Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A Booklet, The Testament of Sister Kasturi

Taken and Translated from an article: "Un Livret Testament de Soeur Kasturi", on her blog: "Pour Que Vive Le Sahaj Marg". 

Inserts and comment by 4d-don are in "red italics"



April 24, 2012
 


A Booklet, The Testament of Sister Kasturi

Before passing away, Sister Kasturi celebrated the birthday of Lalaji. On this occasion, she wrote a booklet entitled "Divya Prasad".

Primarily drawn from the autobiography of Babuji, there are excerpts of the interconnections (from beyond the grave)  with Lalaji, Swami Vivekananda or Lord Krishna, but also other citations.

The powers of Babuji are (allegedly) limitless, he is the only master of the universe until the end of time. His powers are not transferable, even to any spiritual representative. Babuji only will lead the abhyasis to ultimate reality. For this, abhyasis have no other effort to do than to stay connected to Babuji, it is he who will provide the spiritual work. He is the servant of humanity, he treats the abhyasis like his brothers. A guru who considers himself the master, and considers the abhyasis as his disciples is the worst kind of guru that can exist.

Was it an ultimate message of wisdom aimed at the self-proclaimed successors of Babuji, such as Chari?


Elodie



From the Booklet:

“Once St. Sister Kasturi told (…) An Abhyasi has simply to do the efforts to remain connected with Babuji while discharging all duties of life and all spiritual work will be done by Pujya Babuji Maharaj.”


Reality At Dawn (the book by Babuji)  – “God is the real Guru or Master and we get light from Him alone. But as it is extremely difficult for a man of ordinary talent to draw inspiration from GOD direct, we seek one of our fellow beings who has established his connection with Almighty. He must, therefore, treat himself as the humblest servant of God serving humanity in the name of the Great Master. All through his (Lalaji) life, he treated his associates as brethren. The idea that they were his disciple never once crossed his mind. I think and feel it as an essential thing for a Guru to give up his masterly position and feel himself an ordinary servant of humanity. If he feels himself as a Master and hence far above his associates, it will be Ahankar of the worst type in a Guru”.

The intercommunications (visions, dreams, etc...) are taken from "The Autobiography of Ram Chandra".  They are from Babuji's journals.  Babuji is allegedly, (in his dreams),  the "Master of the UNIVERSE" ??


27-7-44 Rev. Lalaji Saheb : “You have been made the sole Master of the Universe.”


8-2-45 Rev. Lalaji Saheb : “These powers can’t be given to anybody not even to the spiritual successors.”


19-2-47 Rev. Swami Vivekanandji : “Utilisation of the final destructive power (Kshaya Shakti) will be the last part of your programme at the end of the world. Resurrection will be brought by you. I mean the last finishing touch of destruction or total extinction of life will be dealt by you.”


Sister Kasturi also declared in a speech dated 22-1-87: “The Divine Master of the Universe Shri Babuji Maharaj will have thousands of Spiritual Representatives until the fulfilment of His SANKALPA (viz; Spiritual Upliftment of Mankind) in Shri Ram Chandra Mission, but none of them will be His substitute as He Himself, according to Lalaji Saheb, cannot produce his Substitute. Shri Lalaji Saheb once said to Pujya Babuji Saheb, “You cannot make your Substitute because you yourself are not aware of the limits of your power. Moreover, Spirituality is also not a subject of inheritance like another Material object.” He is the master of Divine Power and has descended on Earth to take the abhyasis upto Ultimate Reality.”

OH, MY GOD!!!  Anyone can claim to be anything!! That does not make it so.


The original text of this booklet can be consulted at:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8m60GkVQye9d3V4ZGZIbGFYcUk 


.
.
.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Chari Speaks to the Children of Sahaj Marg(tm)!! ... and the Adults?

Exerpts from Chari's Speech: "Chose the Happy Life - Not the life of Profit", and comments by 4d-Don.

Comments by 4d-Don are in "red italics"


Chose the Happy Life - Not the Life of Profit

Address to Class XII students of Lalaji Memorial Omega International School, 25 March 2012, Chennai, India

Babuji, the founder of the new religion he called: Sahaj Marg (the easy path) in 1945, said that his Sahaj Marg was not for: "happiness" nor for "peace"!!

(...)

