by Christopher Greenwood
Day 101 Lesson – ‘We have a lion – A story by Mohanji
Good morning, everybody. I hope that you’re doing very well.
Today, I continue with some stories that Mohanji has shared while I have been living at the house. These come in various settings and circumstances spontaneously, depending on the topic of conversation.
This is one that I really like because, for me, it really shows what Mohanji is made of; his fearlessness and his attitude. It is from when he was working as a country head in the Middle East. They had an attendance book in the office, where people would sign in their name and the time of arriving at the office. This was like a register, and then the book would go to the administration, and they would process it.
There was a period of a few days that, for some reason, someone was coming in, spitting on the book and tearing a page. For a few days in a row, this happened. Eventually, after the fourth day, the administration officer brought this to Mohanji and told him about it. It was brought to his attention, so he had to deal with it.
He realized that it was most likely a local, an Arab, who was doing this because the majority of the people were Indian expatriates, and they won’t do it being too scared about their job. So, Mohanji tried to figure out who this was, but there were so many locals that it was difficult to find out. Eventually, following the clues, he narrowed it down to one person and called him to the office. Mohanji looked him in the eyes and said, “You’re doing something inappropriate. From tomorrow onwards, you’re not here; you’re sacked.”
This man became really upset because he was a local and was being sacked by an Indian expatriate. He started shouting, “This is my country, this is my land”, and then pulling all the legal types of things out as well as excuses, “You have to give me three notices, how can you do this. I know the Minister, I can speak to the Minister, I can have you sacked…” etc.
Mohanji just calmly told him: “I came with one briefcase; I will go with one briefcase. I’m not dependent on your country, nor this job. I’m confident I’ll get another job. But I’m also confident that you won’t be here.”
I can imagine that this man got scared because he then knew that he couldn’t really say anything that would shake Mohanji or twist his arm to change his mind.
There was a group of local Omani people in the company, and they were connected to the royalty. One of the employees had a royal family member. If they found out that this local person had been sacked, it would have been his reputation that was on the line – his reputation with the kin would have been affected. So, this man told Mohanji not to sack the local guy, gave excuses, and said he needed to give him three notices.
Mohanji replied, “No, no, I’m sacking him. Whatever legal work you need to do, do it, even if you have to put three letters that need to be pre-dated. He’s gone tomorrow; I don’t want him in the office.” Then one by one, they all came pleading with him, asking him to reconsider, saying that he won’t make any mischief again.
Mohanji then said, “Well, it’s then all your responsibility. You either agree or disagree that if anything happens after now, it’s then your issue. They agreed, and he let him stay. Mohanji then said this man outperformed. He went on to become an ‘Employee of the Year’.
Later, after Mohanji had been there for some time, there was a meeting. The head of the Omani group connected to the royal family stood up and spoke. Mohanji was then about 35 years old, and this man was 50. He spoke in front of everybody and said, “We don’t just have a good manager here. We have a lion.”
It reflected Mohanji’s attitude, how he handled the situation and the confidence in his eyes. And it’s something that, as I see it now as well, is probably carried throughout his life. He’s not scared of anything. He faces everything head-on. He was very clear then, and he’s very clear now with everything happening across all the platforms and organizations; he’ll keep discipline as he needs to.
I hope you enjoyed that story and have a great day ahead.
Day 102 Lesson – Closing of the summit, Mohanji Ⓜ️, our friend
Good morning, everybody. I hope you’re doing well.
Yesterday (21/02/2021) marked the final day of the Global Summit for 2021, which has been happening for the past week. As a reminder, this is where all the heads of the platforms, countries, and activities come together. They share the highlights from their team’s contributions over the past year and set out their vision and goal for the year ahead.
It’s been very impressive, especially when you look at the breadth and diversity of all the organizations we have now because they’re catering to everybody, all different aspects of society. Anybody can contribute to these platforms; many have joined in the cause and are gaining fulfillment through that service.
