It was one of those days when one wonders where Daaji gets the intense will to work to such an extent, even if, to most of us, we can only perceive that it’s untiring and unfurling, perhaps only in the visible physical domain.
That morning, Daaji went for a walk and then received his guests from the night before for breakfast at his residence. An entire contingent full of golf carts arrived at 8 a.m. They spoke at length about the possibilities for Heartfulness and the Commonwealth to work together. Santosh Khanjee was introduced to the Hon. Secretary General by Daaji as the Mission’s functionary in charge of all its overseas operations.
The Bollywood and regional Indian movie actor Darasing and his wife spoke about their work in Mumbai with Daaji while at breakfast. Mona works as a publicist for her husband’s career and for several actors in the Indian movie industry.
After breakfast, Daaji conducted meditation in the living room. After the session, he led everyone out to see the garden. Daaji showed them the entire forest that was created around his home and explained everything in detail with so much love and interest. Both Rt. Hon. Patricia Scotland and Darasingh were amazed at the way the research was done and the fruits of it.
Towards the end of the walk, Madhava Reddy came along with Dr. Apparao Mukkamala to meet Daaji. Dr. Mukkamala is a retired medical doctor from Flint, Michigan, and is currently the Managing Trustee of Swami Chinmaya Mission University. He is a retired medical doctor who shares his time between India and the US and is very devoted to his work serving the Chinmaya Mission, his own constructed orphanages, educational institutions, and charities. Daaji had met him earlier, and each time it is interesting to observe Daaji’s appreciation and welcome towards genuine and authentically silent people who work in a spirit of self-effacing peacefulness. Having acknowledged the way Daaji had welcomed Transcendental Meditation practitioners here in Heartfulness, Dr. Apparao is thinking of organising a similar celebration for the Chinmaya Mission here in Kanha Shantivanam for their organisation’s 75th anniversary.
An Iranian family came to pay their respects to Daaji before they left. They requested a photo with Daaji. Although rather active with initiatives and excitement, it was a taxing and very long morning for Daaji as he bid goodbye to the visitors at 12 pm. He took some much needed rest, which meant that his lunch was again delayed by several hours that day.
Daaji asked Patricia and Dharasing to proceed with their tree plantation and then went to rest, as it had been a very long and tiring day for him already.
Nevertheless, in the evening, at around 5.40 pm, Daaji came to the conference hall to conduct the meditation for all the volunteers who worked tirelessly for the Transcendental Meditation programme.
Shri Sanjay Sethi, who has a mining business and hails from Udaipur, along with his son and daughter, accompanied by Mukesh Patel, met Daaji in the stage building after the volunteers’ sitting. They had discussions on many initiatives planned in Rajasthan. Later, Daaji discussed with Br. Sriram and Anshumi the Bio-Char project and the initiatives planned in Gujarat. Daaji then met some abhyasis waiting outside and then returned home. There, Satbir Bakshi was waiting to meet him and spent time speaking to him before leaving.
It was one of those days when one wonders where Daaji gets the intense will to work to such an extent, even if, to most of us, we can only perceive that it’s untiring and unfurling, perhaps only in the visible physical domain.
From morning till evening, he finished meeting most of those who had sought his attention, systematically looking into every project and initiative. It is also a valuable life lesson to see how he leaves nothing until tomorrow and what can be done on that very day. How assiduous of him when every drop of his energy is so precious. If only we could make a similar use of our resources, then as volunteers we can carry out so much more work for this sacred journey within and on the frontiers of our movement for humanity’s collective evolution.
