Soon till 10

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The Sahaj Marg system of Raja Yoga meditation (Heartfulness) is the basis of my spiritual practice. I’ve written about the various aspects of the practice here on Sthapati Samanvayam. I won’t bother with trying to give you the digest version of what my sampradaya (tradition, religious system) / parampara (guru-shishya lineage) entails. You can search for yourself by clicking HERE and HERE and HERE.

Every path that anyone can take offers a structure specific to that path. Some paths have a lot of scripture or many texts for adherents to pull from and others have far less. Some paths have definite lists of dos and don’ts while others just offer guidelines for followers to keep in mind as they travel through life. In the Sahaj Marg / Heartfulness tradition, our gurus contribute to an ever growing body of text from which abhyasis can derive structure, guidance, and clarity. Part of this body is a collection of ten maxims. A listing of those maxims can be found by clicking HERE.

I wanted to write about our Maxims because I think they’re important. To be clear, these are not truly our equivalent of the Abrahamic Ten Commandments. There’s a big difference between our Maxims and those Commandments – namely that there’s no petty, emotional, fickle, and judgmental Old Man Overlord in the sky meeting us on top of a mountain to dish out rules and punishments as the early Jews and Christians believed (and still mostly do). I was talking with a local prefect / preceptor, whom I really admire and am very fortunate to have locally, and I mentioned to her that I planned a short series on the maxims. Her response was, “Very cool. The Maxims are at the base of everything. Mysteriously, they begin to manifest within oneself the more fully one begins to drown in Love for all things with no distinction.”

My plan is to publish a post for each Maxim and share my thoughts and understandings related to that maxim. I encourage you, dear readers, to share your own thoughts and understandings of these maxims in comments on each post. As indicated in my Samyag Akhyate (click to view it) page, you’re more than welcome to disagree with me – you don’t have to be polite or sugar coat anything but you do have to be productive. For those of you who will be reading these posts as a result of them being shared to my other social media, such as my Facebook page, I would ask that if you want to share your comments / thoughts, please share them here and not in a comment on the Facebook post. In that way, others will be able to read your insights and may well benefit from them, too. Thank you for reading!

Aum Shri Mahaganeshaya Namaha | Aum Shanti

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Seeking Converts: Apply Within

As I’ve mentioned a number of times, I practice a form of Raja Yoga that has been systematized for the modern grhasta into what is now called Sahaj Marg. My first six months with it kind of led me to put it aside, actually, and view it as a valid-but-not-for-me path. About a year after that (I think), there was a change of heart and after assessing a few things in my life, the Marg felt like a better fit than it previously had. Since that time, I’ve practiced as faithfully and diligently as I have been able while living the householder life (S.M. is actually quite suitable for those living as householders) and I attend satsangh as often as I am able. From time to time, in waves it seems, I’ll write here about concepts or beliefs pertaining to this path. On that note, and leading into the rest of this post, I want to make very clear that Sthapati is not a “Sahaj Marg blog” and never will be. It’s a Joshua/Dhrishti blog and will be.

Still, web searches on the matter will turn up this blog and a number of other online resources for Sahaj Marg, both official and unofficial, legit and bogus. I wonder if it’s because of this that an issue of Sahaj Sandesh was written as it was. The Sahaj Sandesh is an email newletter of sorts that kind of is usually pretty specific – it might mention points of interest regarding upcoming events, or provide a status update on the health of our guru. Those kinds of things. Recently, the Sahaj Sandesh came as a warning, and considering the amount of writing I’ve done about Sahaj Marg here on Sthapati it hits rather close to home. Immediately below, I’ll post the October 5th Sahaj Sandesh and maybe you’ll understand why.
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“Dear sisters and brothers,

“We see ever-increasing instances of people spreading ‘news’ from Manapakkam through social media like Facebook and messaging platforms like SMS, Whatsapp, etc, which is factually incorrect and even misleading. While the intentions of the concerned abhyasis may not be bad or harmful, this leads to widespread dissemination of wrong and at times undesirable information. Please note that any ‘news’ or information for abhyasis will only be done through the official Mission channels like Sahaj Sandesh, or through functionaries of the Mission.

“Abhyasis are also reminded that whenever they use these platforms for sharing unsolicited audio, video or photographic material, they are violating the Mission’s copyright laws and are advised to refrain from doing so. Please be assured that for the willing heart, there is sufficient material to read, hear, view and digest already available in the Mission without having to resort to such content for spiritual motivation.

“With sincere prayers,
Kamlesh D. Patel”

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This kind of rubs me in two ways. The first, and probably the most obvious, is that it looks a lot like abhyasis like myself are advised against doing what I have done (and am doing right now). “Don’t share our information” is what this issue of the Sahaj Sandesh boils down to. I’ve never shared anything that is “factually incorrect” and have cited the source for every Sahaj Marg quote or video or anything that I’ve shared here. So, in my case if something I shared was “factually incorrect,” then it was incorrect when I received it from the works of the Sahaj Marg Masters. And since I’ve not really done any slandering, per se, of this material, I would also find it difficult to believe that anything shared here on Sthapati would be “undesirable” as indicated in the Sandesh. Maybe I’m too focused on myself and Sthapati in this context with the egoic part of my mind wrongly thinking this is somehow referring to me (like I’m THAT important), and maybe there are other things, of which I’m not currently aware, that this Sandesh is actually referring to. At this point, with my very limited knowledge, I’m going to remind myself that nothing I’ve shared here, to the very best of my ability, has been “factually incorrect” or paints the Marg in any “undesirable” light. So for Sthapati, things will likely remain business as usual.

The second way this rubs me is more positive. All copyright threats aside, I find it really reassuring that there was emphatic mention that those who seek will find. You don’t have to go shoving anything in anyone’s face because if they want it and if it’s meant for them to see, then it will find its way to their face anyway. Personally, I don’t feel like Sthapati has shoved anything in anyone’s face in any remotely unsolicited manner. As with anyone who finds official and legit Sahaj Marg websites, Sthapati and its “Sahaj Marg” posts will only turn up if someone 1) goes looking for them or 2) is a subscriber to Sthapati which carries the implication that the subscriber already has interest in whatever content might appear on the blog.

Still, one of the most appealing aspects of my experience with Hinduism is that it doesn’t seek converts. Certain Hindu paths are definitely more prone to “advertising” than are others, but I think I would say that even most of those paths still allow space for potential converts or devotees to say no and leave. With that in mind, this Sandesh reminds me of a response I once received from a past temple president here locally when the Indian mother of my “bahin” in Atlanta called to my temple here in Indiana and asked about a conversion puja (or something, idk exactly how she worded it). The response she received from the then president was along the lines of “absolutely not.” He stated that the temple had no interest in doing anything that even remotely looked like it was seeking converts. Of course, her own local temple was more than happy to perform an equivalent puja for me, if only I made the trip.

So there you have it. Honestly, I’m not sure what this means for future posts on Sthapati. I will continue to share insight gained as I walk my path, and with credit being given where it is due, I’m likely to cite any current or past Sahaj Marg Masters – that’s the point of Sthapati, which is spelled out on the “Samyag Akhyate” page. Although, out of respect for Brother (and next guru) Kamlesh’s request, perhaps I’ll be less direct with this kind of material? I don’t know. Thoughts and suggestions are welcome!

Aum Shri Mahaganeshaya Namaha
Aum Shanti