It’s a typical day at Kanha. The morning began with Daaji taking a walk in the company of plants in the rainforest surrounding his house.

After a meeting at 10.30 a.m. with Santosh Khanjee and Sudhir Marwaha, he left for a round of the ashram.

He inspected all of the water bodies on campus and, after instructing the team to install floating solar units, he urged them to begin using them to generate power on the premises as soon as possible. He also directed the team to complete all pending work related to plumbing, electricity, plantation, and nursery around the ponds at the earliest.

At 12.30 p.m., Daaji sat with a few seekers in his office at home. In reply to an e-mail, he shared profound thoughts on the topic of spirituality:

What Is Spirituality?

To answer your first question, “How is it possible to gauge spiritual progress?” I would respond by asking you, “Is your attitude and outlook toward life-changing? How so?” This self-reflective exercise will tell you if you have progressed.

Another way of looking at it is this: spiritual progress is all about arriving at purity and simplicity. In other words, as you progress you will feel purer and simpler. You are welcome to ponder over this and ask, “Where is purity and simplicity in me?”

As you progress, you will notice that simpler ways of living become your priority.

The constant struggle in today’s developed nations is not for physical survival, but for mental and emotional well-being. Every moment demands energy in knowing right from wrong, moral from immoral, and profit from loss. How can we make decisions that are logically sound as well as appealing to the heart? It means the refinement of both thinking and feeling. Simple Heartfulness practices can easily make that happen.

Material wealth demands some level of work and effort. Likewise, spiritual wealth demands consistent efforts from our side. It all begins with intentions.

Consciousness is the key to human growth. When we observe trees, we see that it is inherent that the seed will turn into a tree one day, provided circumstances are appropriate for its growth. Consciousness is slightly different. Consciousness can fail to reach its potential even when the circumstances are favorable. Why? Because we have free will, the will to choose, and often we choose something easy rather than evolutionary.

Evolutionary processes are transformative plus challenging. If our awareness decides that it is not possible to become God-like, then we have chosen not to proceed in that direction. How can such an understanding help to evolve our consciousness to its fullest? Trees manage, because out of thousands of seeds at least two will become fully-grown trees. But among human beings, it is so rare to find one Christ or one Krishna. Sadly, today, many people believe that no one can come close to those highly praised personalities of the past. So, even if the possibility of spiritual progress exists, it is discarded even before it is considered.

A spiritual system is based on experience, including the awareness of progress. I invite you to try it for yourself and then write to me again about what you discover.

Afterward, Daaji went to rest.

At around 5.30 p.m., he conducted an individual meditation session for a couple.

After dinner, Daaji again spent time with seekers in his office. He was up with them till 10.15 p.m. Thereafter, asking the preceptor candidates to join the meditation session the next day, he retired for the night.