are the means. Being one with the Master is being one with God. It is this goal of "Oneness with God" which will ensure freedom from bondage and lead to the liberation of individual souls. It is such individual transformation that will reestablish Nature's harmony and world peace. Our goal will, therefore, have to be the Highest, otherwise progress up to the final limit is doubtful.

The first sentence of prayer in our system is "O Master! Thou art the real goal of human life!" We are saying that human life culminates in God. Here the shift from traditional and common thinking is clear. We are not talking of God who is far away from us but who is an integral part of human life. God has been alienated from our day-to-day life by all religions and any God oriented activity as a duty is considered as something additional to mundane functions. This is the cause underlying the present day morass of cultural, social and spiritual afflictions. We should know that the sphere of God is not something far away from us, but includes everything and all aspects and activities of our life are connected with Him alone. Not that people have not understood God, it is a very simple thing which has been forgotten. The Gita says that "in whatever Form a man worships Him, he gets Him in that very Form". But the common difficulty is that people do not worship him in any form; but instead they worship only the form, whereby the reality at the root disappears altogether. This is really the greatest blunder. Against this background, the approach of Babuji Maharaj is that the consciousness of God is something we should be aware all the time. We ought to know that which keeps us going all the time. Who is that God? The peace we have in our heart, the calm that is within. Anything we do against the Divine virtue and Godly norms upsets the peace and the calmness within us. The Divinity in us starts telling us something is wrong. That is what we call conscience. This is the "Voice of God" but generally we ignore His warnings. The "Asuric Pravritti" lures us to do evil and unnatural things lulling us with several pretexts and illusive rationalisations with the present day "Vyavahara" alibi and in the name of worldly behavioural patterns and responses. We have had enough doctors of spirituality to remedy this situation. They are really not the solution. We have to solve the problem by discipline and allowing the "Voice of God" in us to prevail and control each and every action of ours. Then only, we can progress in life and this is our goal.

The goal is not something else other than this God. Where do we find this God? We find Him in our own heart. We are not going to search Him elsewhere; so the goal is not far off, it is within us only. Then why is it we say he is the goal of human life? As on date, we have found other things as goal of human life: to become rich, to become powerful, to become popular and the like. As against this, we should see that the goal within us has got a full command over our existence. The yielding to that Divinity that is within us, is the only way to reach the real goal. To be aware of the presence of the Divinity in us and to see that Divinity percolates into every action of ours is the way to express God. The Divinity should or should be allowed to have influence on everything we do from getting up from the bed to retiring to bed. We should share whatever we have thinking that the Divinity has given us and therefore we share with others. This type of sharing is fundamental ethics, which we should develop. Whatever work we do, it should be treated as a trust reposed by God in us, so it should be excellent and in accordance with the norms both in letter and spirit. Lord Krishna said "Yoga is skill in action". Whatever work that is given to us is to be done with a feeling that it is the Divinity which permits us to do the work as a 'trustee'. No work stops for any person's sake and goes on without any interruption under the Divine Order. Every religion has taught the fundamental thing that it is God who does everything, though we mistakenly tend to think as the doers. Every religion has said this as something to be understood but is not practised by us. It is God who bestows for our children and other dependents, not we. That is what Rev. Babuji Maharaj wants as to understand. It is God who does in our form. As a trustee, we do the work. When this happens, the goal is brought nearer. The goal of life - God being the goal of human life - becomes meaningful to us as something that is tangible and relevant in every walk of life. It is a concrete feeling responsive to the natural and spiritual development of human life as such. It transcends the existing limits and inadequacies of preachings in big words and becomes a social and Godly but personalized pursuit as integral to human existence. We are not to seek the God as goal of life in Himalayas or in any form. That is not the God we want. That is not the Personality we are seeking. The God that the modern man wants is the one who is with him all the time, who keeps company with him and who gives inspiration to work for others as an obligation to the society. This influx of Divinity in our actions, in every work we do is what is the goal. We will be 'in God', 'with God' and 'for God' in the society in which we are destined to live as a trustee of God. This is the goal. What is the goal of human life? To enable others to see the Divinity in us - this is possible by our seeing Divinity in them. This again is possible when we know the commonness of our origin.

