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God is constantly with us and ready
to take us up at the slightest sign on our part of
accepting Him.
Sri. I.Chalapathi Rao
1.
This sentence given by Revered Dr KCV
is an affirmation of the experience of aspirants on
the path of spirituality in general and the
aspirants of the Natural Path in particular.
2.
God is constantly with us is an
axiomatic truth. But for a sadhaka this truth needs
to be realized in one’s heart and in one sense this
is the culmination of sadhana itself.
3.
There are several schools of thought
with regard to this Goal of realization. In the
system of the Natural Path propounded by Mahatma Sri
Ramchandraji Maharaj, the abhyasis self effort is
complimented with the Support of Pranahuti, which is
unique to the system of the Natural path itself.
Here we should understand that the support of
Pranahuti is more of a complementary nature than
being of a supplementary nature. The very sentence
of the seminar signifies this aspect. The word
complementary is meant here to state that both the
aspects, Abhyasi’s effort and Master’s Grace which
is effected through Pranahuti is a necessity for
total consummation of the Goal whereas the word
supplementary is meant here to state that the
Support of Pranahuti only adds up to the effort
which we all know that is partially true. It is not
mere simple addition of two factors but a necessary
confluence of the two so as to make it one.
4.
The sentence of the seminar gives us
the basic underlying thread of understanding of the
system of the Natural path in particular which may
be true for other paths as well about which I do not
know. We all know about the descent of our grand
Master Pujya Lalaji Maharaj who made it possible for
the very revival of the technique of Pranahuti
process through which all people in this World
irrespective of caste, creed, race or religion are
able to have access to the very Divine
Grace/effulgence which is transmitted to the heart
of the seeker through the application of will. This
very fortune is being felt by sadhakas as calmness,
peace, happiness, balance etc.
5.
The repeated influxes had during
various occasions like individual sittings, satsangs
and during celebrations of Masters’ birthdays is
indeed putting us firmly on the path. The experience
infact is becoming our second nature when the seeker
puts in effort to own up the experiences through
assiduous sadhana. Thus if you ask the seekers of
the Natural path as to what they have got from this
system, I presume everyone would unequivocally would
say that they are able to feel the presence of the
Divine in their hearts on a continuous and constant
basis. This feeling of Divine is actually turning
into a state of constant remembrance of the Master.
In this state the heart’s inclination towards
worldly possessions and enjoyments tends to almost
reduce to zero as one progresses farther on the
path. The first part of the sentence that, “God is
constantly with us ..” is an experiential truth for
the seekers in the Natural path.
6.
For the sadhakas, the second part of
the sentence is more important as they need to know
what they have to do in order to realize or
actualize the first part. In the second part of the
sentence Revered Dr KCV uses a word “slightest”
which is a significant word as it indicates the ease
with which one can have access to God’s Grace in our
system which otherwise is a very difficult task.
Only Sadhakas like Revered Dr KCV could use such
words to emphasize and also to reiterate the
efficacy of the system vis a vis the effort put in
by the abhyasi , as he knew through his life
experience about his and others’ sadhana both in
this system and otherwise. He is only goading all of
us to understand the minimum required effort from us
to progress on the path.
7.
Secondly he is asking us to accept
the system or in other words yield to the Master of
the day without wasting the precious time in the
mimansa on the efficacy of the system with other
systems, a exercise or a tendency that many of the
aspirants have before plunging deep. He makes a very
significant point when he says that, “surrender
which develops into devotion” whereas we are told
that devotion leads to surrender. I think this is a
pun or quon which needs to be understood. This
cannot be resolved or understood logically.
8.
In the condition of devotion, we as
sadhakas are consciously aware that we are seeking
the Master but we do not have cognizance of the fact
that Master is also seeking us. The awareness of the
Master is had from the perspective of the self. That
is the reason we keep crying for Master’s grace
through our prayers and though we do feel the grace
yet we cannot acknowledge with certainty that we
have been accepted by the Master. The cries of
separation which sometime are felt with such
intensity that we start feeling helpless on our
ability to do anything and that leads to a stage of
feeling of dependancy on the Master. We yield more
and more out of our own helplessness and in the
process surrender starts from our side.
9.
In this message, Revered Dr KCV
asserts that it is the Master who completes the
surrender. It is a very significant understanding
that comes to us after a lot of struggle. The
perspective of the Master after having this
understanding is significantly different than that
we had earlier. Here we tend to dedicate every
effort done by us to his grace. We internally feel
that without the Master’s grace, nothing be possible
at all. To talk about the Master’s grace without
knowing much is really blasphemous and the self in
us utter such words, I seek your kind pardon for the
same mistake.
10.
Surrender to the Master, as I
understand does not happen at one instance, but it
happens progressively, various incidents in life
where we feel utterly helpless which make us yield
to Him more and more. I feel a point comes when we
seek only Him to realize the goal and not seek
anything else then we get accepted by Him. We need
to realize that the wanton desires that lie hidden
in the heart need to be renounced and cleansed
wilfully before we start seeking his grace
(acceptance) for spiritual upliftment.
11.
