by Christopher Greenwood
Day 187 – Willpower (Iccha Shakti) is Your Strength
Yesterday was an inspiring day for the team here in Slovenia. We received confirmation that the Mohanji Institute has been officially registered, which means we have a registered entity here in Slovenia. The papers arrived only hours before Mohanji was to depart from Serbia. It was an opportune time to reflect on what was achieved here in the past one and a half months – an outstanding achievement.
The experience has been a real practical lesson of what can be achieved through willpower and determination. It’s been a group effort of many people with tremendous determination to complete work in good time and to achieve something together. Mohanji, of course, was the energy and the driving force behind many tasks, such as setting a clear vision, giving a clear picture, subsequent steps, and advice when we encountered obstacles; the team pulled together and achieved a lot.
It has been a different experience for me as most of my work is with people or on the computer. It was possible to see tangible results daily as the boundary markers on the land were laid, fences put up, trees planted, hedges planted, and birds began to feed on the bird feeders. We were witnessing the Peace Centre come to life before our eyes. It has been an important lesson in teamwork when there’s clear focus and determination because there were many obstacles and issues to manoeuvre.
It was also a humbling lesson of the grace that comes when working with Mohanji because he arranges nearly everything if we only take the first steps. For many of these tasks, such as fencing and planting the bushes where we needed more experience, the right people came with proper support. And whether this was with expertise, contacts, skills, machinery, or even coming to feed us lunchtimes, it all fit into place and flowed with ease. Even the weather was held at bay on days of meaningful work, and when we would return to share the day’s progress and our surprise at how it didn’t rain, Mohanji would smile, thus achieving a lot in a short time.
I’ve shared the details in various Mohanji groups. We’re all looking forward to continuing the following steps to bring to life the Mohanji Peace Centre here in Slovenia. I was reflecting on Mohanji’s main points, where he stresses this path and life in general, the need for willpower and determination, especially if we want to achieve something in life.
The other day, we were speaking about karma and destiny, and I wanted to know if it’s possible to change this. Because for example, we may have some patterns which keep pulling us back into the usual terrestrial world of senses and experiences. I wanted to know: Is this destined to happen? We’ve got these solid patterns and inclinations to do specific tasks and activities. We’re indulging in certain things or being a certain way. Is that destined, or can we do something about it? He replied that it all depends on our priorities, what we want in life and then, of course, our willpower.
If our goal is to achieve the highest in this lifetime, and we have the corresponding willpower or icchā śákti, then it’s possible. Mohanji said that’s enough to take you to the highest – willpower, focus, and determination.
Day 188 – “A Month with Mohanji”
Yesterday, I shared a message on what can be achieved with willpower, and the focus of that was the progress we’ve made here in Slovenia towards the Mohanji Peace Centre, and it has been a lot. It’s been a productive time, despite all the challenges of COVID. We’ve completed much more in that short space of time, and I wanted to share more of this because I think it gives an authentic flavour and colour of the pace, the speed, and what we’re capable of once we have that willpower, determination, and focus.
For me, it has continuously been a living lesson of what is achievable personally, and everybody involved has also found new capacities they didn’t believe or know that they had before, which is incredibly satisfying and rewarding.
Today I’ll give a chronology of what we’ve done since Mohanji arrived in Slovenia as an inspiration of what we can do with his energy behind us. It also gives more of a flavour of Mohanji, his laser focus, clarity, and proactive steps to do more in the world, leading from the front.
If we go back to when we first arrived here
- Slovenia Peace Centre work
We arrived on the 22nd of March and then had to spend ten days in quarantine. During this time, it wasn’t possible to leave the apartment. After our quarantine period ended, there was a 10-day lockdown in Slovenia for the Easter period because of COVID. So we were left with just a month, four weeks, in which we’ve completed everything on the land, including sourcing the suppliers, sourcing people, agreeing on the work, finding suitable materials, arranging events, arranging the meetings, and completing the work. I’ll share the progress we made for the Peace Centre again.
- Humane Airports
Alongside this, what’s impressive when we look back is that we launched the “Humane airports” initiative, which was sparked by an incident in Frankfurt. We launched humaneairports.com, which was formed after the incident of severe harassment at Frankfurt Airport. The purpose is to change how air passengers are treated in airports globally. This was all the good work of contacting authorities, the embassies, and everything we did to move that campaign forward.
- Launch of coffee table book “Mind.”
Another significant achievement is completing the first ever coffee table book, titled “Mind”, a beautiful book. It’s a collection of quotes on the mind by Mohanji, which is also set to a charming design with great photos of him, which can be a perfect gift.
Mohanji asked for this, and when he initially asked how long it would take, the response was probably three months. So, we set a target, “Okay, let’s aim for three weeks,” and then, in the end, we did it within three days. People were surprised at themselves; that they could do it at that time. It gave a deep sense of accomplishment as it involved setting a focus, meeting a challenge, and a timely goal to achieve it. This was alongside all the usual calls, meetings, several satsangs and interviews.
We even visited Lake Bled’s beautiful, incredible natural surroundings, which also doubled as an inspection for future projects and activities here in the Slovenian region.
I wanted to share this again because many can take inspiration from this. All of us became aware of our new capacities and could reflect on the limitations we placed on ourselves, of what is possible and what is not. I include myself in this.
Mohanji allows us to go beyond what we believe we can, and it’s gratifying when you see the results.
The key learning is that we can do much more than we think; the main ingredients are willpower and determination. “A Month with Mohanji” is the perfect case study.
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 8th January 2023
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