WHY SPIRITUALITY? P. RAJAGOPALACHARIPART-1 IN QUEST OF SPIRITUALITY Spirituality is the science and the art of remembrance. We have forgotten our original home from where we have descended to this world in which we are living now. We have become so addicted to material life and values that we no longer remember that original home of our father whom people call God, or by any other name. Now, before we can return to that home, there must be something that will make us remember that home. How can someone go to a place of which he knows nothing? And how can he go if he does not remember it? People talk of amnesia, but Iam telling you that here we have a permanent amnesia. Therefore I told you that spirituality is the science and the art of remembrance. In its travel back to its Original Home, the soul is the traveller. The way is the life that it adopts on its way home. The vehicle is the body in which it travels through life. Looked at in this way, we see that there is nothing to be afraid of in rebirth. Rebirth is nothing but the soul changing from one useless vehicle to another useful one, so that it can keep moving on and on upon its journey back to its Original Home. It is therefore, something of a misnomer to even call it as rebirth. What is being reborn? Is it the soul? No! Because as we see, the soul exists and continues to exist. Is it the body which is reborn? No! Because it is a new body that is created out of the elements for the use of the soul. Then what is it that is reborn, if anything? I can only say that the whole concept of rebirth seems to be an unnecessary one, if we view the matter from the above view-point, as being nothing but the change of vehicle necessary for the advancement of the soul to the Goal. OUR PRESENT STATE The existence of soul can be traced out as far back as to the time of creation when the soul existed in its naked form as a separate entity. From that primary state of existence of the soul in its most subtle form, we marched on to grosser and grosser forms of existence. These may be expressed as coverings round the soul. The earliest coverings were of the finest nature and with them we existed in our Homeland, the Realm of God. The additions of more and more coverings of ego continued and 3subsequently Manas (psyche), Chit (consciousness), Buddhi (intellect), and Ahankar (ego) in cruder forms began to contribute to our grossness. In due course samskaras “(impressions) began to be formed which brought about their resultant effects. Virtue and vice made their appearances. Slowly our existence * Every time we think of something, and we become attached to what we think about, an impression is formed in the mind. That impression which the thought creates becomes the parent of an action or of an activity. And when the activity is indulged in, when the activity is undertaken, the impression becomes deeper. And as the impressions become deeper in this way, we enter into what we may call a repetitive cycle of existence. It is perhaps in this fashion that habits are formed. And as these impressions become deeper and deeper they solidify. At that stage, we find that we are in a very real sense, captives or prisoners of our own past. 4 assumed the densest form. The effect of samskaras is the commencement of feelings of comforts, miseries, joys and sorrows. Our likings for joys and comforts and our dislike for sorrows and miseries have created further complications. We generally find ourselves surrounded with pain and misery and we think that deliverance from them is our main goal. This is a very narrow view of the problem. The problem before us is not mere deliverance from pain and misery but freedom from bondage which is the ultimate cause of pain and misery. Freedom from bondage is liberation. It is different from salvation which is not the end of the process of rebirth. Salvation is only a temporary pause in the rotation. It is the suspension of the process of birth and death only for a certain fixed period after which we again assume the material form. The endless circle of rebirth ends only when we have secured 5liberation. It is the end of our pains and miseries. Anything short of liberation cannot be taken as the goal of life although there remains still a lot beyond it. GOAL OF LIFE First we have to establish what is our goal. And if the goal falls something short of what we should truly aspire for, then it very often happens that our search _ ends unsatisfactorily. It does not satisfy us and we cannot reach the real goal because we have reduced the goal in our eyes. The goal is to achieve the original condition that was prevailing before this creation came into being. The cycle of birth and death continues indefinitely. The problem before us is not to find out a solution of our present life but for all lives that we may henceforth have. In the wider sense, it covers the entire existence of soul in various forms — gross or subtle — at different times, till the time of Mahapralaya (final extinction). THE WAY Obviously the way has to be the right one, as otherwise we cannot reach the Goal at all. For the soul, the way to its destination is life itself. Life, therefore, has to be properly led, if one is to go on to the Goal. Also, once we have arrived home, the very concept of life would appear to have no further meaning as life, at least as we understand it, becomes redundant. The soul _ exists eternally, but it takes upon itself a life for itself when it has become separated from its Original Home, and then a body too becomes necessary. Looked at in this way, life and life in the body would appear to be one and the same thing. Once the soul has 7reached its Home, the concept of life itself becomes meaningless. The body is