by Christopher Greenwood
Day 49 Lesson – Building friendships
Good morning, everybody.
Yesterday I shared a lesson from Mohanji about kindness. Today, I wanted to expand on this based on a conversation I had with Mohanji about friendship. This came to my mind as we recorded a New Year’s message podcast this morning.
As a side note, this is what it can be like to work closely with Mohanji. Sometimes, I’ll have a plan for the morning, but we move as needed, which means being flexible. So, we hadn’t planned to record anything, but the inspiration came this morning, and Mohanji said, ‘Okay, let’s record the podcast.’ So, I had to record it and then promptly edit it. As this had to go today, I edited myself.
Days can flex and change like this, and what was planned often needs to be adjusted. One of the major messages in the podcast is a call for friendship in 2021; that we can reach out to more people and be there for them, all our Mohanji family and the people connected to us.
Since being here and observing Mohanji quite closely, I’ve always admired his approach to friendship. Devi Amma gave him the title ‘Friend of the universe’. Although I can’t comprehend the entire universe, I see how he is daily with all the people who connect to him. I really like that he still maintains a very close relationship with all his old school friends; they’re in regular contact. And he’s stable for people as well. Often those who are connected to him don’t actually ask for much of his time. They just like to know that he is there, which he is.
One young girl wrote that she was going for an exam today. She quite nicely said, ‘I know you’re with me. That’s all I need to know.’ Just like that, he’s stable and strong for a lot of people.
So, I took the opportunity to ask him a bit more about friendship. He explained more dimensions to it, as he always does. He said the first is that we can always consider friendship much larger than just between two people. It can also be about having a friendship with ourselves. Now, I don’t know if you have ever considered how much of a good friend you are to yourself. I hadn’t considered that until today. Now when I think back, I would probably consider myself a crappy friend at some times. I used to tell myself many bad things about myself and gave myself a lot of criticism. If one of my friends would speak like that to me, I’d probably run away.
Mohanji also explained that friendship could become our attitude. We can all make an effort to reach out to people because many people will be shy and waiting for someone to speak to them, especially in a world of digital friendships, of likes and thumbs up, of hearts and comments on social media.
Therefore, we can take the first step, ask people how they are doing, be kind to them. If everybody does this, we can create a different vibration within society. So, making good friendships is making sure people have enough support.
He said that there’d be some nagging people, saying things like “My husband is not good/my wife isn’t that good”, or people in a bad mood. Or, we’ll come across some people who have some more serious problems. So, this is not about being a counsellor, and definitely not about being a specialist or a psychiatrist, because some people will probably need expert support. It’s about extending the hand of friendship so that we can knit together the world with a genuine connection of kindness. I really enjoyed visualizing how this could look, just being there, being stable because that can really help people.
He gave a lovely example of when he used to conduct programs in Dubai. One guy, one of his friends, would never attend any of the programs that Mohanji conducted. But Mohanji would always make an effort to call him when he was there in Dubai to speak to him. Although all the programs have been in the evenings, he would say to Mohanji, ‘I’d love to attend, but I have a really busy job during the day. In the evenings, I just like to relax. I just like to go for a drink. I can’t come for meditation.’
Then some people would ask why he still bothered to contact him. He never came to any of his programs, and he supposedly didn’t make an effort.
Mohanji said, “The reason I used to do this, and would still do it, is because he’s dependable. He’s a great guy. He has a really solid heart. If you had any problem, at any time, he would take his car, and he would come for anybody.” That man had the attitude that he was always willing to help people, the attitude of kindness and friendliness, a good heart; he was dependable, trustworthy, so Mohanji would honour him. He used that to say we can create more people like this in the world. If there are more trustworthy, dependable people, good friends, then the world will change considerably.
However, we cannot equally maintain every friendship. This was a good lesson for me as well because I was thinking, “Okay, well, how do I give time to everybody?” It’s not completely necessary if we are just maintaining that connection.
So, Mohanji is a pillar of strength for many people, like for that girl going for an exam. Everybody could potentially be that for more people.
We also spoke about how sometimes we get busy. We don’t have to give any excuses for why we can’t speak with people or avoid them; we can be clear and honest. If we don’t have time, we can say it, but we can give the time and be in touch when we do.
I’ll be looking into the New Year and thinking about all my friendships, where I can reconnect with and develop them because I’ve left quite a few of them since I’ve spent a lot of time here in India. I’ll begin with that once I finish this voice recording, I’ll send this message to a few people.