There is a lesson to learn here for those who practice Sahaj Marg (tm) and/or for those involved in their society SRCM (Calfornia-1997), and who go about creating "bad feelings" for others in this life. This is a lesson for all those who make "enemies" of honest and truly spiritual people of INTEGRITY!! All those "GOOD PEOPLE" who reject "Spiritualism", (spirits, mediums, egregores, messages from the dead, etc...) and intolerance (homophobia, racism, etc...), in all its forms !!

"I remember when I was at school, I had a teacher who was supposed to be teaching English. It was a British school – what would be called a public school. And I have never forgotten this, though I would love to forget it. There was something about one word which could be spelt in two different ways and had two different meanings. I forget what that word was. He challenged [me]. When he misspelt it, I said, “Sir, this is the correct spelling.” He said, “Shut up.” The next day I made the very tragic mistake of taking a pocket Oxford dictionary and showing it to him. He became my enemy for life. “How dare you challenge a teacher?” He thought he must always be right. I said, “Of course, you must always be right. But you can’t be right when you are wrong.” Isn’t it?"

"So such memories, they rankle. It has been part of my life, much to my annoyance, because I would have liked to have left it behind long back. I have been carrying it with me for about seventy years. Can you imagine? That is what teachers should realise when they create bad memories. They last longer than good memories. I hope you have had a lot of good memories created here in our school. Hmm?"


(...)


I was shopping once in France, and they had these machines (totalling machines). But he totalled and made a mistake, and it was a big mistake. It was almost twenty per cent of the bill. In Europe it’s not polite to point out mistakes, (Those who live in Europe know that this is "silly", and probably not true!! A "tall tale" for the children!! ) ... especially as I was standing on the wrong side of the table and I am not expected to be able to total it from the wrong side, you know. They are writing here and I am standing there. So, I whispered into Jacky’s ear, “The total is wrong.” He said, with a look of incredulity, “But, Chariji, it cannot be. It cannot be!” I said, “But it is.” And fortunately, without fighting me for it – “Let us fight for it!” – the shopkeeper corrected it and apologised profusely. So, I had this ability to total from the wrong side. It was fun when I used to do it for practice wherever I went.

(...)

Every time you feel a little weepy, there must be a memory which says, “Come, come, it is not as bad as all that.” And you console yourself, pretend there are no tears in your eyes, and march off singing. So, it is essential to have good memories so that our batteries are kept recharged. Always we think well of the past; of those who were with us in the past; of those who helped us in the past; even like my English teacher who did not know the difference between ‘anonymous’ and ‘unanimous’. Those were the two words which he could not differentiate and which caused him to become my enemy because I pointed it out to him.

So, that I still carry this memory shows that it was not good to have told it to him; but on the other hand, that I pointed it out to him, showed that it was necessary to correct a teacher who was wrong. Because when we students are not expected to be wrong, how can we permit the teacher to be ‘right’ when he is wrong? Isn’t it? Then we have to say, “Sir, you are right every time you are wrong!” That would be fun, isn’t it?

Remember those which, having left his version of Sahaj Marg(tm) and his version of "spiritualism", Chari calls: the "enemies of spirituality" in his book: He, the Hookah and I" ??

(...)


PR: The trouble with all of you is you think living is different from doing something. But I find that living includes doing something. And if I am able to do what I want, what my heart tells me to do, my life is good, pleasant, happy, comfortable. If I am forced to do something which my heart says no (my heart, mind you), my head may say, “Why not? It’s profitable.” But we are not talking of profit here; we are talking of happiness. They are not the same, because if you look around the world today, the most miserable people are the rich people. They have too much: too many houses, too many cars, too many suits of clothes, too many servants, too many companies, too many incomes. (lol,lol... NOT TRUE!! Chari is talking about himself. Ask to poor to help (donate to) the rich, that is Sahaj Marg(tm) ... How many houses built with CHARITY dollars, are enough for Chari and his son?? Look in the mirror!! Hypocrisy!! ) And all they are concerned with is, “Where to invest my next twenty-five crores, or two hundred and fifty crores.” Our life should not be like that.

Our life should be happiness with minimum possessions. (Give your many "cottages" to the poor!!) You will find that when you have minimum, you don’t worry about anything. You are not worried about thieves and robbers; you are not worried about the stock market. I mean there is nothing to worry about. So, choose the happy life and not the life of profit.


