Kanha Shantivanam 30th October 2023

Daaji arrived in his office early in the afternoon after lunch. He recorded a beautiful message on the universality of Sahaj Marg. It spoke of just how humane is the practice of Sahaj Marg (also known globally as Heartfulness).

Daaji’s vision of a unified humanity took shape in his words as he highlighted how the practical methods of Sahaj Marg take us deeper into our hearts thus transforming us every single day. He mentioned the word Muraqabah, which is the Arabic word for meditation while explaining the Heartfulness method so that a larger world population can also relate to it.

He clearly stated how our goal is to help people expand their potential as human beings through meditation. When people meditate together, mutual respect for all beings emerges naturally while they are in that state of inner absorbency. This intense peace which is present in all Heartfulness centres around the world is a key aspect of Sahaj Marg. Whilst still maintaining our identities, we are able to come together in a spirit of harmony.  

Daaji highlighted that there is no idea of conversion in Sahaj Marg. He said that when a person practices Sahaj Marg diligently, it inculcates excellence in everything one does. The Sahaj Marg practice does not mean that we leave our religion or our culture behind. It enables a Christian to be a better Christian, a Hindu to be a better Hindu, and so on and so forth. It enhances our own understanding of our religion and its philosophy.  He explained how Sahaj Marg is not concerned with politics or opposing opinions.

Daaji mentioned how while he was growing up his father had encouraged him to perform worship in all the holy places in his village, like mosques, temples, and churches alike. This led him to cultivate a great appreciation of all religions, as different paths to God.

He announced that soon there would be an interfaith meeting in Kanha Shanti Vanam where scientific groups and groups representing diverse religions and faiths would be invited to collaborate for the purpose of research and understanding. He urged everyone to evaluate themselves in the light of universal brotherhood and remove any partiality and prejudice towards any religion. He recalled how Babuji Maharaj would say that “the greatest obstruction on the path” is the prejudice towards other religions.

In keeping with his vision of peace, love, and harmony, he ended the message with prayers for the unity of all humankind, saying Namaskar and Salaam.

Then he spent time listening to the various ideas and projects of Prof Vivek Wadhwa from California USA. Prof Wadhwa has been keen to visit Kanha Shanti Vanam and is here for the first time to experience Heartfulness meditation. Prof. Vivek Wadhwa is a tech entrepreneur and academic.  He is a Distinguished Fellow and adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon's School of Engineering in Silicon Valley; and a Distinguished Fellow at the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School. He is also the author of several books such as, Your Happiness Was Hacked: Why Tech Is Winning the Battle to Control Your Brain—and How to Fight Back; Driver in the Driverless Car; Innovating Women: The Changing Face of Technology; and Immigrant Exodus.

Prof Wadhwa shared his personal tragedy with Daaji, about how he had lost his wife a few years earlier to cancer. His wife had been his soul mate in every sense of the word, and after her departure, he lost all taste for life. For years he lived in the gloom of her loss and when he emerged it was to honor her parting advice that he would dedicate the rest of his life to the work of saving others from cancer as much as possible.

Prof Wadhwa has thus launched several initiatives especially one on early diagnosis of cancer in a revolutionary manner. He wants to provide this testing for all kinds of cancers at an incredible price of 100 INR to the masses in India, which could potentially save millions of lives due to early detection of the disease.

Prof Wadwa also spoke to Daaji about his plans to bring about a green revolution in India by the use of plasma water which is currently being tested at Kanha Shanti Vanam. The use of this specially treated water with revolutionary technology has been found to increase the yield in crops so much that it could breathe new life into the planet’s rapidly depleting resources.

Daaji listened keenly and gave his consent to working further with Prof Wadhwa in this direction. He explained to Prof Wadwha how he would be happy to try spraying the specific water on the papaya plants in his garden that very same day when he heard how it had been successful in removing mildew in okra in a recent experiment.

Professor Wadhwa’s entrepreneurial acumen reflected in this conversation as he discussed with Daaji on how cutting-edge technology needs to be scaled to meet the demands of the masses in India. His extended interactions with several of India's leading scientists have resulted in mega collaboration projects in India. He mentioned to Daaji how his interaction with the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India has given him hope that he will succeed in his larger-than-life schemes to help the planet through health and green initiatives.

Later, a Brighter Minds demonstration was carried out by a young brother which impressed Prof Wadhwa immensely. Elaborating upon this, Daaji said that to his heart the top three priorities are:

1. Training people in Heartfulness Meditation which has unique features such as transmission and cleaning, to name a few
2. Green initiatives
3. The Brighter Minds program

Daaji explained the importance of the Brighter Minds program and spoke about how we are training teachers to do this so that they, in turn, can carry out this training for children in their respective schools. This program is being currently run on a large scale with the Government Schools of New Delhi.

Daaji then explained to Prof Wadhwa about the importance of meditation and how one must learn to observe the changes in oneself before and after meditation. Then he conducted a sitting for all present.

A French sister who has lived for a long time in Pondicherry then presented to Daaji a beautiful lamp she had brought for him with the Learn to Meditate logo inscribed on it. Daaji took the time to observe the lamp carefully and took down some notes. The sister proposed to make more such lamps for Heartfulness if needed with various designs on it.

He also met two sisters from Lund, Sweden who were present to greet him. After a long session, Daaji then went home and took a rest

Later in the evening, he went for a long walk around Gokul Point.