When our birthdate appears in the calender it is customary to say one more mile stone is crossed in life. Similarly we may say one more birth aniversary of Revered Babuji is being celebrated today. There are certain rituals and procedures relating to the celebration formulated by us and we may go through them with all religious fervour. But if we see how irrelevant it is to measure years an unit of time in terms of mile stones, a unit in terms of distance, we understand that we are being too casual in our approach. If we ask ourselves when we started sadhana perhaps few will tell the exact date, month and year of starting the sadhana. However feeble the intention in the beginning of doing sadhana, we have continued sadhana of sorts for some time and later seriously. There is some thing unique in our practice of PAM that though we tend to commit lapses and are irregular yet some force pulls us back to sadhana. Again and again like a mother calling the child who is wayward we are called back to practice. The experience during meditation is such that the tranquillity however much not reckoned seriously by us it beckons us back to taste again.

If take stock of our practice over a period of time we find that imperceptibly our attitudes have undergone a sea change, our behaviour tended to be more pleasant to others, our feelings and emotions considerably controlled. The degree of change may vary amongst us individually but the change is something that is tangible, that is more perceptible to others than ourselves. We have not been asked to practice specifically any sama and dama or yama and niyama; yet due to the effect of the infusion of Pranahuti or transmission into us considerable moderation in all aspects of life seem to have seeped into us, even as the rain water finds its way to the underground water bed. We are transformed imperceptibly by an alteration of the inner most core of our being. Our beloved Master stated that under this method of training in spirituality, the method to liberate the pining soul is "to divert his soul towards the Ultimate. The result shall be that he will go on developing till, by the last moment of his life, he will finally reach the destination and attain liberation". Of course he adds that this would be for those fortunate ones alone who are actuated by an earnest longing for liberation and are really destined for it.

While remembering these words of the Master, we should ponder over the effect of Pranahuti referred to earlier and then we are sure to find automatically the gratefulness to Master tends to develop. Gratefulness to God/Master is a spiritual state that is attained by us very early in sadhana, provided we reflect over our condition often and record our feelings. However, if we have on the other hand tried and developed the discipline that has to accrue through the practices of yama and niyama, and other various means like, practices for development of viveka, vairagya and uparati before sraddha is developed we need to have spent enormous time before we developed this essential quality of gratefulness. In most of such cases where a person has gone through other methods than PAM there is the inevitable feeling that one has accomplished a disciplined way of life. However true it might be this feeling, unfortunately, is a real barrier in as much as it promotes egoism and a sense of being a doer of things. These two feelings are positive hindrance in the development of Saranagati or a state of Surrender that is a must in spiritual life. Thus, while sraddha has developed one does not proceed further to the stage of Surrender if we go alone in the path without the help of Pranahuti.

The point that is stressed here is that meditational practices as given by our Master should be followed strictly and we need not bother to practice other virtues advocated as essential to sadhana separately. Master is categorical in his statement that these follow as we practice. If we want to evaluate ourselves naturally it is wise to see whether the qualities and virtues spoken of in religious and spiritual literature have actually developed in us. Then and then only we gain social recognition and that is a precondition to enable us motivate others to follow the path of PAM. What are the parameters by which we could say we have progressed in spiritual life.

The first and foremost thing to note is that we should have a sense of freedom. Freedom is a much abused word. Since the French revolution it has been secularised to such an extent that it has now come to mean almost licentiousness and irresponsibility. Freedom from bondages is our aim surely. But we cannot give freedom without restraint to wild animals however much we appreciate they have a right to live freely without bondages of the cages in Zoos or Circuses. Similarly we cannot give freedom to children to play with Gas/Electric stoves. We cannot give freedom to people to practice habits which are injurious to their health and that of others.

In spirituality no one has any right to impose his favorite God/Goddess on others. No one has any right to impose a particular form of worship on others. No one has any right to claim that he is the only Guru or Master. It is an entirely a different matter that an individual accepts some method or Master as his to the exclusion of others. That is his spiritual prerogative. This freedom has been granted to all in our land from the beginning not withstanding aberrations and that is the vital spiritual fountain that governs us.

