by Christopher Greenwood
Day 59 Lesson – Facing the fear of society
Good morning, everybody. I hope you’re all doing well.
When I look at Mohanji and his life, I see it’s far from ordinary. I’ve never met anyone who has had to face such severe adversities in life – such as the loss of his daughter Ammu, betrayal in a business where all was taken away, instances where people have tried to control him, many who have betrayed him, and even character assassinated him. This was by some of those who were the closest to him at the time.
I think such adversities for any person would have completely destroyed them, but Mohanji has kept going on. Even now, when he faces challenges, it’s no problem. He takes it as it comes. He’s truly fearless. I feel it’s like a ‘bring it on’ kind of attitude, contrary to boasting as it is confidence with a warrior-like approach to life and whatever the situation, its real fearlessness. Hearing the stories of his life and simply observing him, I began to admire his fearlessness and still do.
I used to be very worried about what others might think about me, about what I said, and how it’d be interpreted. I remember the days, just out of University, I had just started my working career, it would take me maybe an hour to write a simple email just to ask somebody to do a job because I was really worried about what they would think – what they would say. It was very over-polite, over-complicated, and very apologetic for asking people to do their job.
Over time, I developed the confidence to face those fears and fit comfortably into ‘ordinary’ society. It became natural, but when it came to staying with Mohanji, there was a different fear when I became an Acharya, mainly as this life is very different from what I have within my usual circle of friends and family. I was worried about what my friends might think and what others would think, especially when I began to speak about meditations and making videos on various topics in early 2020 when Corona had just taken hold.
An element of this was still there when I came to the house as well earlier, as I’d speak to Mohanji then, and I would tell him that what he was saying were fantastic insights, and more people should know about them. Once in a quiet, matter-of-fact manner, Mohanji said, “Yeah, they should. You should make some videos and speak about it.” I had a big resistance to this, and it was definitely pushing up against my comfort zone, and one that I could feel would be good to break. So I was happy to move forward and push through that.
Still, when I was doing those videos, it meant many retakes because I was very overcritical. My inner voice would always say, what would people think, how will they interpret this, but what helped me and what I learned was seeing how Mohanji always approached these situations – head-on and unapologetic.
He had told me before that there can only be two outcomes for people and society; one is that society accepts you and enjoys you, or two, the society rejects you. That’s it. That’s pretty much what the two options are within society.
He says, for those who reject you, it’s no problem. Not everybody needs to like you, and they shouldn’t like you because there are 7.5 billion people out there with their orientation and uniqueness.
I’ve seen he is this way too with people, especially when people connect to him – if they connect to him and they’re receiving transformation, he’s very happy because their life has been improved; they give more to society. Yet if people don’t enjoy him and are not so interested in what he’s doing, he’s also okay; he has no problem. In fact, in his very first podcast, he said that he’s actually happy in some ways if people decide he’s not for them because it means he doesn’t have the responsibility.
One of the biggest learnings here for me has been facing that fear of society, and it wasn’t until I started to overcome this that I realized that by holding on to those fears, which were rooted in an insecurity, I was actually denying my own experience which was smothering my own truth and this was hurting no one really but myself.
I’ve had several experiences of transformation in my life because of Mohanji. Since living with him for a long period, I’ve learned new dimensions of what he is. For me, it’s the reality of what I have experienced and observed. I was feeling reluctant to share this because of fear of what others would think, but then I realized that I denied my experiences, my existence, and denying a big part of my life. Creating these daily recordings has been facing and overcoming that fear. Now I am very happy and thankful to Mohanji for that inspiration and energy to break through this, as now it allows me to be more natural. That’s how I feel.
I also understand that some people will accept me, and others will reject me because this is how society is. And I’m fine with that, but most of all, I’m happy that I can begin to accept myself more and overcome these fears and live my experiences. This was one big learning that I was contemplating this morning.
I have shared a link below to the podcast on fearlessness, facing fears that Mohanji has shared before as well. Have a great day.
https://mohanji.podbean.com/e/ms31-look-into-the-eyes-of-fears/
Day 60 Lesson – The programs continue
Good morning everybody. I hope you’re doing well.
Yesterday was a day spent travelling with Mohanji as Ananth and I joined Mohanji for his trip to Kerala.
Today I share an overview of our day yesterday, as we’ve travelled to Kerala, which is Mohanji’s home state in India. Mohanji, Ananth, and I set off early in the morning after breakfast. It was roughly an eight-hour drive, and we made just one stop so that we could arrive in good time because Mohanji had a program scheduled that afternoon, and we wanted to make sure there was enough time to put our things in our place, have some food and find the right spot to set up for Mohanji’s program.
As I had shared in previous recordings, Mohanji doesn’t stop. In the car, the work continues for the duration of the journey. He’s responding to messages, attending calls, maybe checking up on some things, and this was for the whole eight hours.
Once we arrived, we were welcomed and greeted courteously by the manager and the staff. The people welcomed us, but all the animals had come to welcome Mohanji too. There were some geese gaggling, some guinea fowls, some chickens, and a very big boisterous turkey came, and they all became very active soon after Mohanji arrived.
We were waiting for the bags to be unpacked and deciding on the rooms; there was just a short time to check as we just made sure we had a bit of an orientation of the place. Then we had to begin finding the location where we’d set up for the Mohanji’s event, where the equipment would go, camera, etc. It’s fairly rural, so there was no internet. We had to find a good place where it was a good spot for the signal, and we settled on this nice place overlooking the farmland around the building.
This is how the schedule and the activities are like for Mohanji – as soon as we arrive at one location, we’re already getting ready for the next program, finding the right location, making sure the signal and the connection was good, the framing, etc. – the pace doesn’t stop, and I am sure the rest of the trip will be like this too. But there was enough time to grab and eat one of the Vada pav here, which I think I’ve mentioned before is this bread bun with the potato inside with spices. It’s really tasty. We had packed for the journey; we also shared this as annadaan with some of the local people working here.
Mohanji finished his program – he conducted it. I stayed there to make sure everything was okay technically. Ananth continued to organize the room, unpack things and settle everything a little bit more.
Once the program was finished, Mohanji decided to say a proper hello to the birds. So we walked back over to where they were. We were outside talking with the manager, and pretty soon, this big feisty turkey came. He had already shown who he was when we arrived; I think this must be his territory because he was chasing away our driver, which was quite amusing. The driver didn’t know what to do.
It was amazing to watch this interaction with Mohanji because he started to walk over straight away and became very vocal – not the usual sounds, but some different type of interaction. It was as if he was speaking with Mohanji for some time, walking backwards and forward and pacing around. Then he became very active, he started jumping at Mohanji, and instantly, a protector came from nowhere. This small black chicken came from nowhere and chased away this big turkey. It’s as if the small chicken had come to protect Mohanji. This was a funny sight because the small black chicken chased away this big turkey, maybe three times its size.
Mohanji commented jokingly, “This is what I mean by attitude. You don’t have to be the biggest or the strongest.” Then the chicken continued to stand guard and kept the turkey from coming back. This was interesting just to watch and observe.
From previous retreats, I’ve also noticed that Mohanji always has this deep connection with animals at the location he comes to. This is a brief overview of our day yesterday, and as we’re travelling, I’ll probably share some more.
I hope you have a great day ahead.
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 19th September 2021
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