CONVERSATIONS
‘God is not for sale’ 08.09.2019
President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission and advocate of Heartfulness Meditation DAAJI KAMLESH PATEL tells PRITI AGRAWAL that we need to approach God with love and not greed
How can a seeker differentiate between a genuine spiritual master and someone who is faking it?
God is not for sale. People try to sell the name of God in various ways. There are people who ask money for God-realisation and that’s really funny.There is no ‘paid’ spirituality, it is only greed.There is no need to renounce anything for spirituality.Renouncing must happen naturally. Renunciation is basically non-attachment with your belongings.
One should approach God with love, not with greed to fulfil desires. It does not mean that we should not have any desire to do our duties, which is our dharma towards our family and work.You should perform all your duties in Divine consciousness and submit the result of karma to God.What we do and think repetitively, if we do not offer to God, then it forms an impression.Slowly it hardens and permeates our subconscious and settles down in our causal body, Atman.The same seed we carry with our atman, called samskara, we carry it forward life after life. Every day, we should offer a prayer to God, asking for forgiveness for our wrong deeds and thoughts.
We always talk about our actions and their results, but forget about our inactions. If you are not fully prepared for your exams, then your inaction will haunt you even in your dreams. So the inaction towards your studies troubles you.The consequences of inaction are more painful than performing action.These impressions form by inaction,because you deliberately did not do something.When we deliberately do or don’t do anything then we have different levels of samskara.When I do something casually, I can erase it through yogic practices, but when knowingly or deliberately I do something, it is not easily erased.
You focus a great deal on Heartfulness Meditation.
How does this help strengthen the mind?
Today’s young generation needs wise direction, and in order to inculcate any action, the heart has to be purified first to give correct signals to the mind. Sometimes you feel that this is the right thing to do, but you don’t have the courage to do it. Through Heartfulness Meditation, you receive wisdom to do the right thing,and also inner courage to follow your heart’s feelings.Your brain follows only heart signals. Once we correct the heart, everything gets corrected automatically.
Patanjali describes the fundamental requirements for a spiritual seeker — viveka,power to discriminate between right or wrong, between cause and effect.This viveka comes from the heart only. Sahaj Samadhi has four levels of consciousness — waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep and turiya state.The beauty of the turiya state is that you are in a sleep-like state but yet fully awake.You are relaxed,poised, at peace and you are fully aware of what is happening around you. In this state, the mind has merged with its source, the heart, although some thoughts and senses are still somewhat active.
Most spiritual masters talk about living in the moment — how can this be achieved?
When you always follow your heart, you will be in the now. If you practise the heartful way of meditation, you can be here in your heart and at the same moment, you can do so many things. For instance, a child learning to ride a bicycle, starts with a four-wheel cycle, and slowly tries to master the art of riding.Then, after sufficient practice, he will ride it with two wheels. Initially, you have to support him, but after some days of practise, he becomes perfect and starts taking the bicycle to school and market without any support and guidance.Although riding is not his main activity as he may sing and also observe things around while cycling. Now he is not conscious of his bicycle, now it has become his second nature. If a child can be trained, why not an adult be trained to paddle heart-consciousness, and do things with heartful feelings all the time? You can be busy with what you are doing and at the same time, connect with the inner Self.
Can you describe the state of enlightenment?
The state of being enlightened is when you become one with the Divine.When there is some discrimination between devotee and deity, between a water drop and the ocean, then there is a sense of separateness. When a raindrop falls into the ocean, is there a water drop left to speak about its nature and how it feels to become the ocean? Similarly, when a devotee merges in a deity, there is no devotee left to talk about it, but he is retained at some level to teach others.You feel the nectar or bliss in yourself all the time.
Follow Kamlesh Patel at
speakingtree.in
WHEN A RAINDROP FALLS INTO THE OCEAN, IS THERE A WATER DROP LEFT TO SPEAK ABOUT ITS NATURE AND HOW IT FEELS TO BECOME THE OCEAN? LIKEWISE, WHEN A DEVOTEE MERGES IN A DEITY, THERE IS NO DEVOTEE LEFT TO TALK ABOUT IT
‘God is not for sale’ 08.09.2019
President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission and advocate of Heartfulness Meditation DAAJI KAMLESH PATEL tells PRITI AGRAWAL that we need to approach God with love and not greed
How can a seeker differentiate between a genuine spiritual master and someone who is faking it?