In such a situation one is likely to find himself alone in spirituality and it has been rightly called Aadhyaatimika vidya-that is science related to Self. However in this land it has been the practice to get help from others in this para-vidya from the vedic times. Assistance through help from other co-travelers was most common. However Master says by the end of 1880's this spiritual atmosphere was tottering hopelessly and therefore the Advent of our Grand Master Revered Lalaji Maharaj has taken place. Our Country's soul is spirituality and that was in trouble. Materialistic values have started taking deep roots in the wake of the call for political freedom. There were of course voices like that of the great Master Swami Vivekananda that political freedom is not an end in itself and we should gain spiritual freedom. But his voice perhaps with that of others did not have impact on the saviours of the day in the political and economic areas save but a few. "Our leaders maddened with the wine of newly acquired powers, devoid of discrimination between temporary and permanent values of life, fierce like wild animals started cornering the benefits of the newly acquired political status and with their thinking resting on matter and its various applications addicted to the aggrandisement of self by exploiting others wealth, having no faith what so ever in the life here after, which is the distinguishing feature of the spiritual and religious belief of this land, all in the name of scientific temperament, and condemning their soul to the boundaries of their bodies whose life is only in the senses and creature comforts. Thus the soul of India was getting invaded by our great reformers and their thinking and unthinking chelas.

We are all aware in our Country when we narrate stories to children we have mentioned that serpents have jewels on their head and so long as the jewel is safe the serpent does not die. Similarly we have been telling them that the life of a giant is in a parrot or similar bird in a far off forest inaccessible to others and till that bird is safe the giant is safe. That is how we teach them there is a soul which is essential for the existence of the animal or giant. When that is attacked the fall of the animal or the giant happens. The soul of India namely spirituality was thus in danger and it had to be protected. Thus along with the call for political freedom the call for spiritual freedom had also to be given. If we keep this in mind we understand the new Era of spirituality that has been ushered in by our Grand Master.

The assistance from others can come by way of sharing information. But in spirituality when we get stuck up at certain points of progress it is necessary that some one has to give us a helping hand to come out of that condition or as Master puts it push us out of that condition.. This is what is done through Pranahuti. Spiritual regeneration in this Country has started with the restoration of the process of Pranahuti by our Grand Master.

This method has to continue by leaps and bounds so that the rot of materialism is cleansed from not only the minds and feelings of the people but from the fabric of Indian polity. For this purpose the Grand Master considered it necessary to structure a Personality with no mask or persona first so that Pranahuti offered by him and his associates would qualify to the status of having its origin in the Base that is Void. Such a structuring was difficult and indeed awesome. Yet the Grace of God or Divinity made it possible for him to structure a Special Personality out of the mortal frame of Sri Ramchandraji of Shahjahanpur. This personality is now charged with the task of reforming the spiritual life of this great country and in fact humanity in general. Spirituality in our country had to be saved from debris into which our scholars trained as they were by their counterparts of the occident have chosen to throw it, by their crafty and irresponsible interpretations of the para-vidya that is native to our soil, unable to accept the supremacy of a nation that was wise much before they were properly clad.

Having been introduced into the system of PAM, we feel proud to say we have gained freedom or moksha in a sense. We claim we are free from the clutches of Orthodoxy and the routine rituals and religious practices. But are we sure that it is due to the effect of freedom we got from PAM or it is a just a reflection of the materialistic and atheistic notions which we would like to palm off as spirituality. Our hearts know the answer better. The freedom from traditional systems is no mean accomplishment and naturally one would be judged critically whether the freedom claimed is not just irresponsible licence. The moral and ethical standards of the person who claims such a freedom will be weighed against the well established norms of ethics. One of such norms that is difficult to pass unless one is genuine is Tolerance and Fortitude not to speak of boldly facing ridicule. As one of our Masters said we have to pass through the tests coming to us from the feelings of 1.regretting joining the system leaving behind the conventional methods 2.feeling remorse and 3. feeling bad due to ridicule by others. When we pass through these tests we become respected and perhaps even revered. Precious achievements require great sacrifices and in spirituality it is the Self that needs to be pruned.

