- Dr.K.Madhava

OFFERING A SEAT TO MASTER

All of us who have taken up the natural path try to follow the system of PAM sincerely. We try to follow the Ten commandments to mould ourselves in such a way that we start living in His Presence more and more and also more intimately.

As we practice the system with devotion with the clear goal in view and supported by the pranahuti our consciousness starts getting pure and we will be regaining our capacity to sense the subtle presence of the Divine.

One of the methods which will be very helpful in achieving our objective is to offer an asan in front of us in our prayer room and invoke the presence of Master seeking His blessings and support in our sadhana.

This ensures the following advantages.

1) In meditation our thought settles on the object of meditation and we feel absorbed in the divine thought, we feel grateful to the Master for our Imperience rather than feeling egoistic about it. Thus the feeling of doer ship which is the greatest barrier or hindrance on the path is mitigated by the above method.

2) When we feel He is in front of us and giving a sitting we will not allow our mind to entertain thoughts other than that of the goal and we will be alert, attentive and be conscious. The common fault of not meditating but chasing thoughts and planning your day’s agenda will make you feel it as an unbecoming conduct in front of the Great Master. You will start doing the meditation sincerely.

3) We will be able to maintain the attentive attitude of a soldier and we will stop unnecessary movements of our hands and feet. As you all know a soldier standing in a parade is very keenly     attentive to Parade commander’s instructions. Similarly we will learn to be attentive and wait on the Master. 

The above lesson will be very useful as we progress in our spiritual life and start enjoying the Master’s presence constantly. We will enjoy but at the same time be attentive like a soldier and resort to behaviour which will rouse a feeling of love piety in others.

In the prevailing materialistic atmosphere it our duty to feel the presence of Master in our heart and also all-round us and thus participate in the transformation of Human consciousness.

Masters bless us by their presence even inspite of our puny efforts of offering puja. Thus offering of an asan for the blessing of Master’s presence is a very good practice; it is a very good preliminary practice for our puja.

I was talking to Pujya KCN about this issue and he narrated to me two incidents about how our beloved Babuji Maharaj once asked him not to sit on the chair in front of him as he said that Rev Lalaji Maharaj was sitting on it.

On another occasion The Great Master asked him to go inside the room where Rev Lalaji Maharaj was present.

I am quoting from the book Three Truths –Trillion Doubts about how to know whether Master has really graced us by His presence.

Feeling the Presence of the Master

When we think of the Master and the yielding attitude is there it is a common experience that we feel the vibrations or other wise a peaceful condition descending to us. So that is what is your experience. Now that you have had enough experience of the assurance from the Master by way of His presence. A few thoughts on the awareness of the presence of the Master and the practical way that I have adopted with unfailing success are furnished hereunder.

1) When we concentrate on any thing we can also get it before us as a vision either during waking state or during meditation. This happens in cases where one concentrates on the Master or Gods and Goddesses.

2) The visions seen in the dreams are of a different category and do not fall under concentration.

3) But it is a fact that Masters and Gods and Goddesses also bless the aspirants by their presence.

4) How to differentiate between the items 1 and 3 and be sure of the actual presence of the Master and that it is not due to one’s concentration?

5) The following are very important points to note.

In the case of (3) actual arrival of the Master, the mind will feel that the connection to the Master will acquire force. In the case of (1), which is due to mental construction of the form etc., due to concentration the connection to the Master will not have the force associated with it. These two states can be understood if one is blessed with the Master’s actual presence and observed carefully through feelings in the heart. When the Master is really before us, pure sincerity in the heart will be observed and this will have nothing to do one’s spiritual aspirations etc., No expectancy will be there. We will just be waiting on Him with sincerity. There will also be lightness felt in the heart automatically due to the flow. One will feel nothing of this sort in the case of mental structuring (artificial).

Rev Babuji Maharaj in a message in the year 1968 titled Constant Remembrane  said the following “I remained very happy in your company. When all of my associates gather at one spot, it becomes a temple for me and it is their duty to make their hearts as the temple themselves.”

When we offer our prayer with a heart full of love and devotion our heart becomes a temple  and who knows when he blesses us by His company.   Thus it is a very good practice to offer an asan for the Master.

Pranams