I feel courage when I read the
sentence from Dr KCV where he says, “If we have
decided that we want the Master’s help for our own
higher evolution, or to reach the Ultimate, we will
find that God is very near”. This is the first
requirement to have the help of God constantly. But
with my experience, I hold the view that the fire of
devotion or aspiration is not always had with
constant intensity. There are many ups and downs but
it is there continuously. The ups and downs are due
to effect of our samskaras but the continuity that
is maintained is due to the love of the Master which
we feel through the link that is established during
the time of introduction. And this aspect is very
beautifully explained by Dr KCV that the devotion as
experienced by the abhyasi is not like Thaila Dhara
Aviccina vat but like a fire of aspiration which
moves upwards and expands itself. I feel that when
the samskaras are burnt then we may feel like above
but for persons like me whose aspiration waxes and
wanes due to samsakaras the continuity factor even
as stated above like Thaila Dhara .. is due to the
Master’s aspiration or Love for my growth. The
cognizance of this factor , I feel has lead to my
deeper faith in the Master.
12.
Master says, faith is infact the
foundation on which we have to build the edifice of
spirituality. I do not know whether faith leads to
surrender or vice versa but the little wisdom of
mine asks me to surrender as this is very much in my
hands and conscious grasp. Faith, I feel is an inner
awakening to the knowledge that Master is all and
all is Master. But to come to this stage, we need to
overcome and manage many obstacles that we encounter
in our sadhana like sloth, fickleness, grosser
thoughts like comparison, contempt, fear etc.
13.
In the condition of faith we start
feeling fearlessness. Fearlessness or in other words
courage (Dhiratva) comes to us due to the presence
of Divine with us. We may either feel the presence
of the Divine consciously or otherwise but the
result of which is the courage. Courage felt here is
not the mental conditioning to face situations but a
firm unconscious inner conviction that Master knows
and will take care of me. Here we are not seeking
anything from the Master but seek Him to feel
contended, happy and settled i.e, the answer to the
inner restlessness.
14.
The constant presence of the Divine
felt through the line of masters enables us to
become aware to our Divine Duty. When I look into
myself as from where I get inspiration to think of
Master’s work as naturally and as spontaneously
considering my state of consciousness when I started
sadhana, I now realize that the consciousness of the
Master is giving this wisdom and the zeal to work. I
feel that this system not only puts us firmly on the
path of Divinity but inspires us to work for the
Divinity and it is well known fact that this is the
gateway to the transformation of humanity.
15.
In this message Revered Dr KCV is
urging us take the plunge even as Master stated in
commandment-1 that “Religion helps one only to
understand that there is something more in Nature
for him to perceive. But for picking up the pearls
one must oneself dive deep into the ocean.”. After
having started the practice and now if we have to
answer to the query,” the slightest sign on our part
of accepting Him” then I would like to put my
understanding in this manner:
a.
Practice and adopt implicit obedience
to the instructions of the system. Yielding is an
important step in every stage of sadhana.
b.
Understand and adopt the relevant
commandments when undergoing through afflictions and
worries. Accepting things as they are (i.e which are
difficult to deal) as the will of the Master, is the
first step in this direction. When this happens then
the aspiration gets delinked to the bhoga that we
undergo and sadhana continues in an uninterrupted
manner. Otherwise I am finding that every incident
in life takes its toll on our practice. I now
understand this as one of the serious obstacle that
we put ourselves due to our ignorance.
c.
Align to the will of the Master
through dedicated service to Him. Here we should
understand that Master is working for the Humanity
and we are working for the Master. The statement of
the Master like, “ Service is the only concern of
the serf” as stated in the second commandment is
quite a significant state of consciousness that our
Master is asking us to attain.
d.
Even in the best or worst of the
conditions that we are bestowed with, never fall to
the temptation of comparison. We need to maintain
our purity of dedication through thorough cleansing
of the human maladies like comparison, avarice,
greed etc. I realize that to be in the condition of
supplication one need to be purified of all these
kind of blemishes. Can we not let go our petty
differences with others and deficiencies in us for
the attainment of this high ideal?
e.
Very importantly we need to
prioritize our activities and try to reduce our
activities to the bare minimum to fulfill the duty
to our Master. Also by definition, accepting the
Master means accepting his Goal of human
transformation.
16.
To conclude I would say quoting
Revered Dr KCV, “ The whole purpose of yoga is to
unite us with Him and get us the same condition as
God Himself – impersonal, unattached, stainless,
bodiless and so on.. “ and he continues further to
say that ,”God is also said to be incapable of any
low attachment and His only purpose is to see that
we are lifted upto that condition where we abide by
nature out of yoga..” God accepts us when we also
start having the same qualities like Him. In this
message Revered Dr KCV is saying that the process of
Divinisation starts as we start accepting to be like
Him and begin our effort of purifying ourselves to
that end. Meaning to say that God does not wait till
we attain total purification as others want us to
believe but He simultaneously starts filling us up
as we show little inclination for Him. And in the
process the whole process starts accelerating at a
pace which is far higher than the effort with which
we started. And Dr KCV beautifully sums up saying
that, “we start the process of surrender by saying
“Om Krato smara, Krutham smara” and He (God) is one
who actually completes it by acknowledging it”. Then
only it becomes total or purna and that is the
reason I have felt while contemplating on this topic
that God’s Grace is complementary in nature i.e it
is necessary to complete the activity.
17.
On this auspicious occasion I would
like to remind myself and all other co-travellers
that Let us Yield to the Master and allow Him to
complete the work as he desires to be which is
necessary. Again remember that here word inclination
of the seminar topic is not mere inclination but as
an act of will.
Thanking for the opportunity given
Pranams
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