Freedom from want is what Political and economic scientists have been promising and to give the devil its due we must accept that in our country we have come a long way since we have been left naked by the plunderers who came to us few centuries back as traders from the West and left us in the middle of last Century. "Steal not" is a value that has been advocated by all religions. Surely no one will if he has enough - so say the economists. Social reforms are taking care of this to some extent. But we steal to hoard - this aspect the social reform cannot attend to and the ethics of economics cannot answer. Non stealing is a spiritual value that has to be inculcated from the beginning of childhood. There is another name for hoarding - savings? The idea of savings arises out of fear - fear of the unknown future. So long as it is savings to share it is wonderful. But most often than not, persons who save never share and if and when they share it is a insignificant portion of what they saved. The point to note is, it is not the freedom from want of material resources as such that needs to be addressed but our attachment to the material resource that has to be got rid off. That is real freedom as we understand in spirituality.

Our land has given many systems of realisation called darsanas. It is true the word darsana has been translated as a system of philosophy. Arm chair philosophy is the prerogative of the Occident! We are practical and have yoked our mind and body to achieve realisation from times immemorial. Moksha or freedom from wishes has been our aim. All our darsanas spoke of that only though they gave different methods of realisation. There were Aasthika darsanas and there were Naasthika darsanas- those that believed in Vedas and those that did not- yet all spoke of Mukti as the goal. In our system also our prayer refers to our being slaves of wishes and our aim to become free from them and be Masters. It is attachment to materials that may or may not be wanted that is to be classified as wishes. Are we out of the clutches of such wishes because we practice PAM and our Master promised that?

We are told by our Masters that there is an influx of the Divine Mind at the time of introduction which goes on transforming us. To quote Dr. K.C. Varadachari "....we are working with the greatest and most sovereign principle in creation - the Divine Mind which has been brought down, thanks to the efforts of Revered Babuji, in such a way that it can be given or administered into almost every body, whatever the status of his evolution in any other system or in any walk of life. We are expected to train ourselves as house holders, not as renouncers". We are told that "We start with Yoga, we culminate in identity, in union.... we start with it. We grow more and more with it. All the sadhanas become natural to us........An omniscient, omnipotent force such as the Prana of the Divine, the Supreme mind, the Supreme thought, when it enters into our whole being, every one of the several parts of our body and mind get new force, new direction. They become truthful. They yearn for the infinite Brahman. They neither steal nor rob, nor cause injury. Their cleanliness is natural to them. Their devotion to Reality is perfect. And God almost dwells in them, because they are surrendered willingly, freely to be moulded by the Divine light and the Divine force." It is true that in many of our associates we observe slow and imperceptible change and they are able to practice without effort and strain the great virtues of speaking truth, being kind to all, being able to love God and Godly things, are devoted and committed to help others with Karuna and Maitri and practice Brahmacarya. They seem to have all the controls of the body and mind. How great it would be, that it is so with all of us?

Thus by the practice of PAM we have steadily moved towards control over the wishes. The wishes are no more our bondages. Think it over again and again. We find that we are at the helm of affairs or more appropriately we have the reins of the horses which are under control and their wild behaviour has been curtailed. It is futile to think in terms of annihilating them as the Sanyasins would ask us to do. No sane man cuts off his nose because he has cold. It is difficult to control them. True. But with the Divine which is the Master of all and everything in the Universe assisting us nothing is an impossibility. Awareness of the Master and our Grateful attitude towards him being maintained in all the states of Consciousness - waking, dreaming and sleeping - ensures our victory over these wild horses. For a person who is not exposed to such an influx the problem is terrific, what to speak of the effects on those souls of the efforts of the media which projects the heaven of Nymphs and fairies, wine and women as portrayed in religious literature as the heavenly gifts, as an ultimate by itself. Saved are we that we have a method of cleaning ourselves and also a unique method of meditation on Point A. Which Master has given such a method to get control over Kama and Krodha other than ours?. Every Master in the past projecting them as impossible matters for control by a Grhastha have told us to forget Moksha. Even Bhagavan Sri Krishna has been quoted wrongly to suit the purposes of the sanyasin.

