28 July, Sancoale Ashram 

Nestled in the verdant hills of South Goa, the Heartfulness Sancoale ashram is a place of natural beauty and quietude. Daaji’s visit here was eagerly awaited by all practitioners from Goa and surrounding states. Daaji arrived in the evening at the ashram, where he was received respectfully by many standing outside the hall, and many others waiting inside, silently preparing for the meditation session. Following the meditation, Daaji answered many questions from the youth. Here are some points to ponder upon.

Q: In school where there are smart front benchers, back benchers who don’t care about studies, and weak ones who struggle to even pass. In your class, Daaji, I am the weak one. I don’t want to waste my life, so what is your advice for me?
Daaji: I often say follow your heart, as the person who is really going through whatever be the situation in life, knows best. They also know the outcome and how to steer their way through. One piece of advice, or even hundreds of them are not fit enough because life throws different curve balls, different problems in diverse situations and the solutions that you may have received through advice in the form of dictation may not apply there at all; every time it may differ.

So what is required is a presence of mind, awareness and taking a bold step courageously. Often we know the answer/solution to the problem but the next step is missing, because we lack the courage to follow that step.

Q: It is mentioned that an aspirant must meet his/her Spiritual Guide at least once in a lifetime and that one meeting is enough, but how must that meeting be? Is this (being here in your presence right now) what it means to be ‘meeting the guide’ once in a lifetime?
Daaji: What's wrong in meeting him again and again? [laughter] It was advised by Babuji Maharaj that when you meet your Master at least once during your lifetime, you should not waste that moment. So the biggest question here is how do you meet your Master?

Do you come to him asking for solutions to your problems, looking for answers, or for spiritual gifts? You have to analyze what you are here for and match that with your aspirations. When we first went to see Babuji Maharaj, we had no questions, no expectations—nothing. We were just there. We had no conversations. In his [the Master’s] presence one has to be fully engaged from inside: fully alert like how a cat is, when waiting for a mouse.

Here pratyahara, the 5th step of Ashtanga Yoga, makes lots of sense. It means bringing all your attention inward. In the olden days there were no phones, hence no distractions. These days I wonder; you may be meeting him, but are you really meeting?

Q: Have you fallen in love? And does it happen once, or can it happen again and again?
Daaji: The feeling of love is eternal when we arrive at this stage [in spirituality]. However, I believe your question is from a romantic perspective, right? Well, in that case once is enough! If one [partner] could not satisfy you, the second one will never satisfy you: the romantic game is like that.

29 July, Caculo College, Mapusa

Daaji was invited by the organizing committee of the Saraswat Education Society at the Caculo College in Mapusa as part of their community outreach program themed ‘A Workshop on Heartfulness Meditation for Excellence.’ The audience consisted of dignitaries, faculty, heads of the college, and students. Drawing from the legend that Goa is a holy land created by Lord Parshuram, the speakers introduced Daaji with heartfelt reverence, recognizing Daaji’s presence as a fortunate opportunity for Goa to have a healing touch of the Divine. 

Daaji led the meditation session, following which he graciously addressed a selection of pre-submitted questions from the youth. He spoke for nearly half an hour, addressing each question with such depth and insight that even unasked questions appeared to find their answers. Here are a few pearls of wisdom from the Q&A.

Q: What according to you is the goal of Education?
Daaji: Let me explain this way. When I drink water my tongue tastes the water and when I smell a rose my nose understands this is a rose: but can the rose understand my nose, can water understand my tongue?

Objects cannot understand my senses. My mind can understand the senses, but can my senses understand my mind? My intellect can understand the mind, but can my mind understand the intellect? Likewise it goes on and on until we reach the frontier we call God. The reason why we can never ever understand God or can grasp what God is, is because we are grosser than that subtlest being [God]. If I say I understand God it means that I am much above God, and that can never happen. So, education or educating oneself from that perspective means becoming subtler and more refined at an inner level.

And that only means—in the words of Swami Vivekananda—your consciousness is now expanding, that you are evolving in the field of consciousness. Hence to educate oneself also means to help oneself to evolve in the field of consciousness. What is consciousness made up of we cannot say but we can say what influences my consciousness and that’s where Heartfulness comes into the picture.  

The session ended with an interesting Brighter Minds demonstration which involved audience participation. A random person from the audience was chosen and made to stand in front of the child with a blindfold. To everyone’s amazement, the child described the person's appearance in detail, including their clothing and even the design of their shoes!

Meditation for Inner Transformation
Mohidin's Gardenia, Vasco  

This event was an open house where many curious minds and spiritual seekers had gathered to hear Daaji and experience Heartfulness meditation. After a profound sitting, Daaji answered some questions from the audience. Here are a few excerpts. 

Q: Sir, I am a doctor and an atheist. I believe in karma—doing karma with honesty, doing good for people. I feel I don’t need to go to God for that. So why do I need to meditate?
Daaji: You are right about the concept of karma. I have more respect for atheists because they have not experienced God and hence they don’t claim to know him. But if you have experienced God, you don’t need to believe in Him. For example, the sun: you can feel its warmth, you can see it; you don’t need to believe in it. We all know God is antaryamin [inner entity/one who resides within] but there is a big difference in knowing this and experiencing this. So if you are an atheist, I fully agree with you, but go one step further—and ask, “How can I experience Him? That’s why I need to meditate.”

Daaji ended the session by inviting those interested in continuing meditation to visit the Heartfulness website and download the Heartfulness App, which offers diverse audio-visual tools and resources to support a meditative practice, including connecting with trainers around the globe for remote meditation sessions.