given by the past samskaras. Once we have been born, there is no chance in that life to change it. It is fixed. The vehicle has been assigned. Change of the vehicle becomes possible only when the vehicle becomes unserviceable through old age or disease, when the soul in its wisdom and in its anxiety to reach Home, discards the worn-out vehicle and adopts another one. This is what we see as death and rebirth. So, for one life we can have only one body, and wisdom dictates that it be carefully preserved, so that it may serve its one and only purpose — that of transporting the soul to its Home. WE ARE GOVERNED BY THE PAST Evolution has two forces. There is a push from the back and there is a pull from the front. If there is an evolutionary goal already laid down in the very far past when creation was brought into existence, then the very first organism which was created, has only the pull of evolution, there was nothing to push it from behind. But as life-forms advanced on the evolutionary path, they managed to create a large past for themselves, a historical past, a past of impressions which we call samskaras. Now it is precisely this past which, instead of pushing us from behind, manages to pull us back from behind. So the samskara is a very important thing because it acts in an anti-evolutionary way. Instead of having a push from the back and a pull from the front, we have a pull from the front and an 9opposing pull from the back so that we are held powerlessly in a situation which we cannot overcome. This pull from the back is precisely what we have to overcome, because the pull from the front is always acting on us. We are slaves of our samskaras. This idea that we are achieving success, we are making our money, we are teaching our students, has gained such a strong hold on the human mind that we think we are achieving, we are doing. When we distinguish between the spiritual life and the worldly life, the worldly life is strictly governed by our past samskaras. But unfortunately, we don’t realise that we are slaves of our samskaras, not only of our wishes. Because wishes arise from samskaras. | believe that when there are no samskaras, there will be no wishes. Till then, 10 wishes come as something which impels us to action, to thought and action in a particular direction, and we think we are wishing, we are thinking, we are achieving. The successful people suffer from this illusion much more than the unsuccessful people, because you would find that poor people, unsuccessful people, dropouts, at least they appeal to God for help. The successful, the rich, they think they have achieved and they forget God. So we must remember that even our successes or our failures are part of our samskara, not our wisdom, not our work, When we associate our present success with our present activity or contrary-wise, our present failure with our present activity, we are being even more fools because neither is true. The successful man of today is successful because of a past samskara which llgives him the good life that he is now enjoying. The miserable man of today is miserable because of some past samskara of which he is undergoing bhoga (result of the past action) today. His work may be good. Therefore you find there are good people who are putting in honest, sincere work, who get kicked out job after job and are on the streets. So when I come to understand that, “My material life is absolutely fixed, I am rich not because I am wise, not because I am intelligent, not because I have done wonders of financial jugglery, but because I am destined or, shall I say, punished to be rich!” Please remember the poor man is punished with poverty and the rich man_ is punished with riches. Both are bhoga of their respective samskaras. You are a slave 12 of your riches as he is a slave of his poverty. You have no choice! So I request you to change before it is too late, because change of direction is possible at any instant of time. One does not have to wait. But when change is necessary and you wait, the longer you wait, the more you wait, the more troublesome that change is, the more expensive that change is. RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY Religion which was generally considered to be a link between man and God, has now become a barrier instead. If we keep ourselves bound fast to a particular form or practice without a clear idea of its real significance and final approach, we are probably committing the greatest blunder. God is not to be found within the fold of a particular religion or sect. He is not confined 13within certain forms or rituals, nor is He to be traced out from within the scriptures. Him we have to seek for in the innermost core of our heart. It is not religion which is wrong, it is we who are wrong. Because religion only means it is a way of reconnecting ourselves with that Ultimate from which we have come down, with which we have lost contact. And religion is supposed to be some sort of kindergarten school which helps you reconnect yourself with that ultimacy of truth, of being, of existence, and then through the pursuit of a_ spiritual way, achieve that goal of going back Home to your Maker, of becoming one with Him. It is believed that a human being must necessarily start with external worship but this is not the end of one’s way of communing with God. We are expected to 14 indulge in ritual or formal worship only for so long as we find benefit in it. After that we must necessarily seek a better approach to God, and at this stage comes the idea of meditation, when we do away with the need for an objectified form of worship by creating in ourselves the necessary instru- ment of worship. According to my Master, “Spirituality really begins