Lessons living with Mohanji – Days 141 & 142

Posted on by Mohanji Editorial Team

Christopher Greenwood

Day 141 – Believe in It

Something I have observed in Mohanji is that he commits himself to every activity he does. Whether this is a conversation with somebody, writing a document, meeting a person, or creating a new initiative, such as the fruit tree plantation, he fully commits himself. Besides that, he has a firm and strong belief in his actions. That’s what translates into a strong conviction, and it creates power. I mean, all of the platforms that we see now being so active are a result of that.

Taking that into my own life now, I recognise that it’s really important for any task, any initiative, or anything I’m doing, to believe in it because if I don’t, my activities become half-hearted. Then I’m not fully applying myself and using my fullest potential, which then creates dissatisfaction, tedium, and other disappointments.

One benchmark I use for recognising this is the job I had before joining Mohanji to work with him full-time. I had a relatively successful job; on paper, it was good, it was well-paid, and it was an exciting industry. We were building one of the now leading crypto-currencies in the industry based on blockchain technology; the work was fairly exciting, it was a good team, and I was heading them. Although everything was outwardly good, I just couldn’t believe in the project. I did at one point in time, but soon, I didn’t really see how it was going to be of benefit to people. When I lost that belief in what I was doing, my attitude really shifted, and I noticed a real difference in my approach to the work.

Although I was doing the work, I was doing a good job, and I did what I needed to; inside, I knew that I wasn’t fully applying myself, which really started to eat away at my self-esteem; this made it an easy decision to leave the job and dedicate myself full-time to something I did believe in making a positive difference in people’s lives and adding value to the world.

That lesson of believing in something for it to have power is a good reminder for me always, whether it’s a small task or a larger task or a conversation, or whatever I’m doing. It’s important to believe and invest myself in it. Only then can I see that I’m progressing. Otherwise, procrastination can set in, and not much movement happens.

This belief also makes it much easier to keep going with activities because sometimes, people may like what you’re doing and appreciate it, but at other times, people may not like it, and they disapprove. But having a belief that this is what I need to do, this is the right thing to do, gives it that power of momentum to see it through any challenges and obstacles.

Hope you have a great day ahead, and we will speak soon.

Day 142 – Leaving Space in Relationships

Today, I wanted to share a learning experience which I’ve taken from Mohanji’s example of leaving space in relationships. In this context, a relationship could be any interaction with another, whether it’s a colleague, a friend, a family member, a lover, husband or wife, and leaving good space so that those relationships become strong and lasting.

What I’ve observed and experienced from Mohanji is that he has a very clear vision of where he wants to go, and he’s moving towards it at a swift pace. Yet, he always gives people the full freedom and space to explore the work and how they will do it themselves and to bring their uniqueness into every goal that he sets. He’s there to give directions, clarity and support. Once that’s given, rarely does he interfere, and I’ve experienced this myself. I’ve found that to be incredibly beneficial because when freedom is given, there’s no pressure. I really don’t feel any pressure for any work that I’m doing; in fact, it’s a pleasure.

I also have the opportunity to explore capacities, and this has helped me grow because I’ve learned what works well and what doesn’t work so well; I’ve made some mistakes and had some successes. Like that, it’s not only an opportunity to contribute to the work, but it’s also an opportunity to really explore and understand who I am. I also observe Mohanji’s relationship with Devi. There is complete space and freedom; both of them have their own set of activities, and it’s well respected.  

Feeling what it means to have space, I started bringing this into my own life and my own relationships with friends, family members, and all the people I interact with. I also realised that some complications and uncertainties in relationships were because of this control of space and possessiveness on both sides. It was either myself doing this in a relationship or that feeling of being completely put in a claustrophobic situation by another, with so many expectations placed on me. This meant that there was just no life within the relationship itself. It felt so under the microscope that it was not a nice experience. 

Remembering this, taking forward Mohanji’s lesson, I realised that the root of many causes of that reduction in space was expectations, which, if left unchecked, could lead to possessiveness and control, as well as some insecurities too. It would completely take the beauty out of a relationship.

When I began to leave more space for people and practice this acceptance of others, I noticed that it wasn’t only good for them, but it was also good for me because obviously, fewer expectations mean fewer potential disappointments. More than that, what I’ve really appreciated is that it has shifted my perspective of the other person, and rather than seeing them through the lens of how I’d like them to be, I’m appreciating people much more for who they are and seeing their individuality and their uniqueness.