As I showed the dashboard of all the platforms, it’s a reminder that despite COVID, we really strengthened our position in the world with stable expansion. Now what’s coming up are many associations with different organizations and individuals that go well beyond our normal standards. It’s not just growing what we have; more is coming. Many challenges have been overcome, and now is the time to make people aware of the good work we’re doing in the world and to set actions now in motion to benefit more people.
It was a very inspiring summit. Mohanji joined us for his opening and closing address. He spoke from Turkey, where he’s currently, for a retreat. His closing address was a powerful talk. I wanted to share some of the key messages I took away, especially how he sees himself in the world. Over the past year, there has been some confusion about how people can speak about Mohanji when referring to him and the platforms. He put it simply, and I think this is useful for anybody who may be confused about how they can speak about Mohanji if people ask them.
He started the message in a really lovely way. He said, “We’ve done so much here, but we shouldn’t think about who has done more or less. That’s not important. What is important is that we are together; we are one family working together.” He mentioned this before as well, using the analogy that if you take one stick, you can easily break it. But put 100 together; that’s not so easy.
He proposed a question, “What am I doing on Earth?” He undertook immense sadhana to find the root of noises, which is silence. Six years it took him to detach from the habitual world and reach the source. Once he reached there, he was asked to come back, which he said was incredibly painful because he spent all that effort, focus, single-pointed concentration to obtain that truth. But it then came with the recognition that it’s not possible to leave the world without paying the rent. So even if you want to leave from here, you have to pay your dues, which is partly why all these platforms exist now, helping everybody give back to the world.
Then he began to share with the world what he had. The result that we see are all these platforms, which are also the unifying factor, pulling us all together as one great family. Now, many activities cater to different types of people, different people in their way of receiving fulfillment. It’s growing organically, which is a testament to the team’s conviction and consistency, and Mohanji gave all the credit to them. With the reminder that you can’t buy this unity that we have, the uniformity and the purposefulness in the world.
After we saw everything that was presented, it was clear to me that he hadn’t done any of this for his glory. Everything he did was with no expectation. I noticed at the summit that most of the time spent talking were by the leads and the heads presenting their ideas on how they can take it forward. Mohanji set in motion something which now people are picking up and taking the lead in all these areas of the platform activity.
Coming back to Mohanji and his position, Agastya Muni gave Mohanji two titles; Jagatmitra and Vishwamitra (Friend of the World and Friend of the Universe). And he reminded that those titles hold true in all aspects. Agastya Muni didn’t call him Jagat Guru. He called him Jagatmitra and Vishwamitra – Friend. So, his purpose is friendship, a friend of the people, the birds, and the animals. This is what he’s here for, to be a friend to all.
What does a good friend do? A true friend will help through all situations in life as much as he can, assisting people in their various paths, such as bhakti, jnana, karma and raja yoga. In this way, he doesn’t change his role as a friend. Depending on the person’s needs, he responds to them as a friend helping with what they need. As people approach, he helps.
When someone approaches him as a seeker for spiritual growth, he helps them. Then he appears to be a Guru because the Guru guides someone to their own elevation. When someone who is sick wants relief, he responds as a healer. And when a person has questions about spirituality, he becomes a teacher. In that sense, he doesn’t cater to everyone as one thing; he caters to each person individually.
He humbly explains that he sees himself as simply fulfilling his dharmic duty. He is simply completing what he came for.
For me, this was a powerful clarification that he wants nothing from here and simply gives. What he is demonstrating through his life is giving without expectations. Usually, we’re trained in the system of comparison and competition to gain something. But here, the whole team and family are helping each other to win and win together.
In many people in the world, we see selfishness and greed. But here, there’s a solid platform built on pillars of dharma and righteousness. It’s a movement of benevolence being created without any expectations in return. It’s a strong message to the world that there’s an alternative to greed and selfishness and that there is a possibility for togetherness, peace, and unity. Those were the key points that I took away from his talk.
The message of being able to live without expectations and give is the powerful message that we have, and one we can share further with the world to inspire others into a similar mindset and action.
I hope you have a great day ahead, and I will speak to you soon.
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 13th February 2022
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