God is not for sale. People try to sell the name of God in various ways. There are people who ask money for God-realisation and that’s really funny.There is no ‘paid’ spirituality, it is only greed.There is no need to renounce anything for spirituality.Renouncing must happen naturally. Renunciation is basically non-attachment with your belongings.
One should approach God with love, not with greed to fulfil desires. It does not mean that we should not have any desire to do our duties, which is our dharma towards our family and work.You should perform all your duties in Divine consciousness and submit the result of karma to God.What we do and think repetitively, if we do not offer to God, then it forms an impression.Slowly it hardens and permeates our subconscious and settles down in our causal body, Atman.The same seed we carry with our atman, called samskara, we carry it forward life after life. Every day, we should offer a prayer to God, asking for forgiveness for our wrong deeds and thoughts.
We always talk about our actions and their results, but forget about our inactions. If you are not fully prepared for your exams, then your inaction will haunt you even in your dreams. So the inaction towards your studies troubles you.The consequences of inaction are more painful than performing action.These impressions form by inaction,because you deliberately did not do something.When we deliberately do or don’t do anything then we have different levels of samskara.When I do something casually, I can erase it through yogic practices, but when knowingly or deliberately I do something, it is not easily erased.
You focus a great deal on Heartfulness Meditation.
How does this help strengthen the mind?
Today’s young generation needs wise direction, and in order to inculcate any action, the heart has to be purified first to give correct signals to the mind. Sometimes you feel that this is the right thing to do, but you don’t have the courage to do it. Through Heartfulness Meditation, you receive wisdom to do the right thing,and also inner courage to follow your heart’s feelings.Your brain follows only heart signals. Once we correct the heart, everything gets corrected automatically.
Patanjali describes the fundamental requirements for a spiritual seeker — viveka,power to discriminate between right or wrong, between cause and effect.This viveka comes from the heart only. Sahaj Samadhi has four levels of consciousness — waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep and turiya state.The beauty of the turiya state is that you are in a sleep-like state but yet fully awake.You are relaxed,poised, at peace and you are fully aware of what is happening around you. In this state, the mind has merged with its source, the heart, although some thoughts and senses are still somewhat active.
Most spiritual masters talk about living in the moment — how can this be achieved?
When you always follow your heart, you will be in the now. If you practise the heartful way of meditation, you can be here in your heart and at the same moment, you can do so many things. For instance, a child learning to ride a bicycle, starts with a four-wheel cycle, and slowly tries to master the art of riding.Then, after sufficient practice, he will ride it with two wheels. Initially, you have to support him, but after some days of practise, he becomes perfect and starts taking the bicycle to school and market without any support and guidance.Although riding is not his main activity as he may sing and also observe things around while cycling. Now he is not conscious of his bicycle, now it has become his second nature. If a child can be trained, why not an adult be trained to paddle heart-consciousness, and do things with heartful feelings all the time? You can be busy with what you are doing and at the same time, connect with the inner Self.
Can you describe the state of enlightenment?
The state of being enlightened is when you become one with the Divine.When there is some discrimination between devotee and deity, between a water drop and the ocean, then there is a sense of separateness. When a raindrop falls into the ocean, is there a water drop left to speak about its nature and how it feels to become the ocean? Similarly, when a devotee merges in a deity, there is no devotee left to talk about it, but he is retained at some level to teach others.You feel the nectar or bliss in yourself all the time.
Follow Kamlesh Patel at
speakingtree.in
WHEN A RAINDROP FALLS INTO THE OCEAN, IS THERE A WATER DROP LEFT TO SPEAK ABOUT ITS NATURE AND HOW IT FEELS TO BECOME THE OCEAN? LIKEWISE, WHEN A DEVOTEE MERGES IN A DEITY, THERE IS NO DEVOTEE LEFT TO TALK ABOUT IT
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