Teach that to yourselves first!! ... the materialist adults who are the "inner circle" of SRCM(California-1997), are who are invading foreign commercial markets!! (Pharmaceuticals, denim jeans, etc...).

There is a difference between BEING and DOING!!

Be SPIRITUAL ...


See also on this blog:

See index of ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG, in the right margin for many topics!!

.

.


Thursday, April 05, 2012

A Blogger meets Sahaj Marg in Manappakkam!

Taken and and translated from an article: "Une bloggeuse a Manappakkam", on Elodie's blog in Europe: Pour Que Vive Le Sahaj Marg

Comments and additions (for clarification in translation) by 4d-Don are in "red Italics"




April 2, 2012



A blogger at Manappakkam



From: Curry Kulfi and Chapati


Setbacks and adventures of two ex-patrriots somewhere deep in the Indian subcontinent (and poolside).

Excerpts from the blog: http://www.currykulfietchapati.com/



I visited a Cult.

I'm an atheist, I am interested in the discovery of all religions, from near and far. A few weeks ago, I found myself in the heart of what would be called in Europe "a cult" but which here seems to be much more commonly accepted. Far from being frightened, I remembered those words of François Cavanna: "A religion called "universal" is a cult that has succeeded, commercially speaking."

It all began as an attraction I had for meditation. Having discovered six months ago a meditation technique focused on breathing that I could not exercise alone, I really wanted to find a spiritual master who could initiate me into the mysteries of the study of my karma.

(One can imagine) What was my happiness in discovering in the best friend (female) of my brother-in-law, who was serendipitously staying in India at that time, was initiated to the practice of Sahaj Marg! Obviously, I did not know at all what was "Sahaj Marg", also called the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, and still today, I am regularly wrong on the spelling of these names.

The girlfriend's of my brother-in-law - neither, did not know what it was, except that she practiced every morning the practice of meditation and that it did her much good.

One morning, then, we went by rickshaw to the largest Ashram of this organization. It was a haven in the heart of the busy city. I knew Chennai but from that noise, pollution, car, cows and beggars, I was very surprised to find a place so quiet, so peaceful, so nice, even if botanised, and so friendly.

The Ashram immediately suggests a very large park. In the center, there is a kind of temple where people go to meditate. No statues, no object of prayer, nothing religious but just a little platform for the master to come to officiate from time to time and a very large empty space so that the faithful can meet. Many chairs are left at their disposal. Upon entering the sanctuary for the first time, the novice is first much surprised at the tranquility that prevails. This feeling of peace is explained by the unusual silence that is imposed on initiates. Without being an expert in the art of this exercise, it is fairly obvious to everyone that the meditator sits down, closes his eyes and is silent. So I submitted to the rules of this site, engaged myself for once in my life in an activity that would have made the happiness of my darling husband, if he had been with us that day: I said nothing.

And we passed in silence before this small temple of peace to go to another place no less interesting, though somewhat noisier: the cafeteria.

The cafeteria is a very nice place where one crosses almost all nations. Babuji's Ashram is the largest center of Sahaj Marg and many of the faithful, from India and abroad gather here. I met two French women who had each left everything behind to come here, the first, through love for the Ashram and the second, for a teaching job she had never left, having married after the year of her contract, with an Indian.

A little later I visited the library, which contained only books on Sahaj Marg, and I discovered that in addition to the common dormitory that was under the temple where we could stay for free, provided one is part of mission, there was also the possibility of renting small single more comfortable rooms.

Each place I visited was run by volunteers. Nobody gets paid to work here, which explains why the rooms are not expensive. There are those who cook, who serve coffee, who do the dishes, who manage the library, or deal with registration ...

At first glance, the Ashram is a utopian microcosm where everyone is happy, everyone is nice, everyone loves. The initiates are called "brother" or "sister" to symbolize the great brotherhood that prevails.

What worried me was how they spoke of their spiritual master Chariji.

I was profoundly shocked by sentences like "The master has a country house" or "You know the best part of Chennai? The master has a house there too."

It seems that the master has a heck of lot of secondary dwellings!

