Centre in Yourself

by Chariji, December 13, 2009, Tiruppur, India.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

First of all I would like to draw your attention to one thing: the instant the sitting is over, you are all reaching for your cell phones and switching them on. I think that only indicates that throughout the sitting your attention is on the cell phone and the messages that you have possibly not received or something like that, because if the instant the sitting is terminated you are on the telephone, it means you have been meditating badly. Your attention has been at least divided if not totally, with your phone. I don't know why you are here if your communication with others is so important to you. I am tempted to forbid cell phones in meditation halls in the future. At least that will put some sense into your head that this communication that you receive from the great Masters during meditation is not interrupted by some silly, stupid, unnecessary SMSs and phone calls.

I am quite upset because you don't seem to think of anything else other than your friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, relatives, business affairs. You know it takes a lot of effort to give a sitting. Of course, there are those disobedient people who never switch off their phones — every time, I hear there are two or three phones ringing during satsangh. If you are so addicted to this, better you remain outside and try to meditate, Insha-Allah [God willing]. May God have mercy on you — that is all that I can say. Because you are disturbing others, your attention is not here and it is a waste of your time and your money coming here at all, if your phone messages are so important to you at 6:30 in the morning.

I think that the cell phone is the invention of the devil — very expensive, very posh, everybody likes to flaunt one and they take pride on their communication. I have people surrounding me who have this Blackberry, you know, and almost anything on earth they can immediately tell you. They don't refer to dictionaries, they don't know the spellings, but they become very knowledgeable at least in their own estimate of themselves, that they are intelligent, they can access anything they want. Google! Google cannot give you God; Google cannot give you spiritual wealth. It cannot give you progress.

I had hoped to talk of better things, of spiritual matters, but I am quite annoyed by this propensity. You are like the old gunmen of the Wild West in America. They were said to be trigger happy — chadchaddangdang! Quick on the draw! I don't know what our sanssansthatha is coming to, with this sort of stupidity. You come all the way here, you spend money, you take risks, but the Google has become all important? The SMS has become all important? And of course, voice messages, what have you. And I know many of you put it on silent mode so that at least it is buzzing and you can surreptitiously look at the number while you are pretending to be meditating.

Let me tell you one thing: I don't suffer because of all this, you suffer. You suffer in the sense that you lose your spiritual bus, you don't know where you are going, what you are doing, why you are here, and it has become a game, you know, to assemble in thousands and to sort of fool yourself that your presence here is enough. It will never be enough unless your body and soul are together here, and your attention is centred here [heart] and not on something in your pocket.

Please take this as a warning, and in future leave your cell phones behind in your rooms. Don't bring them here. I hope that will go deep into your hearts and tell you that your time here is a waste, I repeat, a waste of your time, your money. And it will be the few who are centred on themselves that will benefit from these sittings, and the rest of you will go back with your cell phones intact, I hope, and nothing more than that.

This seminar has been something of a unique one. And I was hoping, I was praying that at least on this occasion you are here a few thousand people, you would savour, you know, and get this transmission deep in your heart and feel its divine effects, transformational effect, what it can do to you, for you. But I am quite disappointed with this. I am not denying the fact that maybe most of you are still here for spiritual benefit. I daresay that all of you think you are here for your spiritual benefit. Thinking you are here and being here are two different things. Your body may be here but your attention is somewhere else.

Way back in 1966, Babuji Maharaj was chastising an abhyasi from somewhere in the South — this was in Shahjahanpur. He said, "Come here." There were about twenty-five people, not thousands like this. And this man was very happy, Babuji calling him. He has caught the attention of the great Master. He said, "Heh,Heh, heh, heh. heh, heh. Yes, Babuji?" He said, "Don't smile. You are not meditating. You are thinking of your home. It is better you are at home and think of Shahjahanpur than be in Shahjahanpur, thinking of your home."

It is a pity that what I had to say is not being said, and what I should not be saying I have to say here. After so many years, many of you are, I mean, years old in Sahaj Marg — you are supposed to be familiar with the literature, with the sacredness of what you are doing here, with its divine purpose, and yet you have this playful attitude towards meditation, wasting an hour which you could probably play tennis or do whatever you have to do — at least build your bodies. Now you are doing nothing. Your attention is partly on your pocket, partly at home, partly I don't know on what else. And if there is any attention at all on this [heart] during meditation, as Babuji Maharaj used to say, you should be saints.

So what are we doing, coming to these seminars for? What are we sitting here for? Why do we travel so many long distances on this occasion from parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat. Is it just to be together, to exchange smiles? I am very sorry but I can't help making these remarks. And this is like what Jesus Christ said, "Throw not pearls before swine." Don't throw pearls before pigs, in common language. That's what this amounts to, you know — all this Ganga of transmission going to waste. It is very regrettable that on this last, final satsangh of this wonderful seminar, I have to say these things.

I pray that on future occasions, you will see the benefit of leaving your cell phones behind. In future, if any cell phone rings during the assembly I will confiscate it. It is not a threat, it is a promise.

There are organisations where you cannot take cell phones inside. But even there, there are people who disobey at the risk of being caught, punished. People are not supposed to take cell phones into hospital rooms, into I.C.U.s — they do. But here,, as I repeat, what should be a divine assembly... what is it? An assembly of foolish human beings, more interested in bad news than in good? Because when you keep a means of communication in your pocket, you are not expecting good news. You are expecting bad news. And what you expect, you will get.

Anyway, this is the end of this seminar. I hope there will be more such seminars, where we will speak not at all, where we will meditate, hopefully centred in the centre of ourselves, and benefit by the great blessings that are being continuously poured down on us, but we are unable to receive. I pray for you all.

Thank you.