The Eternal Connection
by Chariji, July 24, 2007, Tiruppur, India.
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
It is a very long message and my eyesight is not very good and my voice, as you can see, is hoarse. Anyway, I will try to read it. It starts with a quotation from Adi Shankara.
Durlabham trayam eva etad devaanugrahahetukam
manushyatvam mumukshutvam mahaapurushasamsrayah
“There are three things which are very rare indeed
and are received only with the grace of God.
They are a human birth, the longing for liberation
and to come to the holy feet of a perfect saint.”
This was given by Adi Shankara in one of his compositions many centuries ago. We who are today assembled here, and others of a spiritual bent of mind, are indeed greatly blessed in having qualified to be the recipients of a Master’s Grace, my Master’s Grace, and the grace of the parampara [lineage] of Sahaj Marg gurus which Babuji Maharaj refers to in his messages frequently, printed in Whispers [from the Brighter World]. It is our sacred duty to ourselves not to fritter away this rare and unique opportunity to reach the Goal of humanity which our great Masters, Lalaji Maharaj and Babuji Maharaj, have promised to us as the fruit of a unique method of sadhana—Sahaj Marg—which has made the highest goal, of mergence with the Divine, possible in this one lifetime itself.
In one of His messages, Babuji Maharaj says: “The aspiration to be united with the Divine is a latent state, that is, it is in each and every one of us. It is part of us, from our very birth. This latent state becomes an inherent part of life. Indeed it becomes life itself, shall we say, at its most rewarding stage. When life goes down this way, a significant step is taken. The guide intended for the aspirant appears in one way or another and a constructive work can then start. It is necessary to do the spadework and clean ourselves little by little. This action necessarily brings about painful reactions to the person concerned”¾ourselves, abhyasis.
There are painful reactions when we clean something. When you sweep a house, there is dust and you sneeze, children get it in their eyes. When you start cooking with oil and masala, mirchi [chillies], there are fumes which hurt the eyes. Nothing in life is only good. There is an element of good, there is an element of bad, or pain and pleasure which preponderates. We say it is good if it preponderates, we say it is bad if that preponderates.
“This is the price to pay for his horizon to get clearer.”
That is, pain clears our horizon, and makes the vision clearer and clearer: what we have to be, with what we have to merge, and not how far but when we will get there. Our anxiety should not be about distance but about when. I have many abhyasis who say, “Sir, how much more do we have to travel?” It doesn’t matter. It can be done now itself, it can take centuries.
“Will and perseverance are the keywords in this business; patience bears its fruit. Easiness is an unknown notion in this system of Sahaj Marg; the effort itself generates noticeable results.”
You see, my Master has assured us that it is not easy. I have several times told you, it is simple, of course. But simple is not easy, and easy may not be simple.
In another message, Babuji Maharaj says, “This is what the life of one aspiring to spirituality should be: a hymn to love, a duet with the divinity that would also make the angels delighted to hear it. Cultivate love in your heart, it is a powerful torch, which lights up your way and allows you to see all its aspects. You cannot imagine how powerful it is. If men were actually willing to use it, it could by itself neutralize the atom and its trail of violence and death.”
Love! So if you people, if all people all over the world want to know how to stop wars, how to stop violence, terrorism, hatred, inter-religious feuds, international feuds—without love nothing is possible. And, according to the American doctrine, each war will be a war to end all wars, and that is why it is going on as a series of increasing violence, destruction, hatred.
Our stay on earth is only a transitional incarnation for all of us, no more or less significant than the others. What Babuji is implying is whether I am a donkey or a human being, it doesn’t matter. What matters is how I use this incarnation. You may be a man and lose your opportunity, whereas a donkey may make it on the ladder of evolution.
These lives are merely the links of a chain, which leads to the final conclusion. Only this overall and final result, meant to make of an abhyasi a new being, matters. Life is a long learning process, or a process of ‘becoming’, whose final outcome is subject to the efforts put in by the aspirant.
We have to, here, understand very clearly that grace is there always, but how we use that grace depends upon the efforts that we put in. You know, one man is given amrit [nectar] and he refuses it to take a spoon of poison. Another man is given a spoon of amrit and a spoon of poison, and he chooses the amrit. One man says, “Give me a glass of whisky.” Another says, “Give me a glass of milk.” The choice is always yours. You are responsible for your choice. You are responsible for the effects of your choice. You are responsible for the sufferings that may ensue.
The physical body is only a circumstantial costume; as for the soul, it has a permanent essence and aspires sooner or later to unite with the Divine. It is fortunate that the soul’s aspiration can never be destroyed. It can never be dulled by time, however many millions of incarnations we may take. It is that aspiration, that longing to unite with the Divine that keeps us going.
