Editorial

Our Annual National Convention was transformed into an exuberant 'Spring Festival' this year under the gracious and loving supervision of Maharaji. Hundreds of thousands of devotees from every nook and corner of India and abroad arrived on this occasion and ardently participated in the three day celebrations held on March 22, 23, & 24 this year at Shri Sant Yogashram. Elaborate arrangements for the boarding and lodging of guests and other participants were made and all sorts of facilities, specially audio and visual, were provided. Huge video screens for the benefit of those sitting at a distance from the stage and desiring to have darshan of Maharaji, were erected on both the sides of the stage and everybody was happy to be able to listen and see him simultaneously.

Maharaji appeared to be in high spirits and gave exceptionally revealing and enlightening satsangs on this occasion. The audience were spell bound, thrilled and were filled with a deep sense of love, fulfilment and gratitude.

Here in this issue we have published an English translation of Maharaji's satsang delivered on the first day, i.e. on the 22nd March, of

Life Force April - June 1990 1

this spring festival. This is meant for those who are the seekers, aspirants, as well as who have already received Knowledge. Maharaji in his address has drawn the attention of his audience towards the brighter side of human achievements through the grace of the Creator, in the form of this life and this human body. But we human beings are quite unaware of these precious gifts and do not try to appreciate or explore the poteniality inherent within us.

Moreover, the Creator has been so merciful to us that he has placed us on this beautiful planet earth which is uniquely suited to us in every respect–for our existence and also for enjoying this life to the fullest extent. 'There is no greater heaves' Maharaji says, 'than this earth where we were born. You forget about the heaven up there. And more over both the joy and the sorrow can be experienced here in this body, and this earth can also be turned into hell for those who choose the path of sorrow because we have been given this extra sensitive body and intelligence in order to distinguish between good and bad.' No restraint has been put upon us by the Creator. But a human being usually treads the path of sorrow. He wallows in it and has learned to relish and prefer it to the joy and bliss, even knowingly.

Man has been given powerful tools of comprehension and acceptance, viz. the mind and the heart. But both of them speak and understand different languages. They are, according to Maharaji, not on speaking terms with each other and their demands too are absolutely contradictory in nature. The mind wants material things and the heart hankers after love, devotion, peace and real contentment in this life. Because of this mind the man is never satisfied with what he has already got and achieved. He tries to find happiness in wealth and rank, family connections and various means of self-aggrandizement while the heart's desire can only be fulfilled through this Knowledge. Otherwise usually the life of human being upon this earth becomes sort of a hackneyed and boring story.

In order to become successful in life we will have to pursue the path pointed out by our heart–the path of love and devotion. The greatest of pilgrimages exists in our hearts. We have just to go and see ourselves, and listen to the voice and incessant call of the heart with our inner ears and look with our inner eyes the greatest of vision displayed within us!

We must find enough time for satsang, service and practice of Knowledge and become a true student of Knowledge which is actually the key to let us reach our heart–the abode of true joy. We

have always to remain open to learning and be a true aspirant of Knowledge and this life. Our slate should be completely clean to enable our Master to write clearly on it whatever he wants to write, and then read it with true love and faith and act accordingly. Then of course our life can be a real success.

We are also publishing his address to our foreign guests (on the 24th of March) in this issue. He has described the Knowledge as a life long process and thus it becomes incumbent upon the seekers of truth and real contentment in life to take all the limits away while studying this perpetual learning process. This Knowledge has no limits, he says and when the teacher is willing to have no limits himself, then the student has to be such that has no limits as well.

He emphasized that the essence of human nature is to want to know, to be satisfied, to be content and to achieve an equilibrium in life, and this achievement can only be possible when we make individual efforts according to the dictates of our inner self.

We are also giving the first half of the discourse of Maharaji in this issue, delivered on the occasion of his birthday at Brussels in the morning of 9th December 1989. It is really a gem of a satsang which requires a thorough perusal and study.

Maharaji has stressed the need of acquiring inner learning which is amazingly a backward process in his opinion. The rest of the text will be published in the next issue. Some heartfelt comments about the Spring Festival and an article by Instructor Jagdeo ji form parts of this issue, which we hope, will be appreciated by our readers.

36 Life Force April - June 1990