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Lessons living with Mohanji – Days 57 and 58

Posted on September 12, 2021 by Mohanji Testimonials

by Christopher Greenwood

Day 57 lesson – The power of silence

The past days here have been very much routine, something that I’ve spoken of before. And for me, that’s waking up, doing practices for myself, make sure everything’s organized or planned for the day. And then I’ll speak to Mohanji about his activities, the day’s activities, and anything else we need to speak about. And depending on how busy he already is, or how much we need to cover, that will be the time that I spend there.

Then we have morning aarati at 6 am. It’s important here that we all attend, and it takes place in the puja room downstairs. Mohanji will be there sitting in his chair with the windows open, and all the beings that come to see him take his darshan, the birds, and the squirrels.

For the past few days, I’ve been keeping conversation to a minimum because I’ve had some discomfort in my mouth, causing a bit of pain, which is fine, but I’m speaking only when necessary.

This reminded me of one of the really good practical lessons that I observed from Mohanji. I have known about it sometime before being here, but it was also reconfirmed during the Bootcamp session we had. And this is the power of silence. The fact that in any situation that we face, silence is always an option for us, and it can be really powerful.

Before having the role I do now, I used to work in business, large projects mainly, complex technology projects. And there were always many issues because things were never planned, there were never enough people, so we were always tight for time. There were always problems. People would have their interpersonal challenges as well; some people would not get along with others.

In meetings, there would be a competitive environment where many people want to speak over each other to get their point across. Tensions were high because of the pressures, and people would be really easy to snap.

So what I learned from watching some of Mohanji’s videos is that silence is always an option for us in situations. Especially when I felt provoked into speaking or triggered, it was to actually respond with silence rather than reacting to that because I found those situations were often coming from an emotional place. If someone had said something, or I didn’t agree with something, the immediate instinct was to react. And that was one of the habits I had.

This sometimes had a good effect, and other times not so good results, because it either helped move things forward, or it could turn disastrously wrong. Especially if I was critical of someone else because people remember that – the injury of words can last much longer than a physical injury.

So I remember that silence is an option, and sometimes I choose not to speak. And actually, that would be more impactful than trying to speak because lots of people are eager to get their point across.

This holds true now as well. I was thinking about this again, contemplating that previously I’d be very eager to speak, to share my view, but I realized that it’s not always necessary. And also, if someone is angry or frustrated, or they are in an emotional space, then just by being silent, it can be an instant diffuser to that situation that completely calms or neutralizes it.

I found as well that sometimes people are looking for a fight or some provocation. And silence as a response has its power in those situations.

The added benefit, something which I’ve been thinking about more as we’re walking this path, especially silence being a key aspect of it is that when there were situations where I would respond or react with an equal conversation, emotions or frustrations, they would stay much longer in the mind; the events would even replay themselves. This would cause more disturbances because it would spoil my day and also the other interactions.

With silence as a response, the event passes much more quickly. And I see Mohanji responds in this way often in situations, too, especially when questions are asked that don’t necessarily need an answer, where they’re being asked from a place of just for the sake of asking. Using in the appropriate time, silence as a minimum response is always an option.

I hope you enjoyed this, and I’ll be interested to know if any of you have found the same benefits of silence in your interactions.

Day 58 Lesson – The state of stability

Today I wanted to share a learning about one of the themes for this year 2021, which is stability.

One of the things that stands out for me about Mohanji, which comes from sitting with him day to day and observing how he interacts with the various people who are contacting him, is his stability and steadiness.

I’ve been here for many months now, sharing each morning. The variety in scale and also intensity of the situations which Mohanji handles is very vast. Some people may think that it’s just the Mohanji Global platforms which he is looking at, but there’s much more that he’s handling, actually. He acts in a friendly advisor capacity to many people worldwide. So he’s involved with many of their activities and situations, too.

I found that regardless of what’s happening, what the situation is, he remains stable, steady. And he doesn’t waver or sway in how he treats people. And he said this before; he always stands by people, no matter what. If they stand by him, he stands by them.

For many people, if something is happening in their lives, it can spill over into other areas of their lives. But with Mohanji, nothing of what he’s handling ever spills over into any other conversations, any other activities. They are all very discrete and separate. He takes situations as they come and handles them as they come. There are no emotions added. Everything is dealt with and then finished and completed.

Whether this is somebody that’s dying, someone is being born, a new baby coming into the world, or somebody who’s getting married, it’s all on a similar level to him. Because he handles everything as it is. This doesn’t mean that he’s not engaged. He’s fully engaged, but it’s a state in which I can observe where he’s operating from and how he’s living with complete calm and complete stability.

I think this is why he has such an appeal with people because it’s hard to find people like that in the world that are so stable and steady. Because people have minds, they are swayed by emotions, opinions, concepts. And we create imaginations, expectations, and then the corresponding sorrows. This is something that I’m learning through observing Mohanji, that there is a state that’s beyond all these turbulences of the mind. It exists, and Mohanji represents that.

It’s a good reminder because I find that I can sometimes be taken very easily for a ride by the mind. There have been situations that trigger a reaction in me, and then the mind will gladly take hold of it, compare it with other situations, dissect it, distorted it, maybe give a new narrative to it. Before I know it, it’s something completely different from the actual reality of the situation at hand.

In the recent Invest in Awareness program, we spent a lot of time talking about the mind. The mind being a projector – what is inside us is projected outside onto the canvas of the world. So whether it’s love, whether it’s hate, or views, or opinions, it’s projected out. Then if we experience what comes back, and we like it, or more accurately, it matches our expectations, we’re happy and satisfied. But if something comes back, which we don’t like, or doesn’t match our expectations, then we’re unhappy. We even carry that event longer, creating more suffering.

