Cultivate the Seeds of Contentment

by Daaji, July 23, 2016, Monroe, NJ

So, dear friends, I am happy to be here again, especially on the eve of our beloved Master’s birthday. Our journey is quite tedious, quite long, infinite, and needs a lot of patience. Yet, with their mercy, we are able to travel with some days off, peace and quiet and solitude, in spite of circumstances.

There are many occasions where they gift us, starting with Lalaji’s Basant celebrations, Babuji’s birthday, Master’s birthday, and so many other events which go unnoticed and with which we are not really in tune. Our future exercise should be to sensitize our life in such a way that we are able to pick up those vibrations and say, “Okay, let me dive deeper. They are calling me.” We should be able to reciprocate to those voices, to those vibrations – simply put, to their transmission.

Sometimes abhyasis ask, “Were you transmitting to me today?” How does it matter whether a preceptor transmits, or the Master transmits, or some departed soul from beyond transmits to us? The idea is that somebody is looking after us with love. Let’s enjoy that moment and dive deeper.

The lives of our Masters are so profound. They teach us through their lives how we should be living our lives. What they did as disciples was extraordinary. Forget about their lives as Masters, look at their lives as abhyasis – how they did, what they did, etc. That is more important for us to study. Their lives as Masters do not teach us much, because they are already a finished product. What are we going to learn from the finished product? Although, they would never think of themselves as finished products. It is we who make the mistake of thinking that the Masters are the finished product. No, they all evolve. Had it not been so, we would say, “There is already a full stop in the infinite journey”. Then there is a paradox: a full stop in an infinite journey? It does not sound right.

The lives of our Masters are so profound. They teach us through their lives how we should be living our lives. What they did as disciples was extraordinary. Forget about their lives as Masters, look at their lives as abhyasis – how they did, what they did, etc. That is more important for us to study.

We often think that heaven is somewhere, or the Brighter World is somewhere. It is not anywhere. If it cannot be experienced here and now in this life itself, there is no Brighter World waiting for us. The Brighter World is within our heart. Babuji says in one of his informal talks that God is seeking us, but we have been making the mistake of seeking God everywhere except in our own heart. If God is seeking us, then where is the problem? If God wants to make our heart an abode, a Brighter World, what is preventing Him from making our house, this heart, as His house, an abode of His residence?

Would you like to stay in a house that is full of violence, full of desires, full of so many things that happen in any house? You would not want to stay as a guest even for an hour. There has to be some welcoming attitude. Are we inviting those great Beings into our heart with that much of love? We may be inviting them, but have we created an environment of love within?

There are two different things: whether we invite them with love is one thing, but if we create that environment of love within ourselves, then we need not invite them. They will just pop in. They will be attracted in a very natural way. We will not have to go to heaven, we will not have to go to the Brighter World, as the Brighter World will descend. Heavens will descend into our hearts.

And such abhyasis, wherever they go, with their love vibrations, in their humility, with their understanding and their wisdom, will be able to create heavens wherever they go. Because they don’t like to impose themselves on anyone, on any circumstance, on any place.

Our ideas are also so flexible: “If you like it, take it; if you don’t like it, so be it.” We don’t push our ideas. Heartfulness is one way of showing the world that we are flexible, we are not rigid people. The moment we say “This or else!” then that is not Sahaj Marg. Then we will not be creating the Brighter World around us. We will be creating only the darker world around us by imposing our presence, and being authoritarian.

Even the idea that “I am attracting the attributes of the great Master, and I am becoming like him with his attributes,” with such requests, however prayerful, there is greed. In this love relationship, I don’t think there is room for any such requests that, “I have to become like this, I have to become like that, I have to become more loving, or I have to tolerate someone.” There is nothing of that sort.

Acceptance is the key to our existence. If our Masters have to teach anything at all, it is that Sahaj Marg is all about acceptance. That you can accept things cheerfully is the next stage. Remain cheerful without even having the idea of acceptance, and then you have made it. Even the idea will not occur to your mind that “I have accepted,” whatever it may be. You become such a perfect vacuum that whatever passes through – it doesn’t matter whether it is joy or misery – you are able to erase in front of you. Things dissolve in front of your eyes.

These are lofty goals no doubt, so let’s talk reality. Let’s come down to our level and analyze the problems that we have, the so-called problems.

When we sit in the evening for cleaning, think that they are being evaporated from the back side. At night-time, present the problem to Master: “This is my problem.” See if he solves it or not. And, if it still remains, that means you need to work at it, because that problem is no longer your problem. You have created a problem for somebody, and you want the Master to solve it. The problems given to us are easy to solve, but when we become the problem for somebody else, it is a difficult problem to solve, because it is all about ego. Then the Brighter World cannot descend into our heart.

The Brighter World will descend into our heart when there is a perfect vacuum, beyond qualities. Then I think we can say, “Yes, I am following Sahaj Marg. Wherever I go, the Brighter World is created.” In such hearts there are no demands. Wherever we are, we are happy. There is contentment. There is no asking even for spiritual conditions, because when we have surrendered ourselves, when we have accepted everything the way our Maker has given to us, and then there is absolute contentment.

And when slowly we become more and more content – it is not the right vocabulary, but it is the best way I can express it – more and more contentment will lead to infinite contentment, in such a way that the seeds of contentment that we have cultivated in our heart may bloom one day and create a forest of contentment. The nectar, the fragrance, the flower that germinates out of this contentment are the happiness, peace and tranquility that we carry around, because now the seeds of contentment have germinated and become full grown trees, carrying the fragrance of peace.

More and more contentment will lead to infinite contentment, in such a way that the seeds of contentment that we have cultivated in our heart may bloom one day and create a forest of contentment.

In contentment there is no demand, and when there is no demand from your side, nobody is afraid of you. Everybody accepts you, because there are no ripples from your side.

So I just wanted to share this little idea: let us cultivate the seeds of contentment in the heart, which is so pure. We have to make our heart purer and purer, getting rid of complexities and impurities. The method is already given to us, so let us make use of it with a lot of joy, and celebrate our Master’s birthday.

Recognize his values, fine, but we don’t want the attributes or values of the great Masters, we want to become like them and, with their help, transcend them. It is no insult to the great Masters. I keep saying this again and again that our Masters will be happy when we say, “Boss, I have become better than you.”

Thank you.