By Christopher Greenwood
Day 227 – Driving lessons
Recently, I’ve been driving Mohanji quite a lot as we travel from location to location, and one might think it would be a typical car journey, but it’s something very different. When you’re with Mohanji, focus and concentration are refined.
The whole time spent with Mohanji is a lesson in being alert, aware and present. Any sign of absent-mindedness gets a swift kick, so day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute, there’s a requirement to be present. Laziness, absent-mindedness or tamas aren’t given any space to slip in. It’s challenging yet rewarding as your focus, clarity and refinement are honed daily.
I find driving Mohanji around very interesting – for example, say you’re driving down a road in Belgrade city, with many cars, traffic lights, and various situations, he’ll give very clear directions, “Speed up here, slow down here, change lane here, or watch out for this car; it’s going to move here.” It’s almost as if he’s an expert co-pilot navigator and sees things well ahead of time, revealing the different dimensions or states he operates from. You’ve to be focused and alert and take the instructions too so that you can go, and if he says, “Go,” you go.
It’s a lesson in trust as well. There was a minor incident where I realized the potential of doubting his instruction because every time Mohanji gives a task or something, he gives it with power. So when he says to do this, or it’s good if you do that, it’s coming with the backing. That belief is essential always to have.
In this minor incident, we would be taking a junction or setting off, and he said, “Go. Drive,” but at that time, I hesitated. I stopped because I thought the car would be coming. It didn’t, but my automatic reaction was not to listen to that and not to go, and he turned to say, “You know, when I say something, I give full protection, so nothing’s going to happen, but as soon as you decide to make your own decision, then everything which comes from that is your own.”
This was a very small, subtle lesson and a wake-up call to realize there’s the potential to doubt, even though it was a small one related to a specific incident of driving. It could be something else. It helped me think, “Okay, you know, when Mohanji says something for me, I’ll drive. So now when I’m driving, if he says go, I’ll go,” and then also, “How do I take that into something bigger as well, for all the other activities we’re doing?”
I would like to share another interesting thing I noticed when driving with Mohanji as a passenger and somebody else driving. I’ve seen him sitting back in the chair, eyes closed. Sometimes, we’ll be driving, and as we’re driving down the motorway, he’ll say, “There’s a car behind; move over, speed up. Okay, now there’s another car behind; move to the left, move to this lane. Someone is coming.”
When you drive with Mohanji, you also get a glimpse into the state from which he operates. Even though his eyes will be closed or looking ahead, he’ll give clear directions of what’s happening behind, in front, or to the sides. There is a 360-degree awareness, and these observations/instructions are accurate.
Day 228 – Priority or Option
One aspect of the path of liberation and Mohanji’s approach is that free will is always respected. There’s no pressure or obligation. The path itself, says Mohanji, is always available for anybody who has decided that liberation is their goal in this lifetime. The tradition only says, “Welcome” or “Come.” It never says, “Go away.” It’s always based on free will, but liberation is from the bindings of the mind, and true freedom is freedom from the senses. So, being beyond that is where that real freedom lies.
Mohanji shares that this needs conviction and that the priority should always be liberation on this path. If it’s treated as an option or conditional, it simply doesn’t work. We’re efforting to break the cycles of repetitive patterns that we would have lived for several lifetimes; liberation from the repetitive patterns and cycles held over lifetimes.
However, it’s only partial if we take it as an option. It’s only then holding on to patterns and comfort zones – what’s familiar to us, easy, or known. Keeping those patterns is easy because that’s what we’ve done for lifetimes, but breaking them is a challenge. It’s painful but worth it.
In my experience, the most significant transformation came when I began to make this a priority. If I look back up until then, I was on the banks of the river, dipping my finger to test the temperature of the water without actually taking a plunge.
Mohanji uses this as a good metaphor: you must take the plunge and then simply let the river take you. There’s no halfway; it’s either wholly committed or not. That’s best because otherwise, it can be very uncomfortable and frustrating. There’s no judgement on that as well. It’s saying that this is here; this is available.
So, is it an option or a priority? An option comes with conditions that we want to keep comfort zones, but when it’s a priority, there’s a full conviction for whatever comes.
This is my observation, feeling, and state at this point in time; that’s what it is. But I know fully well, and also through hearing the experiences of others, that over time as challenges come, times can change things, and mine can change.
However, if people want to walk this path, it has to be taken as a priority.
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 25th June 2023
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