This is bringing a new richness to my relationships with my family members and my friends. Another interesting, unexpected thing that I’ve observed since I began leaving more space for people is their reaction. I found that, for some people, it actually created an uncomfortable feeling, and I think it’s because maybe they were so habituated to being in stifling situations in which there were so many expectations placed on them that it’s almost as if there’s a pattern and an expectation that somebody will be controlling or will reduce their space in a relationship. When that’s not there, it’s something different, and that can create uneasiness. People may have expected me to be angry or sad or upset for something they maybe hadn’t done. Maybe they hadn’t returned a call, or they couldn’t attend a meeting or something, and for me, that’s fine.

Giving people their space where they can do what they like made me think and wonder how much potential for deeper, lasting connections is lost because of possessiveness and expectations which really reduce people’s space. 

Hope you have a great day ahead.

|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||

Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 10th July 2022

Disclaimer:

The views, opinions, and positions expressed by the authors and those providing comments on these blogs are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of Mohanji, Mohanji Foundation, it’s members, employees or any other individual or entity associated with Mohanji or Mohanji Foundation. We make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, timeliness, suitability or validity of any information presented by individual authors and/or commenters on our blogs and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries or damages arising from its display or use.

We reserve the right to delete, edit, or alter in any manner we see fit blog entries or comments that we, in our sole discretion, deem to be obscene, offensive, defamatory, threatening, in violation of trademark, copyright or other laws, of an express commercial nature, or otherwise unacceptable.

Mohanji Testimonials team

Lessons living with Mohanji – Days 127 & 128

Posted on by Mohanji Editorial Team

By Christopher Greenwood

Day 127 Lesson – Appreciating People 

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

I’ve been sharing in the past days that many activities are speeding up now. The variety is also increasing. Last month, at the Global Summit, we set some great goals for 2021. Mohanji is really encouraging us to do what we can today because we don’t know what will come tomorrow, bringing momentum, speed and pace. 

Looking back through my notes for Invest in Awareness, I found some notes from a conversation with Mohanji on the importance of appreciating people. I realized and recognized that my general tendency when things or activities become hectic is that I tend to narrow down on what has to happen rather than on the people around me. In some respect, this tendency could have a weakness or cause missed opportunities. Re-reading this passage of notes about appreciation and how it can help, I’m relearning that this has a great value. 

We can all think about our own life of what happens when somebody appreciates us. Usually, it makes us feel good, inspiring us to do more. It helps us carry on doing what we’re doing and even push ourselves to do something additional. So if that’s how it makes us feel, then that’s how it makes others feel. 

In a big global family like this, it has great value because there is an element of appreciation behind every innovation and transformation. Someone may have said, “Okay, you’re doing well.” Thus, appreciating people helps an organization; it helps individually and collectively. 

Looking back through some more of the notes, I realized that this aligns with Mohanji’s teachings of giving back to the world. The more we start giving to the world, people, and situations in the form of appreciation, we get a lot back. The more we appreciate, the more we will be appreciated. This is relearning for me.

In all the busyness, with all the activities and the focus to move things forward and take steps, remembering to appreciate the people around who are contributing time, energy, resources and themselves fully to these activities is important.

Hope you have a great day.

Day 128 Lesson – Coming closer to the fire

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

Yesterday as we were travelling, I spoke with another person and with Mohanji about the changes we’ve experienced in our life since connecting with Mohanji. For me and others, the shifts are intense as we begin to serve Mohanji more closely. I’ve shared before in another voice message that when one comes closer to the fire, there are two options that can happen. One is that you transform in that fire; you lose all your identifications, comfort zones, and boundaries; or the other option is that it becomes too intense, you get burned, and then you run away. That running away is essentially falling back to comfort zones, patterns, habits, and everything we are used to in life. 

The conversation was a good reflection on some of the changes that could happen. One of the things that stood out in this conversation as a good point of reflection is that I began to see many of the relationships I’ve held in life in a different light. As my awareness increased, my clarity on certain topics and realities of life and relationships was also seen through a different lens. I realized that many of these were superficial and dropped off over time. It’s not because there’s a good or bad, but just the understanding that whatever created that connection is no longer there. 

