Kanha Shantivanam 15th December 2023

Daaji arrived at the meditation hall around 11.10 am and then conducted meditation from 11.15 to 11.50 am. 

Hundreds of ladies of the Sahakar Bharati Organization, who were holding their annual meeting were present that day. During the meditation, many mobile phones rang disturbing the peace of the meditation. Daaji gave a short talk after the session. 

He said that more telephones rang in that one meditation session than over an entire year. He was saddened by this. Giving an example from the Ramayana he explained how the yagna (ritual prayers) of the sages in the holy ashram were being disturbed by Asuras (demons or demon-like folk) in the forest. They would throw rubbish into the ashram during the puja and in general create quite a din disturbing the serene solemn sessions. To counter this and destroy them, the rishis approached the king for protection who then sent the princes including Lord Rama to resolve this situation. 

Comparing this situation to what had happened during meditation, Daaji said that while we cannot even quieten our monkey minds from thoughts for a few hours, the least we can do to not disturb ourselves and the world is to at least switch off our phones when we enter the meditation hall. He urged the participants while they were here to make the most of the serenity of Kanha Shantivanam ashram’s spiritual atmosphere to plunge within themselves. 

According to Daaji, it is the beginning of our training to become free from desires. Instead, we keep wanting freedom to do what we just want to keep on doing. This is why even if God himself came to live next to you for months on end, you would not be able to do anything meaningful with that opportunity. Unless there is an inner need to liberate oneself, and unless we prepare ourselves to engage with God’s presence, we will keep wanting to run away from God’s very presence. 

He said that so-called devotees are betraying God. Then we do not know where we belong, in heaven or hell. Neither here nor there. So one must begin to become peaceful for a few days when we are here. Desires are hurdles and disturb us. Yoga teaches us Pratyahara as indicated by Patanjali. This is where we begin to draw the energy in towards ourselves. A single focused meditative practice with careful cleaning every evening makes us grow daily till we reach a level of osmosis with the Maker. Now we no longer need to beg for anything because all that is unnecessary drops off by itself naturally and all that is required is present within. Then we no longer go to God as beggars. Because no one likes beggars. We generally shoo off a beggar who keeps bothering us for something. 

Later he met a team from Chennai's Manapakkam Ashram and discussed the construction work going on there with them. Before leaving the office he acknowledged the presence of several practitioners waiting there to give him their regards.

In the evening around 6.30 pm, Daaji met Shri K. Shankaraiah, a member of the legislative assembly from Shadnagar.

They discussed the situation in the state of Telangana regarding substance abuse pertaining mostly to alcohol. Abuse of liquor causes great damage to the people of this state. Shri Shankaraiah explained how dire the situation in public schools in his constituency, where there is a lack of appropriate infrastructure in schools. Daaji proposed help to construct proper toilets in schools and provide proper drinking water. He also proposed to train people from villages to keep the infrastructure clean. He proposed that this must be done immediately. He recommended that we should teach children to plant trees and water them. Shri Shankariah wanted to start in 25 to 30 very underprivileged schools. Daaji told him to train the children in these schools with the Brighter Minds programs. He said that this program influences their behavior while reinforcing their inner confidence. Their performance in all their skills including sports, and academics would all improve automatically. Daaji explained how Mr. Ronald Rose, who was the collector in Mehboobnagar district, trained 25000 children in this program during his posting there. Daaji told Shri Shankariah that the parents are welcome to contribute anything they want from these children for the brighter minds training. A brighter minds demonstration was shown to Shri Shankariah following this discussion. 

The team from Kanha Shantivanam who went to meet the newly elected Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of Telangana gave a detailed report to Daaji regarding the meeting.

In the evening, he went for a short walk and called sister Pragya Kalia and her husband Anirudh Kalia for dinner. They had recently visited Bharuch and Vadodara ashrams to see the plants' growth and they discussed the use of plasma water. 

Later in the night around 9 pm, after dinner Daaji joined Cindy Michelle for an interview on the Spiritual Anatomy, the second part of the interview which he had begun recording earlier that week. After the recording, he dropped Anirudh and Pragya Kalia off at the Pearl Hotel and returned home at 10:30 pm.