[Bold type indicates the authorized text of the Tiruppur Declaration.]
I have to remind myself often that way back in 1974, Babuji Maharaj told me in the hospital, Vivekananda Hospital in Lucknow, that he had decided that I was going to succeed him when his earthly life came to an end. Then we left. He was discharged on that day because he had come out of his coma, and next morning he reiterated it. And because it was a highly emotion-charged moment, he said, "It doesn't mean I am going away. I will be here until at least my hundred and six years of life." Today, strangely, it is hundred and six years, and strangely too I am going to do something that I should have perhaps done years earlier, but everything has its time and its place, and needs a special blessing. So, today we, or rather I, push the Mission further ahead into the future, and what it is you will know now.
By the Benevolent Grace of the great Master, our Mission has been serving the people of this world for the past sixty years. On this auspicious occasion of my Master's 106th Birth Anniversary, it is necessary to take stock of the work done so far, and also to plan to secure the future of the Mission. The Mission has a presence in about eighty nations of the world, a very strong presence in several countries, not so very strong in many, and an almost negligible presence in several. Language has been a barrier in many countries, but this is not insuperable. The abhyasis being all family members, grihasthas as we say in Hindi, makes it almost impossible to deploy willing workers around the globe, as organizations preaching sannyasa are able to do. Yet we can say with considerable satisfaction that our prefects spread around the globe have managed to spread the message of my Master quite well, given the limitations of having to be wage earners, required to look after their families with love and care. The main thrust has to be to motivate our prefects to greater dedication and effort, and this is of course being done all the time. While a great deal of organization is necessary, we have to avoid the danger of concentrating too much on organization, remembering that this Mission is a non-profit organization and all that we need to do is to utilize the resources coming in the shape of voluntary donations from abhyasis all over the world. This has to be used wisely.
I am happy to announce that today I have received a cheque for $1,106,000, the largest ever. [applause] The donor wishes to remain anonymous and I respect his wishes.
Shri Ram Chandra Mission is guided in its working by one single person who is both its President as well as its Spiritual head. This will always be so, because the spiritual function is all-important, and the worldly matters are merely aids to the proper administration of the Mission's purpose. Only my Master can say to what extent these aims have been so far fulfilled.
I am now nearing the age of seventy-eight years, which I shall complete in a few months. With all the optimism at my command, I must emphasize that the time has come to provide for the future of the Mission, and to give it its future leader, who will preside over the organization as its President, and will guide the spiritual destinies of the devotees of the Great Master, Babuji Maharaj, as his next spiritual Representative. My Master has emphasized, time and again, that such a person must be carefully chosen for his capacities in dealing both with worldly matters, as well as the spiritual work, while also looking to his own spiritual growth. The chosen one will have to be trained carefully and intensively before he assumes the mantle, when the time comes for him to do so.
I am pleased to announce that such a person has indeed been chosen by my Master. And with His approval, and under His guidance, his training has been progressing for several years now. I will continue my work for as long as I am destined to remain among you all. The purpose of exposing him to you all today is to ensure that the members of this august Mission, and all those who are interested in spirituality all over the world, are assured that their future is indeed being well protected and cared for. This person will receive continuous training during my lifetime.
You know how sacred it is, in India at least, for a son to be born in a family-because he carries the parampara-the tradition, what you call the heritage, into the future. It does not mean that the present ceases to exist. It only means that concurrently with the present, the future comes into being. And that the future is safe, is assured, in turn to continue into the next generation of the future. That is how hierarchies are built up, guru paramparas are built up. And I remind you that according to the sacred traditions of India as embodied first, at least as it is represented in the Mahabharata, Bharat Chakravarty [emperor], whose great name our country bears as Bhaaratvarsh, was the first person who said, "Not janma [birth] but karma shall decide who shall succeed." And he had nine sons, and he said, "I don't find any of them fit." Therefore he nominated a successor to his throne, the great parampara of the Kauravas and the Pandavas-from outside the family. Here there is no such distinction. Here we are one family. All are children of the Master and one among the children is chosen.
I now introduce to you the successor chosen by my Master, confirmed by the hierarchy of Sahaj Marg, my disciple, brother Ajay Kumar Bhatter who is well known to most of you. [applause] He will succeed me as the spiritual Representative of my Master and to the office of the President of the Mission all over the world. I make this solemn declaration with the approval of my Master, and charge you, one and all, to accept him wholeheartedly as a brother chosen to look after your spiritual future when I relinquish the post. I pray to my Beloved Master to protect and to nourish him, grooming him for the enormous responsibilities that will fall on his tender shoulders. May he have a long, healthy and happy life to serve the Mission capably with devotion and dedication for many more years to come. I pray that he will be here to celebrate at least the centenary of the Mission in 2045. [applause] May the family that gave him to this world be blessed.
