Travel Diaries

After the deeply fulfilling days of gatherings and Bhandaras in Shahjahanpur, where thousands of abhyasis from all over the world attended the most extraordinary spiritual event celebrating the 50 years of the Shahjahanpur Ashram,  Beloved Daaji has now moved into the next phase of his journey through the Kumaon hills toward Satkhol. Early on in the journey, a few members of the local media briefly interacted with him to understand the purpose of the yatra. In his characteristic simplicity, Daaji spoke about the inward search for the Divine and the central place of meditation in Sanatan Dharma.

Many avatars and saints have graced our land, each expressing truth in their own way. Lord Buddha spoke of nirvana, Mahavir Swami of the Jainism tradition said ‘reach the condition of kaivalyadham.’ Saint Kabir urged us to become ‘nothing,’ like a drop that merges into the ocean and becomes one with it. Lord Krishna told us to be like the lotus leaf, on which water does not stay, meaning, to live in such a way that no thought or action leaves an impression upon our consciousness.

Daaji spoke openly about the weight he experienced in this place — not physical, but subtle. This was the land of Lord Krishna’s birth, a place held sacred in the Hindu tradition. Yet Daaji noted that the history here was not peaceful. It was a birthplace surrounded by violence and trauma; Lord Krishna’s parents, Devaki and Vasudeva, were imprisoned, and several of his siblings were killed by Kamsa, the tyrant king. Lord Krishna himself was born in hiding, under threat. Moreover, many who tried to oppose Kamsa were killed. Little wonder then that Lord Krishna later on left this place and took up abode in a barren land like Dwarka in Saurashtra.

Q: How can Heartfulness app help us become mindful, emotionally resilient and socially attentive leaders in this modern world?   Daaji: All three aspects of life you mentioned are to do with your awareness. When Lord Krishna says in the Bhagvad Gita, “yoga karmashu kaushalam,” i.e. if you take meditation seriously and attain a state of yoga, all your activities in that state of mind will attain perfection. Meditation and cleaning are the means, it is up to you how to use them.

Daaji said, “Spiritual success is something else—the more you lose, the better you become. The more you lose, the greater the success within you. It’s a paradoxical understanding. So, we must be able to integrate the material world (where we seek more and more of ‘more and more’) and the spiritual realm (where we seek less and less of ‘less and less’ or we seek more and more of ‘less and less’). And when you are able to integrate these, only then you can confidently say when you're breathing your last, that ‘now I am able to leave this world contentedly.’ Because, when you are successful in the material world while you're alive, you will feel happy, but when that final moment [of death] comes, you will say ‘Sigh! I have not been able to do anything all my life.”