When we know that all of us have come from one and the same Origin, there is no question of separateness between ourselves. We know each of us is a heir to that Divinity, we are direct descendants, we are successors and we are representatives of that Divinity. Only thing is we have chosen to represent ourselves and not the Divinity. We have only to express that Divinity, then the problem is solved. That is more natural, what we are doing is unnatural. That is the reason for the ascendancy of the materialism in its worst manifestation and total pollution of human and spiritual environment in the world today. We have abandoned the Divine inus into the cave of our hearts. We must allow this Divinity in each one of us to express itself by subduing selfishness and ego. This spiritual transcendence will generally make one to be incapable of being selfish and egoistic. This dissolution of the universe of self - an individual creation - is essential to return to one's original state of Godliness. In such a state, one regains the real condition of individual purity of mind and simplicity, calmness and plainness of being. This is the beginning of bringing back world peace. It is this individual transformation that leads to collective world order. There is no other solution. In this Divine saga, each individual has an indispensable and particularized role to play. We, as individual physical entities, are not going to exist for ever. But Divinity will continue for ever in one form or the other. No individual existence is permanent. But permanent existence is always there in all of us. If it expresses fully in all of us, there is only cordiality, harmony, peace, love and compassion. It is only individual ego and existence of 'I' which leads to conflicts and competition. That is also the beginning of Gurudom. But the fact is that there is only one above and that is Divinity. That is the spiritual Truth; under the one umbrella of God, all of us are equal and there is nothing special about any of us. This is not unknown to our ancestors and sages. Yet, contradictions and divisions continue. This reflects selfish, egoistic and materialistic baser tendencies of evil minds. That is the trouble of Gurudom. Equality for all and no special privilege for anybody is not only democratic but spiritual as well. And we will never say we are above others so long as we know that it is Divinity that is there in all and that awareness will always make us feel humble. There is a significant meaning behind the great Hindu salutation "Namasthe". "I salute Him in you". This is against 'Namaskar'. 'I salute your Akar or form'. Namasthe is Truth and Namaskar is Ahankar. Do not recognise any form. Recognise the spirit. The spirit is the Divinity. The spirit is God and to see that God in every one is the goal of human life. "O Master! Thou art the real goal of human life". The real goal is to see Divinity in all and express Divinity in all its grandeur, love, fraternity and compassion. It is not seeing one Master in some far off place.

Rev. Babuji Maharaj expressed in the following words the meaning of life :-

"Life means liveliness; Damnation is for those who are dead at heart."

What is liveliness? It is to live with a heart. But what kind of life would it be? In a word, "Give away your heart to another, what remains then is only life'. If you ponder over the word 'Life' we will come to the conclusion that life is only that which is connected with living. The expression makes it clear that there is certainly some type of living with which life is connected. At the same time, it is also clear that the living with which this life wants to be connected is eternal and immortal. If we merge our life in that 'life', it is then the real life, where there is neither Bliss nor Sorrow, neither pleasure nor pain. The Master will lead us to that life which alone is the goal of life. Whatever sense we apply to the word "Give away our heart to another" will be correct if that is associated with love. The object is that the real Being which is shrouded over with worldliness or the heart which is inclined towards non-spiritual and material designs, should be turned out. That is the real beginning of life and the return of the world harmony and peace. The heart is the field of action of the mind. Mind is always as it is. It is the heart which is to be set right. Babuji Maharaj said that if one can sell his heart i.e. make a gift of it to the Divine Master or God, hardly anything remains to be done. While bringing a state of absorbency naturally in the Infinite Reality, it transforms the entire being of an individual. It is this spiritual transformation of the individual, which is the expression of Divinity in the world of manifestation. It is This Divinity - God which is the Real goal of human life.

There are various conceptions of the Ultimate Reality - God. People look upon Him differently according to their capacity and understanding. The most commonly accepted conception of God is Eternal Power. But philosophic view includes the idea of Nirguna Brahman (Indeterminate Absolute) which is above all multiplicity and distinction. It is beyond quality, activity and consciousness. This Nirguna Brahman is regarded to be the Ultimate Cause and substratum of existence; the super active Centre of entire manifestation. It is also known as Para Brahman. With this comes another conception - the idea of God as Supreme Existence. We see the universe with all its diversities and differentiations and we are led to believe in it's creator and controller. We call Him Iswara or Saguna Brahman (Determinate Absolute) - also known as Apara Brahman. We think of Him as an Eternal Existence - Omnipotent and omniscient, possessing all finest attributes. It is only when viewed from the lower levels that God (as the God of religion) becomes an object of worship - final approach of almost all religions. While there is much debate on and large following for both these conceptions, Babuji Maharaj in a Masterly stroke said that "Truly God is neither Nirguna nor Saguna but beyond both; He is what He is". It is we who conceive him as Nirguna and make him Saguna. We must fix our view on the Original Element (Adi Tattva) - be it Nirguna or Saguna; whatever It is we must love It.