I hope you have a great day and that you can also become that pillar for more people in your life and circle of friends. Speak soon.
Day 50 Lesson – Happy & Healthy New Year for 2021
New Year is just for human minds in the waking state. Consciousness is continuous. Nature and beings of other species have no new year.
This is a human New Year.
Happy Human New Year.
Good morning, everybody. I wish you a very happy and healthy New Year in 2021.
2020 was a wild year, for sure. I’ve spent most of it here in India. It’s been quite a long time now, almost a year, and a good portion of that with Mohanji. There’s been a crash course in many topics; I’ve shared the learnings over the past few days, and I’m sure many more are to come.
Some people asked me yesterday what I will be doing for New Year. And the answer, without much fanfare, was continuing the work as any other day. In fact, I almost forgot it was New Year’s Eve until my team meeting earlier in the morning. We spoke about it, and I didn’t actually realize it was the 31st. I was just carrying on with the activities and thinking ahead to the plans and the things I want to put in place, especially for the ‘Invest in Awareness’ program.
Until New Year itself, I was either making greeting cards or a video for the New Year, which we decided to do only around ten at night. So, this was how the evening was spent.
I was also curious about what Mohanji would do for the New Year, whether there was anything particular he would do, a ritual or a pooja maybe. But he was also busy working, speaking with people and replying to messages.
He must have been working through the night on something fairly serious because, in the morning, I woke, and Ananth came to the room, which he doesn’t normally do, asking me to come to Mohanji’s room. I’ve mentioned in one of my previous messages that I’ve seen Mohanji’s body physically change from day to day, even though at that time, he hadn’t even left the room for months because of a foot problem he had, which has now healed.
This morning was similar; his physique had completely changed. Again, broader shoulders, large chest, his belly gone, large arms, biceps like a warrior, someone who just came back from a workout, or, more likely, a fight. I’m sure this may seem strange to hear, but seeing is believing because it’s so distinct, you can’t miss it. I think Ananth also took some photos and is planning to write a blog about it.
From some conversations with MTM practitioners, I understand that he is working on multiple planes and dimensions, but he rarely talks about this.
I know from other people that Devi Amma had said some months back that Mohanji isn’t in his physical body anymore. I can’t see that he is working somewhere else, but from what I observe, this really matches up because as the day moves on, there’s a different level of presence at different periods and times of the day.
For example, there’s a period of time in the early morning when he’s settling down. Mohanji’s expressions are very minimal, his conversations very limited. It’s almost like he’s on autopilot. During that time, usually, I’ll come in, I do some practice quietly. Once he’s had tea and some food, we talk through our agenda for the day. And his presence is there; we have the conversation and dialogue.
It’s the same in the evening, once our day is finished. We have that schedule running, probably for this reason. Yet, he still attends to everything he needs to during the day.
So, I suspect that he had come back from somewhere, wherever he was during the evening when we were asleep, earlier than expected, which is why sometimes it can show on his body or form. Thus, today, although it’s a holiday, there is no rest for Mohanji.
When I reflect on what has been achieved across all the teams in 2020 and where we’ve reached, it’s through the drive and determination of all the people who brought it to that point. And especially, it is Mohanji’s hard work, determination, sheer restlessness because the platforms and the foundation have been running for eight years now. Understanding more about the history, I know it hasn’t been easy. There were many obstacles, problems, and challenges, but everybody found a way.
One of the key takeaways for me from 2020 is that simple one of keeping moving. When we meet with a challenge, an obstacle, or if something isn’t working immediately, we keep going; we find an alternative until what needs to be done – is done.
Mohanji clearly said that sometimes this means that things won’t be perfect. He’s never looking for perfection; he is looking for the movement instead. That attitude is important: “Okay, this is where we need to get to, and we will get there. However, we need to reach the destination.”
This was proved by many of the smaller tasks that I’ve worked on, which maybe I would have earlier given up or switched to something else.
As we go into 2021 with the theme of ‘flexibility, stability, and friendship’, it’s the attitude of flexibility that I’ll continue to hold so that I can find new, innovative ways to get things done. Also, taking the most recent learnings of 2020 around kindness and friendship, I’ll be bringing more of them into all the activities I’m involved in.
Wishing you a great 2021, and I hope you have a great day today.
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 17th August 2021
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