Bhagavan Krishna in Gita said

There by saying that one who remembers Him at the last moment of his life will surely reach Him. This is the logic of many Hindus trying to remember God at the last moment and also the rather irrational rider that this may be done by proxy. So the stupid and yet sentimental method of uttering the name of Narayana on a person who is dead or is in coma and about to depart from the body. The importance of remembering God at the time of death is mentioned even in the Upanishads. (Chandogya III.14.1 and Prasna III.10). Great saints discovered a practical problem in this. After all the body is prone to diseases and so the devout may not be able to utter or even remember God at the last moment. Is God that unkind and unmerciful that the devotion and surrender to the will of God that one has practiced all through life go waste because he is not able to remember God at the last moment? Saints of great stature like the King Kulasekhara prayed that his prayers when he is well may be taken into account as he does not know what happens at the last moment of his life. He prayed

They then thought a way out of this and that is the origin of the technique of Constant Remembrance. Constant remembrance done purely and solely for the purposes of the Divine alone qualify and not all and sundry prayers for relief from animal wants or elementary requirements of existence. Our existence is a gift of the Divine and it shall be used solely for the purpose of the Divine as the Divine wills. Dr. K.C. Varadachari. Asks "Some have emphasized they live in God; many of them have stated they live for God; but who lives by God? And with the very force which God has given to us?... We mean to live our lives with the force, with the breath, with the vision, with the audition and with the conscience which He gives us as men determined to achieve perfection in this world and in the yonder worlds. Fear we have none" That is the consciousness of the Masters into which we constantly enter into and dive deep to unfathom the pearls Divine. That is the Constant remembrance which grants us liberation. That alone qualifies to the words. It is this consciousness of constant remembrance that grants us liberation and not remembrance of the Master with petty petitions and prayers. As we have seen earlier under the system of PAM it is the Master who seems to be calling us back again and again. With gratefulness established Constant remembrance is a state of being of most of the aspirants who practice this system. What doubts have they then that they are liberated. Master once remarked to me that it is a matter of minimum etiquette that every person who joins the system is given this relief. This is the work of the trainers; they shall remember the aspirants and induce in them the feeling of remembrance of the Master continuously. Pranahuti is infectious and is sure to percolate into the entire being of the aspirant.

It has been and continues to be the endeavour of our Institute to collect and compile data from the aspirants about how they feel about their progress in spirituality. We have suggested that they contemplate over the meaning of Masters sayings provided in the Diary published by ISRC. We have suggested that they evaluate themselves against the Ten Commandments the Master has given us. We suggested a somewhat detailed questionnaire to be filled by the aspirants for their own self evaluation. There is more scope for better participation by all of us. Keeping in view the problem namely that of Freedom from desires and the hopeful journey we are making in that direction it is all the more necessary that there should be better participation. Even as we have developed many ways by which we loosen our knots of bondages there are many more we face which appear formidable. It would be wise to remember the Masters words that we are all His co-travelers. Our leader is the Master and there is no problem that we cannot surmount or overcome. As the motto of our Institute avers, we share that Jnana that we get during meditation and learn from others experiences also. Our Master said he had his own share of miseries and afflictions and said he had taken them as Divine gifts by which he is getting relieved of the samskaras. We should free ourselves from this type of reservation to share with others what we experience. Thus we can become live carriers of the message of the Master to the future generations.