In a spiritual process, it is love that counts most. It compensates for many failures. It is like a flame constantly burning in a lantern used to light the way. How can one see clearly without it? This special light makes it possible to advance without fear, the obstacles on the way being now visible and avoidable. To have an ideal in spirituality increases tenfold the forces that urge us to act.
Again love, you see. Babuji Maharaj emphasizes, re-emphasizes, love all the time as the only force that can take us, by illuminating our path, by guiding us along the path, and with that love we merge into that with which we want to merge.
This incarnation can be decisive if we really want it to be so. It depends on us. “Will this be my last incarnation?” No answer. It depends on you. If you determine that this will be your last birth on earth, it shall be. Nothing can stop you. If you decide that you want to live a hundred lives more in a cosmopolitan society full of pleasures, achievements, joys, you shall be born again a hundred times. The decision is yours.
It is up to each one of us to make the choice that must propel us to the highest level. Faith is the most powerful driving force ever. To meditate deeply is to surrender and let the divine energy flow freely within oneself. It is also to have one’s heart fully converted to this step; the most important thing can be obtained only under these conditions. Make every effort to achieve the best. Be receptive. We must choose a suitable place for this ritual and isolate ourselves, in every sense of the word. We must prepare ourselves thoroughly by adopting good habits, which will be acquired through this practice. We must make this moment a festive one.
We must not meditate moodily, or in a sense of, “Ayyo! What have I to do, every morning this meditation, meditation, meditation.” We must make this moment a festive one. We must enjoy it. It must be a celebration of life. It must be an occasion in which, on which, through which we try to merge with the inner, the divine within us. It must be a moment of joy, hopefully with His grace, a moment of achievement.
This journey deep into ourselves must lead us to the heart of the being, this heart, which is also the heart of the world. Its resources are infinite; they can propel us on to planes of a rare beauty, which leave us ecstatic and grateful. The human heart has infinite capabilities well beyond those attributed to the organ of flesh—considered as the main organ of the body. The heart is the seat of the soul. Very clearly specified now—not in the brain, not in the big toe, but in the heart. The heart is the seat of the soul. This knowledge is not widespread; it is reserved for followers of spirituality, capable of going further into knowledge.
We should not feel discouraged if we do not reach this shore as quickly as we would like to; perseverance is our best guarantee of success. We have to pursue our search tirelessly, it is the ultimate goal of the real being which resides in us, and is thirsting for this sublime fulfilment.
And finally, my Master says, “Meditation brings about conditions whose effects you cannot really measure.”
I have abhyasis quite close to me who are often asking me, “What happened in today’s meditation?” It can be very profound, like perhaps for today’s meditation, and they don’t see anything, don’t understand anything, they don’t feel anything. And they say, “But I didn’t feel anything.” Yesterday evening I had a Western abhyasi in my office who asked the same question. “I used to feel a lot, Chariji, but now in these years I don’t feel anything.” You know when you start taking up swimming or diving, the first time you dive you land on your belly, and it pains—very painful. After some months or years of practice, you go into the water without leaving a ripple in it, and nothing on your body. Practice, practice, practice—what we call abhyas, abhyas, abhyas.
“Meditation brings about conditions whose effects you cannot really measure. All your cells vibrate differently. Do not disregard this favour bestowed on you, in terms of being able to reach the best of sadhana. You should constantly aspire to uniting with the divine presence; it is the remedy for all evils. Have the courage to pursue this conquest; one day you will reach the goal. Be happy to be on your way, you are among the chosen ones who have left behind them a lot of baggage.”
This applies to all of us. That you are here is itself a fact not only that you chose Sahaj Marg, but my Master chose you. I have often said that the spiritual connection between the Master and the disciple is like a marriage. I was speaking about it to some western abhyasis recently. I said, “Like a marriage is for life, spirituality is forever. A lifetime is nothing in the life of a spiritual journey from here to there. It may last one lifetime, it may last one minute, it may last eons of time, but this connection will be, and must be, maintained.”
Babuji Maharaj once told me that he could never break this connection between himself and an abhyasi, but an abhyasi can break it just like that. If he says, “My connection, I don’t want,” it is finished. And then you may not find another guru for thousands of years. And then we shall languish on earth or wherever it may be, for millennia, millennia, millennia, who knows, you see.
I hope that today my Master will bless all of us, by confirming in the hearts of each one of us that our connection with him is indeed permanent, eternal. Not to be, under any circumstances, even thought of as being cut from our side. Because only we can cut it—remember it.
“Have the courage to pursue this conquest; one day you will reach the goal. Be happy to be on your way, you are among the chosen ones who have left behind them a lot of baggage.”
I pray we may all hearken to this message of my Great and Divine Master, and by His Grace, reach the goal in this lifetime.
Thank you.