Suggestions for the Benefit of One and All

by Daaji, January 30 and 31, 2015, Monroe, New Jersey

A few days are left before Pujya Lalaji’s birthday, as per the solar calendar. We will be celebrating here in our ashram on the 2nd of February and we will be spending time here on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I would like to kick-start the preparations.

Over the years, I have had the opportunity of compiling a few things from my earlier days of practice, and with some recent inspirations from our Hierarchy, I would like to put before you all some of the suggestions that we can make to ourselves for the benefit of one and all, including ourselves. It is something really noble, very nice – some suggestions that we can all make.

They are not mandatory to our practice. It is up to you all. And you will see a great benefit – a personal benefit as well as when you see others within the family, friends, strangers, benefiting with your presence.

We are very familiar with the 9 p.m. prayer, especially those who are dedicated to the 9 p.m. prayer. It is a universal prayer according to Babuji Maharaj, where we try to inculcate faith and love, developing the same in one and all, with a prayerful suggestion that:

All sisters and brothers throughout the world are being filled with love and devotion and real faith is growing stronger in their hearts.

You sit with this idea for fifteen minutes.

The next suggestion would be to think that all our sisters and brothers are developing correct thinking, right understanding and an honest approach to life. Do this very sincerely whenever you can, as often as you can, during the daytime and night-time. I think you will have to memorise this and take it to your heart. Whenever you get free time, send out waves of this prayer with a lot of love:

All sisters and brothers are developing correct thinking, right understanding and an honest approach to life.

Another suggestion I would like you to be busy with is mainly for ourselves. It has a tremendous impact on our surroundings, as well as our deeper selves. That is, we think that everything surrounding us – the air particles, people, the birds, the trees, the flowers, the ceiling, the wall, the paintings – everything around us is absorbed in Godly remembrance. Whenever you get free time, even while driving, just put a thought that:

Everything around us is deeply absorbed in Godly remembrance.

This will expedite our evolution. It is something you can experience for yourself. Try it for a few days and you will see.

Another suggestion I was recommending is:

All sisters and brothers who are really craving for the Ultimate are being attracted towards our great beloved Master. They are all being pulled towards him.

We submit our prayer to our Master that,
"May they all benefit with your Grace."

So now we have a few suggestions of prayerful approach. We have the 9 p.m. universal prayer; something about correct thinking, right understanding and an honest approach to life; everything around us is being absorbed in Godly remembrance; and also that seekers with true craving for the Ultimate are being attracted towards our great Master.

All these suggestions become very effective when we ourselves are in that state. When we say all brothers and sisters are developing love and devotion, and faith is growing stronger in their hearts, automatically I am invoking that in myself. Similarly when I pray for others for correct thinking, right understanding and an honest approach to life, automatically it is triggered within myself. When I pray that everything surrounding me is absorbed in Godly remembrance, what will happen? I will have to go within myself to the very core of my being, to the centre of my being. Only then it becomes effective. I cannot remain superficial and pray for others to go deeper. In order to create a ripple effect, if I want to create that state of absorbency in others, I must first have it in myself. So please try to do this.

Something else we discussed was about some of us who do not have true craving in our heart for the Ultimate. What do we do? We stumble upon such a path by accident. Who knows, some of us came for peace of mind, calmness, health, whatever the reasons. We may not have the true craving. Here in Sahaj Marg we are looking forward to a day when we are all merged and become one with the Ultimate, nothing less than that, and hopefully go beyond that.

According to Babuji Maharaj, our actual journey starts only after such a merger with the Ultimate. It is something like a marriage – life begins after marriage. The union of our soul with the Ultimate prepares us for another life. So we should not even take merger as the ultimate thing, but as a beginning again of a different sort of life. Now, not having even an idea of what this is all about – craving for the Ultimate – we don’t know what we are hankering after. So Babuji Maharaj gave a prescription for this in 1982, in his 30th of April message in Surat. He said, “If the real thing is not there to begin with, just imitate it. If someone continually imitates a mad person, he is bound to go mad.” So he said, why not Reality?

Well, this pretence should not be too superficial. You have seen children playing with their parents: “Mummy I made tea for you, drink it.” And there is no cup, no tea, nothing. It is make-believe and it is so real for them. You refuse and they cry. Even pretence to them is so real. So this pretence should not be too superficial. It must become a real thing in our lives. Love for God, however superficially it may start, must become real one day.

We are entering a very special period in the Mission. These three days are very holy, as we say, it is our Adi Guru’s birthday. It is for you to experience and see for yourself how it changes us altogether.