This can happen at any time. It happened recently to me unknowingly. And for a time, it really tilted me and my focus, and it was created by some unconscious expectation. When it wasn’t met, then obviously, the unhappiness came. But the suffering was not so much because it was possible to recognize that it’s a situation of my mind, and remembering that steadiness of Mohanji, that he’s the same from yesterday to today, and he will be the same tomorrow.

A good reminder and a learning for me is that whilst we have a mind, it can always be prone to its fancy, unconsciously or consciously. As I observe Mohanji handling many different scenarios, it’s a good reminder that that stability is always a real possibility. I think it clearly demonstrates where he’s operating from, which is certainly not the fluctuations of a changing mind.

|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||

Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 12^thSeptember 2021

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Lessons living with Mohanji – Day 14

Posted on April 11, 2021April 10, 2021 by Mohanji Editorial Team

Day 14 Lesson – Don’t be too quick to buy opinions

by Christopher Greenwood

I am always amazed at how Mohanji managed to handle all the situations, tasks, and events of the day with complete calm, composure and clarity. He is steady and unshakeable.

I asked him how best to handle delicate people, situations, and issues – when it comes to an opinion about the other person. They may have shared this out of genuine concern. But when you are not sure, what is the best thing to do? How to handle the situations and opinions of people?

He shared, “We should never get too carried away with the opinions of people because if we act, it’s our relationship with that person which can suffer. Best to take time to assess the situation thoroughly and then make our decision.”

—

Good morning, everybody. I hope you’re doing well.

Today is about a lesson which I have observed from Mohanji. Over the past month, and more specifically, we were speaking yesterday. I asked him really how he handles all the situations that come to him so effectively, especially when dealing with people. He is handling many situations, lots of tasks, activities and personal situations too, and a large portion of these are usually in relation to other people. But he handles each situation as an individual case, with care. He dutifully weighs up what action is required next. He gives absolute clarity – always cool, calm, composed, and steady, and rarely is there anything wrong in the action too.

So when I asked him how we should deal with people, especially opinions, or the situations emerging, and when we’re not quite sure on what actually the situation is, he shared this with me, and I share it with you.

So he said, “We can’t get too carried away when we hear information from somebody. Suppose somebody comes with an issue, a situation or a problem about a person. We shouldn’t be too quick to take their view because we don’t know what position it comes from, what position they are speaking from, especially if it’s likely to impact your relationship with that person. Because once it’s damaged, that’s very hard to repair. So when someone tells you something:

Assess the whole situation, the past, the present, the future, analyze it, how it is.
Take time to understand it.
Take a decision.

He said, “Otherwise, how are decisions made – mostly based on emotions, from our own inherent stored data: ‘I know this person is like this, oh, yes, that’s how that person is.’ And we’re basing it just on what we know, what we have inside and our emotions. But we don’t know what’s happened to the person since we last spoke, or in general. They could have become enlightened the other day!”

That we don’t actually know people is the point Mohanji was trying to make – every day could be different. So when we say, “I know him, I know her”, we know them generally, but we only recognize the pattern as that person called, let’s say, Christopher or somebody else is. So that’s all we’re saying – when we say, “I know them. I understand something about their pattern.” But we don’t know why or what made the pattern. There’s no way to say; we only understand something in general.

But one day, it could change. And if it changes, then is our assessment right or wrong? It will be totally wrong. So for him, Mohanji said, he can’t really make a decision that way. Don’t get too carried away when you’re looking to make a decision. Always look at the merits of what’s presented in front. Also, the mood of that person who might be sharing some information could be very bad whenever they come, so they see it negatively. And that means then that if their opinions are coloured in that way, then our opinion could be wrong as well.

So when we bank on the opinion of other people, it can be very wrong. And especially if we get carried away, it can go very, very wrong.

So someone tells somebody, “I’m a very bad guy, I was in the pub, I was doing this, I was doing all these bad things”. And then someone tells that to somebody, how would they react? If they didn’t agree with it, potentially they could lose a relationship.

He said that we should be very careful of—especially those who have leadership positions. So always take time to make a decision. Don’t get carried away with people’s opinions. We need to know what position they are talking from. Because it could be revenge, they might want to tarnish some person’s name, so they talked about that person. And because they’re talking about him, other people will listen and say, “Oh yes, this person must be so bad. Okay. Did you hear what such and such said?”

And so don’t be quick to make the decisions too fast. Take time, understand. And that’s not to be passive or insensitive. But it’s important for us that when we decide, it should be well assessed. It’s very important because it’s you, it’s us, that have to live with the repercussions of whatever action we take.

And then Mohanji also mentioned something which is very rare. He said, “But even if you do hear that someone’s done something bad, or not so good, or you don’t agree with it, why don’t people first talk to that person? Why would they rather take opinions more quickly, rather than say to that person, ‘Look, all these people are saying these things about you. They’ve said that this has happened, this situation, this circumstance. What do you think about that? I mean, if it’s happening, you probably need to change.’ Give people the option to come back on track. But mostly, people don’t. They accuse, criticize, scandalize. You have to remember that that comes with a price that has to be paid, and it’s not the person who told you, it’s you actually who will pay – if you’re saying things”.

So, best to use time and make decisions well – that’s the message; it’s today.

I wish you a great day ahead. And I hope you’re enjoying this. Feel free to share them with anyone that you might think is interested. Have a great day.