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Satsang March 12, 2005
To celebrate Swamiji’s birthday, the satsang was held at the Mt Eliza Community Centre to accommodate the burgeoning crowd.
Swamiji introduced special guest, Swami Aparoxananda, from India, who will be holding Sanskrit and Vedanta classes groups at the Mt Eliza ashram during his stay.
Another Swami was also in attendance − the newly initiated Swami Premananda Saraswati (Prem-ji) − formerly Yamuna, or Yummy, as she was fondly known (watch this space: Prem-ji report coming soon).
Swamiji joked as he introduced the swamis to the satsang that swamis are “multiplying by binary fission around here”.
Another consonance was the bestowing of a spiritual name on baby Isiah, who, as Swamiji said, “shares Master Charles’ birthday” − and, of course, Swamiji’s own March 14 birth date. Isiah’s spiritual name, Rajendra, was whispered by Swamiji to Rujendra’s father, who then whispered it to the baby’s mother. The ceremony culminated in the repetition of mantras.
Following a Hindi welcoming, in the tradition of Baba, translated as, “With great respect and love I welcome you all with all my heart”, Swamiji enjoined that this is, after all, the essence of spirituality.
In ‘protest’ at the usual “love torture” received on his birthday, Swamiji said that, instead, he would give the satsang a gift, “to tell you that the Self is within you”. “This is my job, he asserted. “It is very simple; it is to say, ‘Remember the Self. You are the Self. Know the Self. Meditate, Goodbye’”.
Swamiji reminded, in the words of a sage, that “in life, suffering is optional”. “At university, there are required subjects and electives,” Swamiji mused. “In life, the required subject is to live your span of days. The elective is suffering.” It is a choice, he insisted.
This observation segued to the subject of Swamiji’s talk - the mind. “The way we use our mind, the way we deal with our inner, complex system creates that suffering. Depending on the way we deal with the mind, suffering does not have to be there. There might be physical pain, but metaphysical and emotional suffering is not necessary.”
Swamiji referred to a question that was posed to Baba when Swamiji lived at Ganeshpuri on the theme of the mind. The questioner asked how to increase calm and memory and concentration. Baba had said, “The more the mind is free from the obstruction of thoughts and objects, the more it is filled with peace”.
Swamiji advised that “the mind can go in two directions: outward to endless proliferation of thoughts or inward to the core, the Self, the source”.
He added, “When it is outward directed, there is endless worry; when it is inward turning, there is peace”. Swamiji reminded that “We have to learn we have choice, then we notice the danger signals, and can then move closer to the Self”.
Swamiji elaborated: “We have to pay attention to what the mind is doing. It is good sense to do this. We discover that it depends on what the mind does whether we are happy or miserable”. It is a choice to move to the Self,” he underscored. Baba, similarly, had said: “Your mind is the master of your future.”
Swamiji said, “We search for the Self, but the mind is more important - it guards the door; the Self is always there”. He used the analogy of one of the resident ashram chow chows, Bhavani, who guards the door to the centre, and needs to be propitiated.
Baba had spoken of denuding the mind of anxiety and worry, and Swamiji corrected the misapprehension by some seekers that the aim is to “blank” the mind. It is natural for the mind to think. It is more about having a peaceful mind. When there are negative states in the mind - fear, anger, jealousy - we become negative, he said.
Swamiji referred to Baba’s directive that we must “win the grace of the mind”. Baba had observed that when we do this, we “experience wonderful peace, great freshness, great inspiration because every power is inherent in our mind”. Swamiji stressed the importance of “winning the grace of the mind”, saying, “This teaching is exquisite and correct and completely true. We ask for God’s grace or the guru’s grace, but to have the grace of the mind means it no longer assails us with negativity - what I call tearing thoughts”. “When the mind doesn’t have our grace, it attacks us and deludes us,” he added.
Baba noted that “it is only because we don’t understand the nature of our mind that we don’t have the grace of the mind. If we have the grace of the mind it is not difficult to rise to a divine state”. This grace is “freedom”, Swamiji encapsulated Baba’s teaching.
“Make your mind your dearest beloved,” Baba remarked. “The mind is not far away, it overhears everything you think. When someone is absent you can talk behind thier back, but Your mind is always in the room,” Swamiji said, amid much head nodding and mirth.
Swamiji suggested a dharana on “making the mind your beloved”. He said, “Say, ‘Oh my mind, I love you. You’ve done so many good things for me’. (We notice it when it goes off, but we don’t appreciate it otherwise.) ‘Oh my mind, be calm. Oh my mind, show me the Self. Oh my mind, show me where peace is’”.
Baba’s instruction, “Love your mind absolutely and take utmost care with it” was employed by Swamiji for the closing meditation. Swamiji observed, “There are two ways to love the mind: daily meditation and inquiry”. He compared inquiry to being a detective in your inner world, and warned that what seems true is not always so. “There is a profound level underneath. You will recognise it by the shift that occurs,” Swamiji explained. “Peace is always the outcome if you inquire deeply enough,” he affirmed.
The evening did not, however, end there. As Tanya-Lee Davies, MC for the evening said, Swamiji did “not get away with a total absence of love torture”, as sari- and punjabi- garbed ashramites and householders flanked the hall, holding orange balloons, presenting Swamiji with a handmade card and cake on behalf of the ashramites, householders and community.
Swamiji expressed his gratitude, saying that the true gift is seeing these increasingly shining faces looking back at him, replete with the light of the Self.
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