where religion ends.” While the basic education of man can be undertaken by religion, his further development when he has reached what may be termed adulthood can only be offered by spirituality. Spirituality is easily identifiable with mysticism in all its aspects. Religion enforces an externalisation of the mind in man’s search for God. Mysticism or spirituality internalises the search and directs the mind to the heart of man where 15the search should really commence. One of the great tenets or principles of all religions has been that in the heart of the human being, God Himself resides. Of course this may be thought to be the mere doctrine of immanence; but it is true that God is immanent within us. When the search is externalised, the first thing man loses sight of, or touch with, is himself. The goal is taken to be far away, very often in some far distant sphere of existence not easily accessible to us. On the contrary spirituality focuses man’s attention on the divine effulgence radiating in one’s own heart, which effulgence is created by the presence of the Creator Himself in the heart. This immediately presents the Divine in an altered light, and brings him to a proximity with one’s own person which can hardly come any nearer. 16 Being within us such a Person is not only always accessible but readily reachable and all that spirituality requires of us to achieve the sense of one-ness with the Ultimate is to focus the mind inwards upon the Person. Apparently, therefore, spirituality is by far the easier method of the two to achieve the goal of human life. Spirituality invokes no names, confers no attributes, demands no subservience to any artificially created gods of the human mind, but focuses man’s attention on the infinite Ultimate source of all beings, who is nameless, formless and attributeless. It is, I believe, a matter for easy agreement that such an approach to the Ultimate can serve as an integrating force and bring together human beings of all lands and all religions in one-ness in the most fundamental aspect of human life which is sadly lacking today. 17Spirituality if widely practised in this spirit of a humble approach to the Ultimate, is perhaps the most potent force that can bring about such an integration. ESTABLISH BALANCE IN LIFE The average human being of today gives a great deal of thought, and applies a great amount of energy, to attain high levels of material welfare. In this endeavour the people of the industrially advanced nations have been significantly successful. But notwithstanding this, there is yet much unhappiness, discontent and misery pervading their lives. Why is this? It is the result of unbalanced application of effort. Human existence consists of two planes of existence, the material and the spiritual, and that both these are important and essential for the harmonious well-being of the individual. Where one’s efforts of thought 18 and action involve only one of these spheres of existence, discontent, unhappiness etc., are inevitable consequences of such unbalanced living. A bird needs two wings to fly with, so a human being needs the two wings of existence, the spiritual and the material, to lead a natural and harmonious life. If either is neglected for the other, such a life becomes unnatural and the result cannot be what we desire it to be. Totally denying the material existence to pursue a spiritual path is therefore as unnatural, stultifying and goal-defying, as total denial of the spiritual for the material life. To achieve one’s full potential, the individual must apply himself equally and impartially to the material life and to the spiritual life. One’s efforts must be applied simul- taneously in both the spheres.Most spiritual systems have sought to bring about spiritual growth by negating the material existence and denying its necessity. Sahaj Marg corrects this distortion by emphasising the need for a proper and natural application of one’s energies to both spheres of life. In this lies its universality! The name of the system “Sahaj Marg” translated into English means the Natural Way. This system offers, perhaps for the first time, a spiritual system of simple practice which makes possible the fulfillment of one’s spiritual purpose in life while simultaneously making it possible to attain similar fulfillment in one’s material life. All the faculties of a person are developed to perfection and the perfect functioning of all one’s faculties is what is called Saintliness. 20 When we, in our ignorance or in our one- sided approach to life, neglect either half of it, we are surely headed for disaster. It is immaterial whether we neglect the spiritual half or whether we neglect the material half of life. Both are equally necessary, in fact vital to our full existence. Without either of them, our lives are ‘incomplete and such a life can end in nothing but the frustration and despair of an incomplete situation. So the spiritual life must have its attention, the material life must have its attention too. Establish balance between the two lives — the material and the spiritual. Don’t run away from the material life into the jungle and do not come out here as a gross materialist forgetting the spiritual existence. Balance it. Because anything without balance is doomed. A plane which can fly with one wing dipped, will go round and 21round. It gets nowhere. This is what we are doing. Our ancient forefathers neglected the material existence negating it almost totally. We modern ones today tend to ignore the spiritual life almost as completely. The pendulum seems to have swung from one extreme to the other with a vengeance. Our forefathers and we ourselves have both suffered in the bargain by leading incomplete, truncated