I introduce to you his father and mother, please, Gangadasji, bhabhi. Yeh unke pitaji, mataji hain. [Here are his father and mother.]
May my Master bless all of you on this auspicious occasion, and give you all the happiness that you should feel, and the spiritual progress that you are all striving for. May my Master bless all of you today, more than ever before.
Secretary saheb, you may put this up before the adjourned meeting of the working committee.
Now I have an equally important job-to release a book which has been held, not secret, but so sacred that it has to be born before it can be seen. It is like a baby you see. In India it is forbidden to see the sex of the baby, because so many wrongs are being done with this modern technology. I have pleasure in releasing a book for all those who are devoted to spirituality, to the great Masters, and who have sufficient intuitive powers to know. Yesterday somebody made a remark-I think it was brother A.P. Durai-that we are going into an era of communication where it is higher and higher 'tech'. But this is not higher 'tech'; it is intuition of the highest order, and when you read the book, you will understand what it is all about. It will be the future Bible of our Mission, Shri Ram Chandra Mission. People will read it, I hope one page a day, because it is not a novel to be read through from page to page and thrown away as good Americans always do. I cannot avoid having a dig at Americans, because while they have a love for knowledge, they have no respect for books. Unfortunately, in India, it is the other way around. We respect books but we don't look for knowledge.
You see the invertendo between the two sides of the globe. The Eastern end and the Western end, so to speak. Indians must learn to respect books, which they do of course. We worship them on the day of Saraswati pooja, and we read it sanctimoniously and prayerfully the next morning, and then put them back on the shelf till the next Saraswati pooja next year. That has to change. We have to learn to read. India is poverty-stricken because we have no libraries. In America every village has a library. In India there are no libraries-because this is also linked to the human arrogance of the average Indian that once he graduates, he knows everything. He doesn't have to study anything any more. He has only to learn how to make money-more and more of it, seek more and more power, position, what have you. Knowledge? No. Number two-our Vedas, our Gita, (the prasthaanatraya [the three fundamental texts of Hinduism], as we call it), they say, vidya dadaati vinayam-knowledge must bestow humility. Vidyaa vinayasampanne [the one with knowledge must be endowed with humility], says the Gita. However, our knowledgeable people are most arrogant. They say, "I know." And we don't have the courage to ask, "What exactly is it that you know?"
So in all service-mindedness to my Guruji, to my sacred parampara of Sahaj Marg, I welcome all the twenty-six odd thousand of you who are here, to go through this book carefully. I am sorry we have not enough copies to give to all of you free. It is being distributed free to donors of whom there are about five thousand. And as a mark of my appreciation that the great people of this country are also interested in spirituality, I request brother Govind, who is an M.P., sitting M.P., to receive the first copy. The second copy, I request Shri Dinesh Trivedi, another M.P. from Kolkata, to receive. And the third copy, also to a politician, who was ex-minister in the Uttar Pradesh BJP government. Our brother is also a preceptor, Shri Jansevak. I hope he will truly become a jansevak [one who serves humanity], not just in name, but one who serves the people of this country without, what should we say, self-interest, without bowing down to unnecessary power and power-seeking. May you all be blessed.
Mr Ramanlal Mimani-is he here? He is one of my oldest associates in this Mission. I remember the day (I think it was in 1966), I had been going to Shahjahanpur from Calcutta, and he was curious. He said, "Why do you go there?" I took him along and he became an abhyasi. I offer him a copy because he is a man who loves to read-he is a true seeker of knowledge-and I hope he will not allow his intellect to interfere with what he is going to read here.
Brother Sarvesh is my Master's son and therefore my brother, and he is also a spiritual seeker, a prefect of the Mission, serving the people of Shahjahanpur, and one for whom Babuji Maharaj had the greatest love and concern. Brother Bajpaiji as the Secretary of the Mission and brother Durai, Joint Secretary of the Mission: please come forward and receive your copy. A new Bible to replace the old one! And brother Chotu, Praveen Dagdee, who has single-handedly managed the production of this great work. So, thanks to all of you.
The next great occasion-what will it be? For me, every day that we live is a new day. Every moment that we breathe is a new life. We must follow Sahaj Marg practically, with enthusiasm rather more than devotion, because enthusiasm comes from a word which means 'to put God within'-enthuse, en theos. Every time we receive a transmission, we have a sitting, God is being put into us. And those who are conscious of this, never need to feel His absence, and never need to say, "Today I felt His presence," because that which is eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, cannot be felt just now. It is like saying, "Oh, I am beginning to breathe again." That means you are almost dead.
In Sahaj Marg, life is eternal. I just told you at the beginning of this talk, Babuji Maharaj said he would be with me at least till his hundred and sixth year. I have pleasure in saying He will live forever in our hearts. May it be so! |