In the process of becoming more aware and gaining more clarity, one of the challenges is confusion. We’re shifting from a life that we were very much used to, to something different and not used to. That shift requires moving from superficial identifications, or usual life, to reality or truth. These times and these periods can vary in intensity, as I’ve experienced connecting with Mohanji. As Mohanji spoke before, he’s constantly breaking comfort zones. For me, it’s happened time and time again; expectations are smashed, comfort zones are broken, and understanding about myself and identifications are all completely trashed or challenged, which can be very uncomfortable. This path is about demolishing patterns and can become extremely painful because it’s constant.

But what comes out of it is definitely – a lightness, a new/fresh perspective, and more ease in life. Something that I’ve noticed, as I’ve come closer to serving Mohanji, is that there’s really no end to this. There will be an end at some point, but it comes and goes. Time after time, there’s always a challenge of these patterns, of these comfort zones. So when people want to come, connect to Mohanji and serve him more closely, it can be quite challenging. Because as the intensity increases, and if people are holding on to patterns, it becomes suffering. As I mentioned before at the start, there are only really one of two options. It’s either a complete transformation in that fire, or by holding on to past life, it becomes suffering; people get burned, and they leave. 

This is why he always warns people or at least asks them when they come closer or would like to serve him, “Are you sure? Are you ready?” Because the only thing that can really help pull people through is when they’re crystal clear that that’s the priority they want to set for their life. 

Hope you have a good day and will speak to you soon.

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|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||

Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 22nd May 2022

Disclaimer:

The views, opinions, and positions expressed by the authors and those providing comments on these blogs are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of Mohanji, Mohanji Foundation, it’s members, employees or any other individual or entity associated with Mohanji or Mohanji Foundation. We make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, timeliness, suitability or validity of any information presented by individual authors and/or commenters on our blogs and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries or damages arising from its display or use.

We reserve the right to delete, edit, or alter in any manner we see fit blog entries or comments that we, in our sole discretion, deem to be obscene, offensive, defamatory, threatening, in violation of trademark, copyright or other laws, of an express commercial nature, or otherwise unacceptable.

Mohanji Testimonials team

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Lessons living with Mohanji – Days 125 & 126

Posted on by Mohanji Testimonials

By Christopher Greenwood

Day 125 Lesson – Going beyond the ordinary  

In the past, I’ve shared messages about how Mohanji’s vision really encompasses all aspects of an activity or a platform. For example, each Mohanji founded platform has a very distinct vision, purpose, set of goals, and clarity on where it could potentially reach. Plus, we have the pace at which activities are moving. This is a deadly combination for good things to come into the world. 

What I wanted to share today was a new initiative, which has been founded by Mohanji, which I think is fantastic. And that’s the fruit tree plantation drive. Besides being a great initiative itself, for me, it’s a good reminder of how, when you have something, an idea, if you look at all of the options and the possibilities of how that could be taken to its highest potential, you can come up with something great. Because many people plant trees, but very few people have said – actually, we’re going to plant fruit-bearing trees. 

This is a good reminder for me because as the to-do list grows, what can be a common fallback is to quickly complete tasks as fast as I can, which means things get done. But then the time is also not taken to see if anything could have been done better, anything improved, whether something could have actually been something much greater. 

I’ve seen many tree planting initiatives across the world where people will plant trees in an effort to combat the effects of climate change or CO2 emissions. You could even pick these up when you were able to travel by air, not that we can do much of this at the moment, but on some plane tickets, you could tick a box and say that you’d like to offset the carbon emissions by planting trees. But what I hadn’t thought about and has come out from this initiative is, what trees are being planted. 

Here in India, there’s a popular way to plant trees or regenerate forests, and that is being done with Acacia. Actually, I learned here that this is terribly hungry for water; it sucks it all out of the ground, which means the surrounding areas are left devastated. So on the face of it, planting a tree is a good thing, but if it’s at the detriment of something else, it isn’t so good. Also, sometimes not many people look after the tree, so it will never grow to its full potential. 

With this initiative, the perspective has shifted. Because by planting fruit-bearing trees only, it’s sharing a message that this will give fruit for generations to come and the generation now. So all the animals, beings, and even people will benefit now and in the generations to come. There are five countries where this will be active at the moment: the UK, South Africa, Serbia, the USA, and India.