lives, while all the while thinking we are following the correct way of life. All that we are doing is to do the exact opposite of what our progenitors did. And that is certainly not a wise way of finding a solution to the ills besetting humanity. Therefore it is necessary to understand that it is not important which side of life we neglect. Neglect of either is wrong and will give us incomplete and 22 unproductive lives. Such a life will be one of dissatisfaction, misery, insecurity and frustration, giving one a feeling that one has lost the way somewhere when walking on the road of life. This is true of all human beings, whether male or female, rich or poor, sick or healthy, and whether conventionally a success or not. We all here have excellent education behind us. We all, obviously have good family background, good standing in society. So what is it that makes failures out of such inherently valuable, resourceful raw materials? One half is missing; close the gap between this half and that other half, you have a complete person. And by the nature of this completion, there is fulfillment and he is not only full for himself but for society itself. So this is the message of yoga. 23The Saints od Present Situation Equilibrium Cx) (ms) Progress =) Union M - Material ; M_ Materials Sones 24 ee All this is made possible not by education; I don’t mean to decry education because I have the highest regard for it. Without education we can do very little. But the education must be balanced by inner tendencies which must show us how even education can be used. We find that educated people can be good, can be bad. They can be philanthropists, they can be criminals. They can raise crops. They can commit murders. They can be chaste. They can be adultrous. They can take drugs, they can be doctors. They can be both sometimes, at the same time, drug-taking-doctors. Education has never been sufficient to change the character of the human being. In the man of character, education is a good tool, a good instrument. Like everything else. It is like a carpenter, who has a 25chisel and a hammer and a drill and what not. And he must know how to use, when to use and which one to use. That is balance. Spirituality says, there is no harm in earning money, being a king, being an emperor, so long as your morals, your right living, your right conduct, are established in you, and then your destiny makes you a king or an emperor and at the same time you are a saint. It is very rare, not because the life is incompatible, but because we don’t aspire. So you see, we must now come to the question or rather the wisdom of acquiring just enough for our purpose, whether it be of power, or knowledge, or wealth, anything. “Do I have enough? Do I have enough of intelligence to go through my life, so that I can earn enough money to live a life in which I can meditate and progress on my 26 spiritual path?” If the answer is yes, then stop all other activities. Because we have to fly on two wings, we cannot give up this life. Nor can we ever give it up because, you may not earn money, but you still have to eat and eating is part of this life, defecating is part of this life, procreating is part of this life. Well, who is going to stop all these things? We minimise it to the necessary level, as we call it. The need for spirituality is the need for inner existence. It is the need for restoring a lost balance, that we live in the two angles or two planes of existence when nature pushed us out into this world. It gave us a body but it also gave us a soul. It is the soul which assumes the body and if you are only pampering the body, only seeing the growth of the body, its pleasure, its comforts, its purification, it is like a man who never 27bathes but wears a new dress every half an hour of the day. He will still stink, sometimes. So the basic need for spirituality is, forget everything else that spirituality can give us — it is this urgent need, permanent need, to restore a balance within ourselves. It is like a see-saw which is at balance, not this way, not that way. NEED FOR A MASTER To me the need for the Master is definitely a paramount one because without a Master I don’t think we can achieve anything. Why? Because even when the roads are most carefully mapped, there can be disasters which have happened since the maps were printed. There can be changes. So as ways change, as maps change, and as ways of evolution change, as people change, the ways have to change themselves. So what was held to be something which was 28 practicable, which was demonstrably practicable, two thousand years ago, need not necessarily be practicable today. Here comes the need for a Master to guide us, because tradition says, people have testified to this, that Masters come mainly to modify ways to suit present conditions of civilization, present conditions of life and, most important of all, to make or remake systems to suit the conditions of living that exist today. So in the finding of the way, we have to seek the services of the guide. And one who knows the road alone can guide us. Therefore, the guide must be one who has traversed the way again and again, helping the travellers on the path to find the way, and then accompanying them on the way till they reach their Home. Such a one is the master of the way, and is therefore the 29master of our journey. He must be persuaded to show us the way, and then to accompany us till we reach the destination. This is the need for a Master. Why does a Master do this service for us? Because He loves us with a love, that cannot see us straying from the way, or falling down and coming to grief. His immense love for us makes Him undertake the journey again and again, only to