Craving the Ultimate - Marie Teresa McDaid

Craving the Ultimate

Marie Teresa McDaid

Craving: to long for; want greatly; to require; to need; to yearn for

The Ultimate: the absolute: the concept of an unconditional reality which transcends limited, conditional, everyday existence.

 –thefreedictionary.com

Love

We are making our way back home to the Beloved within all of us. The seeds of love were sown in our hearts from the time of creation. God gave us free will when we came to live these lives. We lived and experienced our lives in form and in the exterior places that we have found hold little value, and now we are trying to find our way back to the ultimate place within.

Throughout my life I had felt a sense of separation, of something missing. Once I started Heartfulness, I realised that what I was feeling was separation from inner self; that I was missing my ultimate home. That is when my yatra (journey) started.

The feeling of separation from our Beloved can be a difficult thing to put into mere words. We yearn so deeply to be with Him. This yearning drives every particle of our being to get closer to Him. It vibrates the pulse and radiates from the heart. We long to feel the flow of His love pulling us towards Him.

Prayer

This love is so subtle, it assists in taking us there, pulling from ahead and pushing from behind. When this begins, there is no going back; what is there to go back to? It becomes almost unbearable to be within this surge of separation whilst journeying but how beautiful it is to bear!

We must keep moving forward and not slow down as we move through the different points along the path. Once the momentum has begun, this stream of love must be kept at a level to keep taking us to higher states of infinite awareness. It is so beautiful to feel the love proliferate and all around us benefit too.

To remain in a condition of love is the key to moving forward continuously. Love will attract love, so the lover and the Beloved will be drawn to each other.

Keep this condition not just in meditation but in the waking and sleeping states. We can keep generating love through regular, pure intention – prayer and constant remembrance.

Constant Remembrance

What has helped me on this journey of love has been prayer and staying in constant remembrance. The impetus for this was a talk given by Daaji, which I came across in 2015 when I had been a few months in this beautiful Heartfulness practice. In it he suggested that we “think that everything surrounding us – the air particles, people, the birds, the trees, the flowers, the ceiling, the wall, the paintings – everything – is absorbed in Godly remembrance.”

I seemed to absorb this within and it became part of my daily life.

©©©©©©

What is real love for God?

“It is a state when the trinity of the lover, the beloved and love itself disappear.”

–Lalaji

Fasting

The principle behind fasting is that God never takes food, and by fasting we get nearness to God and thereby absorb his condition to some extent. But it fits well with the humility of a devotee to take a little food, thus admitting that we cannot live without food, like Him. When fasting without even taking water, we boost our ego.

Taken from the book "Complete Works of Ram Chandra, Vol. 4 (1st edn., 2014)", Chapter "Pearls of Wisdom", pg. 264, by Babuji Maharaj

One would never have thought of the principle of Fasting from this perspective, that God never takes food and so to get nearness to Him, we also try to follow that. But then in Sahaj Marg, Babuji Maharaj goes further to explain that extreme demonstration of Fasting is just a boosting our ego and really not beneficial to the spiritual path. If we really put our heads down and think about it, this is really true, that very much like one demonstrates his strength by building his muscles on one extreme which is nothing but a display of ego, that I did it, on this other extreme, complete fasting is also a display of ego that I can do this, and nothing else. If I may extend this, complete abstinence of any type is a display of ego. A display of the fact that I can do it, either just for myself, or for the world to see, or for God to see, it does not matter. 

Sahaj Marg practice talks about holding onto a higher principle with all you got, so that all these petty things including all manifestations of the lower-self drops off automatically, and we are focused on one thing and one thing only, which is our goal, which is our ideal, which is what we want to become, which is not what I am now. This way, Sahaj Marg can be seen as a middle-path, with complete moderation, no excesses of any type, on either side as in complete excess on one side and complete negation on the other side. All the Masters of Sahaj Marg have lived this life of complete moderation to its fullest degree. Babuji Maharaj demonstrated simplicity and moderation in his whole life. Chariji Maharaj demonstrated what it means to work and leave the results to Him alone, and now Shri. Kamlesh D Patel, the current Master and Spiritual representative of his lineage of Gurus and the President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission, has his complete focus on Heartfulness, a simple approach to offering Sahaj Marg meditation practice to people of all walks of life all over the world. 

A Life of Service: A Sahaj Marg Perspective

"To serve entails that one's life is no longer one's own and that, in a way, one makes oneself available to deal with it. In this field, more than elsewhere, one should make choices that meet one's profound aspiration to devote oneself to service without any materialistic motive. Everyone's karma is full of opportunities to find fulfilment in keeping with one's personal capabilities. Many of our aspirants engage in service, keenly aware of this reality."

- Babuji Maharaj

In USA, we have what is called as the AAA policy, which is an Emergency roadside service. One SRCM preceptor jokingly told me once, that in Sahaj Marg also, we have a AAA policy. That is, an abhyasi who wants to follow the path of service must be "AVAILABLE, ACCESSIBLE, APPROACHABLE". As Babuji Maharaj says above, make oneself available. But, Babuji says very clearly that there should not be any motive behind this service. Even though here it talks only about material motive, as a matter of fact, the best way of approach to service is to not have any motive or expectation at all, be it material or even spiritual. Our Master, Chariji Maharaj and Shri. Kamlesh D. Patel have both mentioned time and again, about the idea of not having any expectations towards anything that we do. The only "output" of any work should be that the work or service should produce the desired results, and it is for this result alone that we work. Not for any self-aggrandisement, or for any expectation of the self. 

Another beautiful point hidden in this message above is that this life of service is a "CHOICE". This choice arises out of a deep aspiration to follow such a life, a life which is life-changing in its every sense of the meaning of that word. That is, it changes the course of life itself for that person who made that choice to serve. Sahaj Marg offers such a choice, and Shri Ram Chandra Mission organization has many such selfless individuals who have chosen this life of service, epitomized by the life of the Master, Shri. Kamlesh D. Patel and the Masters before him, who have lived such a life of complete dedication and service, to help and support those who come to them for their spiritual growth and progress. 

Biography: About Shri Kamlesh Patel

“If you want to have infinite happiness, infinite bliss, then minimise your desires, from more and more to less and less and finally to zero! Make peace with yourself.” – Shri Kamlesh D Patel

Shri Kamlesh D Patel was born in Gujarat, India and is now the President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission (SRCM) and the fourth Spiritual Master of the Sahaj Marg system of Raja Yoga meditation.

From an early age, Kamlesh Patel was interested in spirituality and meditation, and eventually came to the feet of his Guru, Babuji Maharaj in 1976 while still a student. Over the decades, Kamlesh Patel has assisted his guide, Chariji, in the management of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, which offers the Heartfulness approach to the practice of Sahaj Marg in most countries of the world free of charge.

Kamlesh Patel is married with two sons, and is a role model for students of spirituality who seek that perfect blend of Eastern heart and Western mind. He travels extensively and is at home with people from all backgrounds and walks of life, giving special attention to the youth of today.