India has set the goal that by the end of 2021, they’ll have planted 100,000 fruit-bearing trees all across the country. And depending on the region, they’ll have the most appropriate tree for that location, including maybe some spiritual trees or ones where you have some other significance if fruit-bearing trees are not possible, like sandalwood or something like this. I think that’s a fantastic initiative. The teams are pulling all material together to start raising CSR funding, sponsorship branding and acquiring key volunteers. 

Using that analogy of planting a fruit-bearing tree, I’m wondering now what more I can do, especially as part of this platform, to be contributing and plant something that will give fruit for the generations to come. Because Mohanji has always shared that this platform will benefit many people, and what we set in place now, what we do now, and what we plan now won’t just be good for us, but it’s going to be helpful and benefit all of those who come after us. So now I’m thinking of which type of trees have I been planting and can I give more focus from water soaking trees to fruit-bearing trees.  

“Fruit tree plantation is not just an act of kindness; it is a social responsibility. This is giving the fruits of kindness to the coming generations beyond species. Fill the forests with fruit trees. Plant more fruit trees in and around your city. It brings sweet grace to our lives beyond time.” Mohanji

Day 126 Lesson – Loyalty

This morning when I went to speak with Mohanji, he was finishing recording his 4 am Club message. He records this every day without fail. The 4 am Club has about 200,000 members now across the world. It’s a Malayalam speaking community. Mohanji’s friend and the Club’s founder, Robin, asked Mohanji to record this message daily. So even when we travel, no matter what’s happening or where we are, Mohanji will record it. There’ll be a message sent that this is the topic, and then he speaks something. 

After finishing today, he just mentioned that this is out of the ordinary because usually, he wouldn’t do something like this every day. And that’s because most of his speaking comes spontaneously. For me, this shows what he’s doing for his friend. He’s said before that the reason he’s there is because his friend Robin asked him to. Since he’s been entrusted with this task, he does it complete justice without fail. For me, it’s a clear sign of his loyalty. In fact, extreme loyalty to all his friendships. 

Mohanji said before as well that when somebody trusts you, you shouldn’t give up on them ever. This is also powerful coming from Mohanji because he has experienced many betrayals in life; his business partners took away his company. Many people who were very close to him ended up betraying him, saying bad things, character assassinating, and all sorts have happened to him. But still, he’s extremely loyal to people when they show trust in him. 

Today for me, was a reflection on the lessons which come from how Mohanji interacts with people in friendships and relationships. For example, he’s always 100% clear on his relationship with a person. It’s his connection with them. And he wouldn’t let anybody influence that or sway it. Even if someone says this person is not good, or they’re bad, or they’re doing this, he wouldn’t be interested. Because what’s important for him is his connection with that person.

What he’s demonstrating, I can see through his life, is that loyalty is worth something. And when you look back at all the betrayals that he’s had, it’s quite amazing because I think many other people probably wouldn’t trust anybody again after they experienced those things. 

From time to time as well, there’ll be meetings arranged with his close friends from school days. He still has a really good group of people who he went to school with, both in his younger age and also in college. During our time in Kerala, we visited quite a few of these people. It was really nice to see that despite everything which has outwardly changed for Mohanji, in who he is, what his position is now in the world as a public figure, a recognized humanitarian, they’re still the same; they still have their connection, their jokes, very, very, very familiar. He even attends all the reunions and gives them real importance. 

A part of the theme for this year is friendships. I think it was a good reminder this morning. 

|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||

Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 15th May 2022

Disclaimer:

The views, opinions, and positions expressed by the authors and those providing comments on these blogs are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of Mohanji, Mohanji Foundation, it’s members, employees or any other individual or entity associated with Mohanji or Mohanji Foundation. We make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, timeliness, suitability or validity of any information presented by individual authors and/or commenters on our blogs and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries or damages arising from its display or use.

We reserve the right to delete, edit, or alter in any manner we see fit blog entries or comments that we, in our sole discretion, deem to be obscene, offensive, defamatory, threatening, in violation of trademark, copyright or other laws, of an express commercial nature, or otherwise unacceptable.

Mohanji Testimonials team