guide us on and on to our goal, generation after generation of travellers, coming one after the other. Therefore the Master is eternal. He has to be eternal. One who has reached his Home, and stays there, can hardly be a Master. It is only one who has reached his Home and mastered the way, but who is still willing to travel on the way again, solely out of love for those who must come eternally upon the path, only such a one can become a 30 Master. Thus the Master is the one who makes the life meaningful and purposeful. In spirituality we need a Master more than anything else because His is a living system. His authority is a living authority. His growth is a living growth which we emulate by our own growth. It is like teaching a child to walk — you walk with the child and teach him to walk. So spirituality says, “Now religion has ended. Begin spirituality. Go and accept a Master. Live as He says.” In Sahaj Marg, Master is not only a guide, he is not only a mountain guide, tying himself to you and risking his life for your sake, and pulling you sometimes, pushing you sometimes, cursing you sometimes, He is the Master who changes the way itself into something easy. So that is the sort of guidance and help that we get in Sahaj Marg. 31So spirituality is a process. It is a method of practice. It is a way of life. And it takes us up to Reality. And then on you go, on and on, Reality leading to Bliss. C4 & 32 PART —2 AN OASIS FOR THE MODERN MAN THE MISSION Shri Ram Chandra Mission was established in the year 1945 by Shri Ram Chandraji Maharaj (of Shahjahanpur, U.P., India), who is affectionately known as ‘Babuji.’ He established this Mission in the loving memory of His Master. (Incidentally, His Master also bore the same name Ram Chandra). He belonged to Fatehgarh, U.P., India and was affectionately known as ‘Lalaji’. The Articles of Association of the Mission lay down the following objectives: 33e To educate and propagate amongst the masses the art and science of Yoga, made to suit present day condition and needs. e To promote the feelings of mutual love and universal brotherhood, irrespective of any distinction of caste, creed, colour, etc. e To conduct research in the field of Yoga and establish Research Institutes for that purpose. e To encourage research in Yoga, including the granting of assistance to persons interested in carrying out this work. So the purpose of the organizational structure of the Mission is to provide the means to bring spirituality to people who are willing to practise the system. In the true 34 spiritual tradition, introduction to spirituality is free of charge. The World Headquarters of the Mission is in Chennai, India. The Mission is represented in almost every country throughout the world. There are a number of ashrams in India and in other parts of the world as well. THE MASTER Shri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari, Chennai, India, affectionately known as Chariji, is the present living Master and the President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission. He was born in the year 1927. He joined the TTK group of companies in Bombay in 1955 and rose to the position of Executive Director of the Indian Textile Paper Tube Company. He retired in 1985. He joined the Mission in 1964. He was made a preceptor in 1967 and was appointed as the Secretary of the Mission 1970. He became the President of oothe Mission in 1983 after the Mahasamadhi of the Founder President Babuji Maharaj. Following the footsteps of his Master, the President is doing yeoman service to humanity. THE METHOD — SAHAJ MARG The method followed in the Mission is called "Sahaj Marg" which means Natural Path. This is a spiritual system of simple practice which makes it possible for any human being to lead a life where materiality and spirituality, both are given equal importance. This is a modified system of Raja Yoga [king of the yogas], simplified to suit the life style of modern man, particularly the Grihastha (Householder). Here an aspirant is inducted into meditation directly, by-passing the preliminary six stages of Patanjali's Raja Yoga. 36 TRANSMISSION We have this idea in Sahaj Marg that the body lives by the soul, and the soul can go through time, as we understand it, on its journey to the Ultimate. It lives by transmission. Therefore, transmission is called ‘life of life’ or 'Pranasya Prana’ in the Sanskrit language. Our Grand Master, Lalaji Maharaj re- discovered the spiritual method to utilise transmission, the divine energy, for trans formation of mankind This transmission is something which is capable of being felt by anybody who takes the trouble of practising this system even for a brief period. In fact it is the transmission which sets Sahaj Marg apart from other yogas, and from all other systems of human evolution. Transmission is defined as the utilization of the Divine energy for the transformation of man. The oeMaster has prepared individuals who are permitted to transmit the Divine Energy (Pranahuti) to the aspirants on his behalf. They are called preceptors or prefects. PRACTICE OF SAHAJ MARG The method of practice consists mainly of moming meditation, evening cleaning and night prayer-meditation. SAHAJ MARG PRAYER O, Master! Thou art the real goal of human life. We are yet but slaves of wishes, putting bar to our advancement. Thou art the only God and power to bring us up to that stage. 