So long we remain confined within the bounds of the religion, we remain entangled with one or the other view of Gods' conception. The highest spiritual attainment is possible only when we go beyond the limits of religion. In fact spirituality begins where religion ends. Religion is only a preliminary stage for preparing a man for his march on the path of freedom from bondage. Revered Babuji Maharaj said "The end of religion is the beginning of spirituality; the end of spirituality is the beginning of Reality; and the end of Reality is the Real Bliss. When that too has gone, we have reached the destination - God". Thus, God is not to be found within the folds of a particular religion or sect. He is neither confined within certain forms or rituals nor is He to be traced within the scriptures or Holy books. Him we have to seek in the inner most core of our hearts. Really God is very simple and plain. He is not in solid form. There is no solidity of any kind in Him. God is simple and extremely subtle. In fact, the very simplicity and purity of the Ultimate has become a veil to it. It is this Ultimate - God that is the real goal of human life. The confusing methods and complicated means advised for the realisation of the simplest do not therefore, serve the purpose; rather on the other hand they keep one entangled in his self-created complexities all the life. As a matter of fact, realisation is neither a game of contest with the nerves and muscles nor a physical pursuit involving austerities, penance or mortification but is only transformation of the inner BEING to its real nature. That is what Sri Ram Chandra's Raja Yoga, therefore, takes into account, ignoring all misplaced superfluities connected with it. It is this transformation that Rev. Babuji Maharaj promises to the entire humanity with a view to reestablish Divine Order and evolve a civilisation where co-operation is the spirit, service is the rule and sacrifice is the principle. Our Master's Divine clarion call "Awake, O Sleepers! It's the hour of the dawn".

For the first time in the spiritual history, God - the subtlest - has been so adequately defined that He becomes the object of our meditation. Whenever we think of Him, want to worship Him, praise Him and the like, what is our goal? The coin of life has two sides - Divine and Spiritual and Worldly and material - and any goal must make both these resplendent. All have come from Him and the Divine expresses Himself through us and the manifestation. It is axiomatic that every flower may grow in its right standard and every soul must live a happy and restful life. Firstly, each one of us must play the role carved out by Him in this world in accordance with the law of Nature. Each one of us, individually, must therefore, first identify the Mission of Life; it is part of the Goal. Secondly but more importantly, it is the bounden duty of every human being to reach Him and regain one's original state of being 'one with Him'. The goal set by the Master meets the core requirements of thse two concurrent missions of life 'totally and effectively'. This makes life an integral whole, it is not really the worldly living that is detrimental to the Natural Path but only our wrong ways of living that impede spiritual progress. This path bestowed by the Master is a 'way of life' - in total harmony with the Nature.

Revered Babuji has laid down that Divine Light without luminosity in the heart where it beats be the object of meditation. He avers that in the absence of adequate human vocabulary, everyone has expressed the Divine as Light. But the Master adds a rider - Divine Light without luminosity, which is incomprehensible to physical faculties and gross senses. To be attracted by and be absorbed in this Divine Light is the beginning of spiritual journey of the abhyasi. All sincere sadhakas of the Natural Path have imperienced this Divine Light and many have grown to such higher levels of consciousness that they are 'one with him'. It is our practical experience that mind is absorbed in this Divine light without luminosity in a natural manner and it is certainly possible through a graduated process of sadhana - to expand to cover the entire Godly Region; Complete oneness with the Master. Through a system of Trainers, he lends his support from day one of the introduction and continue removing obstacles that impede spiritual growth at each stage of sadhana individually. This is achieved through the offering of Pranasya Pranah - the Life force and Sri Ramchandra Consciousness - Pranahuti, the yogic transmission. More about this in subsequent chapters.

By regular and methodical sadhana under an able spiritual guide and trainer, one is enabled to play his part in this world meaningfully and in a humane manner by developing Divine attributes like Universal Love, Fraternity, moderation and sharing; inducing each to give everyman his fair dues treating him as one's own. A man becomes a Real Man. The Divine mission of the Master is to re-establish spirituality as the basis of human life and restore world harmony and balance through individual transformation. Towards this end, He has graced us with an institutionalized system of simple practices so that each one of us can achieve the spiritual destiny of being 'one with the Origin', one may call it the Ultimate, Bhuma or the Master. It is our experience and conviction that it is possible to live a life of spiritual living in tune with Nature and attain the goal of life in its entirety and thus individually participate in the Godly endeavour of the restitution of the Divine order, the Rta in the world.

It is this living dead and life in life that is the culmination of sadhana and the essence of real life. This is living in a state of liberation and wordly living in Godly life; material life in spiritual living. Each one of us is an inheritor to this way of life and that is what the Master assures with cosmic certainty. Let us all yield to Him with a heart of love and devotion and make our lifes meaningful and relevant and grow to our full potential. Amen.