And then, when I visited the library, I was unable to resist leafing through a few books on the practice of Sahaj Marg. There are three, in the morning, we must meditate for an hour. In the evening, one has to practice another form of meditation called "cleaning". This is to cleanse the emotions of the day. Before bed, one should recite the prayer to the master, and there, I am downright horrified to discover that the text is the apotheosis of the master!

And what's that habit of calling him "master" ... "spiritual master", one can understand, but "master", alone, without an adjective, it's a little slavish, right?

I left the Ashram, not without having recuperated the phone number from one of the sisters in the hope of being initiated into the meditation. Cult or not because I had things to learn from these meditators and I had the feeling that the impenetrable mystery of meditation could bring me a kind of quiet.


Discovering meditation

After discovering Sahaj Marg and without yet knowing what it was, I absolutely wanted to be initiated into the strange mysteries of meditation.

So I contacted a charming young English woman, married to an Indian, who accepted with great enthusiasm to proceed with my initiation and gave me an appointment for three "sittings", ie for three sessions. They had to take place on three consecutive days to be effective.

So I was thrilled and it was with joy in my heart that I went to my rendez-vous at the Ashram.

Alas, this joy was short lived. Barely arrived, the guards refused to let me in and I had to wait forty-five long minutes for my initiator who was late to pick me up.

I learned that in order to enter this peaceful place, I had to show my acceptability and also to prove my belonging to the Babuji fan club with a membership card. The same membership card would be given to me after my three sitting.

We went to a place of total silence. Only a few birds were breaking the tranquility with their soft songs. Their soprano was accompanied as by a base, by the
unbearable low buzzing mosquitoes, but that day, nothing could alter our good mood.

We sat opposite one another and she told me what I should do, which is not much. I had to close my eyes and seek what is divine within me by letting go of my thoughts like unwelcome guests that we do not want, but we can not push too hard. The metaphor she used was that of children in a park.

"If you cross a park, she said, and there are children, you will not drive them out! You're going to cross by passing aside. Well you do the same with your thoughts."

So we were sitting for half an hour in front of one another, eyes closed, to seek the Holy Spirit. For the first time I played the game to the end and I was looking for "something divine" which I could not find. However, I learned to ignore my thoughts. I remained philosophical: half an hour, it was very long. Better to forget the passing time and try to focus on myself.

At the end of the session, I was relaxed and I felt calmer.

The same evening, I decided to do a search on the Ashram and I discovered with some fear that it was considered a cult. I had already been questionning because some words I had heard in the temple but after my reading, I became openly suspicious.

The next day we had the same experience. This time, I changed my technique. The fear of getting my brain lobotomized by a very effective process of meditation made me replace the search for the divine that anyway I could not find, by a focus on my breathing.

The result was identical to the previous day: I felt good, relaxed and rested.

I found that what was common to these breathing techniques/meditation was their ability to make us let go by focusing on ourselves, whether on our holiness or on our breathing.

The third day was identical except that my appointment was held at seven o'clock in the morning. I reached a state of exhaustion as I was unable to perform the exercise correctly.

Finally, my initiator invited me to the big event of the week: Sunday meditation. I had to be there at 7:30 to see the master and feel the collective passion. I went there and I practiced meditation for the first time in a group, accompanied by a hundred people. The session lasted one hour, which seemed very long, and was followed by a speech in English with a wonderful Indian accent that made him incomprehensible to the English themselves. This time, I was really feeling of not being in my place.

What must have passed through my head to make me get up at 6 AM on a Sunday to go play the religious fervent in the temple of Babuji? Curiosity, perhaps a little misplaced.

Following this session of collective uncomfortable nap, I met other brothers and sisters. Some offered me to join them for another
group sitting. I agreed, smile on my lips, I promised to come back with my fingers crossed and I finally left to find the familiar place that I never should have left so early on a Sunday morning, to find my cozy bed.

Since, I received some messages that I have not responded. The people I met were really friendly and I would have liked to see them again but I definitely can not bring myself to seek the divine that lies within me.

This experience has nevertheless helped me familiarize myself with breathing mindfully as I had never managed to practice alone before.

This is a technique that seems difficult at first, but brings a lot in terms of appeasement when it is properly practiced. Just sit back, relax, and leave aside the thoughts that come, always deferring attention to one's breathing. From what I've seen, it seems to me that merely accepting to leave one's daily life for half an hour to relax by doing nothing is a big step toward wellness.


.
.
.