Subhasree, London
Gratitude in Action!
Today (18th Aug 2020) is the day for expressing gratitude for our Guru through actions.
Well, how can I express my gratitude to my eternal Guru, Mohanji? In which actions? I asked this question to myself this morning. My every breath, my every thought, my every action is his! So what can I do for him? What does he even need from me?
Well, whenever I have asked Mohanji, “How can I serve you,” he always says only one statement,
“Serve the world.”
Though it’s the truth that even serving the world is made possible only because of him, he is the doer, he does it! I do not serve, He serves the world!
So what’s left for me to do then? Only thing I can do maybe. To share some gems of wisdom that I get from him, not by lecture but through real-life experiences that he shows me through his own living example. Every time I have been around Mohanji, in his physical presence, I have observed many such gems of wisdom that he keeps giving us.
Let me share a couple more examples through which he has taught me of ‘Being Unconditional.’ In this write-up, I will not use the names of the real persons as we do not want to cause any kind of disrespect to anyone.
This is almost 2 years back. Mohanji and Deviji were invited to a global event of a spiritual congregation; where there were many other spiritual leaders present too. Along with a few other people from Mohanji family, I was very fortunate to be there too and was serving him as one of his assistants at that time.
While from mornings to late evenings were packed with many events, speeches by other leaders etc., I was observing Mohanji who was leaving a positive mark in everyone’s mind through his behaviour and treatment to others.
While most people had their own groups following around, maintaining distance, having their boundaries (to maintain some status maybe!) even during the social gathering time, Mohanji made sure that he meets and greets everyone politely, with a smile, talking to them very compassionately. Most of the time, he would even invite others to sit with him and offer a cup of coffee or so. During meal times, Mohanji would always invite others to sit next to him. Such a gesture often surprised many of the delegates. In a very impersonal environment, Mohanji was treating everyone with kindness and love as if he was the host of the event.
Also, it was very noticeable that Mohanji would always talk to the other leaders with ultimate respect and humility. There wouldn’t be a drop of ego or race to receive attention! In fact, there is one thing I noticed in this hi-profile spiritual congregation that surprised me. Many other so-called top spiritual leaders were always busy in grabbing the attention and ensuring that they had the spotlight on them, sometimes even pushing their way to the front!
Mohanji kept himself far away from this race. As simple as when there were photos taken, while some would ensure that they stand right in front or centre and get all the visibility, Mohanji will quietly slip to the row in the back!
Every single move from Mohanji was displaying his true nature of calmness, kindness, no judging and giving respect irrespective of anyone’s status and position! Trust me; this wasn’t that easily visible in other so-called spiritual leaders!
But what happened towards the end and how Mohanji again showed his humility, his true nature of unconditional love just totally blew me off!
There were a couple of very respectable leaders who had ensured that they get the spotlights on them in every session, in every platform and nearly made it look like as if the entire event was only possible because of them! Pardon me for saying this, but at one point, I couldn’t stop being annoyed when they deliberately kept ignoring Mohanji and even treated Mohanji as if he was some ordinary guy. There have been situations when they had even turned their faces the other side when Deviji sat next to them!
Few other instances like this were making their intention very clear of ignoring the presence of Mohanji and putting Mohanji’s stature completely down so that they could be seen higher! This hypocritical behaviour was making us very uncomfortable. How do we tolerate such insults to our Guru?
But when we expressed this to Mohanji that time, Mohanji would calmly tell us to ignore and stick to our principle of unconditional love, no expectation from anyone and to be with the attitude of gratitude. It was not easy to digest how Mohanji was so easily being indifferent to such insults to himself! The cherry on the top situation came on the last day!
We all had to travel to our next destination which was a drive for 2 hours. While we were just about to go out, the so-called special guests approached Mohanji directly asking for a lift for two of them! All these days, they hardly had a proper conversation or even exchanged a smile with Mohanji!
When I heard them asking Mohanji about this lift, I nearly shouted out loud “No way!” But Mohanji took us all by surprise in welcoming them.