38 WHY THE PRAYER? It is the way of connecting yourself at one instant of time to the Almighty whose guidance, whose help, you are seeking. And if that is done effectively your meditation becomes something sublime, something effective. WHY MEDITATION? Meditation may be defined as the continuous thinking of something, or about something. In a sense, therefore, anybody who is thinking continuously of something may be said to be involved in meditation. Ancient teachers, both in the East and the West, have taught that as one meditates so one becomes. It, therefore, follows that what we meditate upon we get or become and inversing this formula, if we want to become something we must meditate upon that and nothing else. Therefore if our aim is 39Realisation or the attainment of one-ness with the Ultimate, the object of meditation must be that Ultimate and nothing else. THE PROCESS OF MEDITATION Sit in meditation for an hour, preferably before sunrise, thinking that Divine Light is present in your heart. Do it in quite a simple and natural way without forcing your mind. Never mind if you do not see the light there. Start with a mere supposition so to say, and sit meditating in one posture with your attention turned towards the heart in a natural way without any effort to concentrate. Try to be unmindful of the thoughts arising at that time. The meditation should be done, where possible, before sunrise: the Masters have explained that at the time when night meets day and the day meets night, there is a balance in Nature. When we meditate at that 40 point of balance in Nature, it helps us to progress towards the spiritual goal. WHy CLEANING? Yoga means Union. Two things cannot unite when they are not fitted for each other. If one is imperfect to start with, it has to be corrected and remoulded and made perfect before it can have union with the perfect one. Therefore, yoga as union, is the culmination of spiritual practice and not merely a practice itself, as commonly represented. The perfection of the imperfect is what has to be achieved before union is possible. This is achieved by the cleaning process under Sahaj Marg. 41THE PROCESS OF CLEANING In the evening, after one’s daily routine is completed, sit with eyes closed, in the same posture as in meditation for half an hour and imagine that the day’s accumulation of impressions, impurities, complexities, grossness etc., are melting away and going out of the back in the form of smoke or vapour and that in its place the sacred current of the Divine is entering into your heart from the Master’s heart. In this process use your will power continuously. Meticulous practice of this technique ensures that the individual is not adding to the burdens of the past, which the Master is quietly cleaning away by his own spiritual power. We are therefore able to progress unimpaired by fresh accumulation of impressions. 42 PRAYER MEDITATION AT BED TIME Offer daily the brief prayer at bed time in the most suppliant mood with a heart over- flowing with divine love. Repeat the prayer in your mind once or twice and begin to meditate over it for a few moments. The prayer must be offered with a deeply afflicted heart before the Supreme Master imploring for His mercy and Grace, Then alone can he become a deserving aspirant. WHuy BED-TIME PRAYER? By meditating on the meaning we are embedding the spiritual meaning of the prayer in our deeper consciousness, in the sub-conscious, to keep it alive there right through the period of sleep. In the morning, when we repeat the prayer just once, the spiritual consciousness is brought out into 43our waking consciousness again, and thus a 24-hour cycle of permanent, uninterrupted spiritual consciousness is maintained. It is like covering live burning coals over with ash at night before we retire to bed. The fire is not allowed to go out. In the morning all that we have to do is to blow away the ash, and the fire is there ready to be built up as we want it. UNIVERSAL PRAYER At 9 p.m. sharp every abhyasi wherever he might happen to be at that time, should stop his work and meditate for 15 minutes, thinking that all brothers and sisters are being filled up with love and devotion and that real faith is growing stronger in them. 44 SS ee THE IMPORTANCE OF 9 O’CLOCK PRAYER The main difference is that everything else we do, we do for ourselves. The nine o’clock prayer we do for the universal and spiritual well-being of all. How TO START THE PRACTICE? Training in Sahaj Marg is free of charge, and is open to all, over eighteen years of age. The only qualification is a genuine and abiding interest in one's own spiritual growth and the willingness to practise. To begin the practice of Sahaj Marg, it is mecessary to receive at least three introductory meditation sittings on three consecutive days from a preceptor. 45“All are welcome to participate in the Divine experiment of self-evolution, and it is my earnest hope that all of you would like to undertake a trial to see for yourself whether you feel this transmission or not, and to see what it can do for you. I may assure you at this stage that there is no bondage implied or imposed upon you in any form. All that you are committed to do is to practise for a few months according to the principles set out by my Master and to test for yourself its efficacy, and if you are not happy with it, you are at liberty to bid goodbye to this system. Its principles do not in any way controvert or go against the individual’s religious sentiments because 46 the goal aimed at is the infinite, impersonal, Almighty without form or attributes and is therefore, a goal that must normally be acceptable to anyone, of whatever calling he may be. I therefore have pleasure in welcoming you all to this great system and I express the hope, with assurance, that there will certainly be great benefit from the practice of this system.” % 47SHRI RAM CHANDRA MISSION World Headquarters fe] UMC el me Satce hin) Manapakkam- 600-116 eer e ele} Tel. : (044) 249 5099, 249 4216. Fax : (044) 249 3819 Internet : http : //[Link]