Trust me, it took me some time to understand and accept what Mohanji just said. I was annoyed with Mohanji and was telling him off in my head, “Why?” I am sure Mohanji didn’t take much time to read my thoughts, which also must have been very clear on my face too!
He said very calmly to us,
“What’s our tradition? Unconditional love, right? It doesn’t matter who treats us in which way. We will always show our true nature in every circumstance, which is to be unconditional love. If someone asks me for help, I cannot say no. Saying no is not in our tradition, even if it puts me in trouble. It doesn’t matter.”
I was still annoyed and didn’t want to understand why Mohanji has to be so nice. But I was quiet on top. It wasn’t still over for me yet. The time came when they had to leave in the car. It wasn’t a very big car and it had to carry 4 passengers apart from the driver! That means 3 people to sit in the back seat. In normal circumstances, Mohanji would have sat in the front and just Deviji and maybe one more person would have sat in the back. Now with the two guests coming, can you imagine, Mohanji offered the front seat to one of the guests! And he quietly came and sat in the back seat. 2 hour long drive, cramped with 3 people in the back seat of a not very big car was no way a comfort. When I saw Mohanji sitting in the back seat, that was the end of my patience. My anger was bursting out as tears which I was trying hard to hide. Deviji was sitting in the middle seat, with her long legs folded and sitting not very comfortably either.
After they left, the rest of us ordered a cab and guess what, for the 3 of us, we received a huge 9 seater car! During the 2 hour journey in that 9 seater luxury car, I was just feeling so sad, imagining the condition in which Mohanji and Deviji went in the other car and here we are going luxuriously! This was of course yet another evidence of compassionate Mohanji who always makes sure that his people are comfortable. Whether he got the right food or not, we were fed well. Whether he travelled comfortably or not, we were sent a luxury car without any extra cost or specific ask!
I couldn’t stop questioning though, why did Mohanji accept to give them a lift in his car and had to compromise in his comfort!
Well finally, when we met again at our next destination, Mohanji came out of the car, after dropping the guests at their destination (and in fact after treating them with a nice vegan lunch), as if he wasn’t in any kind of discomfort what so ever.
It was so funny to hide our emotions and Mohanji just handled our bursting emotions in such an easy way. He told us how he kept joking, making the guests laugh all the way during the journey. Mohanji, in his usual jovial way even teased Barbara (who was driving the car), saying that she was so annoyed that she, in fact, wanted to drop them off at a train station. But Mohanji ensured that they were taken right till the end gate!
While Mohanji was telling all this in such a light and funny way, even we couldn’t stop laughing. Finally, through that laughter, the heaviness and anger or whatever feelings I had inside, all came out. And instead, my heart was filled with appreciation for Mohanji, to see how he demonstrated being truly unconditional. No matter who treats us in what way, we exhibit our true nature! It took me quite some time to overcome my turbulent emotions, but I understood through the example that Mohanji showed himself, the stability of the foundation on which Mohanji operates on.
A couple of days back, Mohanji again demonstrated a similar example of unconditional nature and that brought this memory back to me.
Once again, a high profile leader needing some help sent a generic message out to Mohanji, with no personal mention. This was kind of a public note probably he had sent out to loads of other people, as I had received it from another source too. Sending a public note and sending it to Mohanji, who was at one point like a close friend to him, without even personal addressing, didn’t seem very respectful in my eyes. Especially when you are seeking help, at least a personal note is a minimum curtesy, I would think.
My mind said when such an impersonal public note comes; do I need to even attend to it? Well, that’s how ordinary people like me will react. Once again, Mohanji is Mohanji. He took me by surprise. While I was almost convinced to ignore this particular request, Mohanji said, “Go ahead, and do help if you can, regardless of how the request came. We will do our job, unconditionally helping whenever we can.” Within a few moments, I did what I needed to.
My head bowed down with respect and my heart filled up with appreciation and a proud feeling of my Guru Mohanji, who reminded me yet again, “Our tradition is about unconditional love.”
Mohanji, truly is unconditional. Pranams to my Guru who shows us the right path every time, in all circumstances. Thank you Mohanji. Koti pranams at your lotus feet.
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 18th August 2020
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